California employers, you just gone a whole bunch of important labor law changes to the minimum wage rate in your state, and now this! The federal government goes and reconsiders its own minimum wage rate. What gives? You just went out and bought a whole new set of complete labor law posters to update your minimum wage labor law poster, and now you might have to go buy a new federal minimum wage poster. True.
But other than that, you might not have to worry too much about what minimum wage you are paying your employees. See, as it turns out, your state minimum wage in California is going to be higher than the federal minimum wage, even after the federal minimum wage’s three part increases over the course of two years. You see, after the tree part changes and after two years, the federal minimum wage will be at $7.25 per hour.
Your California state minimum wage is already at $7.50, which it became on January 1, 2007. That happened because the Governator passed a bill called the SB1835, which effectively raised the minimum wage starting at the first day of this year. It will then increase again on January 1, 2008, by another 50 cents, to $8.00 per hour.
Even normally exempt employees under wage and labor law standards, such as salaried administrative, executive, and professional employees, have a minimum wage standard under this new California minimum wage law signed by Governor Arnold. The minimum wage for these folks is $2,600 per month as of January 1, 2007, and then to $2,773.33 per month as of January 1, 2008.
In either case, follow the minimum wage debate in Washington DC just out of interest, because some of the best fireworks may be yet to come between the Democrats and the Republicans.
