The federal and state-level minimum wage has been under debate in recent years as some workers and hourly work advocates argue that the payment is not enough for someone to survive on in today’s economy. California labor laws address minimum wage in that state.
There are local and statewide changes affecting the minimum wage across California. California is one of 20 states that have boosted the minimum wage in recent years.
In 2016, a California initiative called Senate Bill 3 was passed by the State Legislature. Under this bill, the minimum wage in California will be gradually increased until 2023 when it hits $15 an hour.
Following the passage of the bill, California minimum wage was increased to $11 per hour on Jan. 1, 2017 and has been raised steadily each year since then. However, not every business is affected by the change equally, with a distinction being made between large and small businesses.
As of January 2021, small businesses have to pay a minimum of $13 per hour to employees and companies with at least 26 employees have to pay $14 per hour. By 2023, California should have a $15 minimum wage and some cities are already exceeding the new minimum wage amount in preparation for that event.
When Does the $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Go into Effect?
By 2023, workers in all areas of California will be affected by the $15 minimum wage law. However, some cities and counties are implementing the new law early.
As of Jan. 1, 2021, the new minimum wage for large businesses in the county and city of Los Angeles and the cities of Pasadena, Malibu, and Santa Monica has been raised to $15 an hour. Several other cities and counties are due to follow suit in July 2021. Additionally, beginning in July 2021, the city of Los Angeles will cease to apply different minimum wage laws to large and small businesses. All businesses will be obligated to adhere to a $15 minimum wage.
Another law passed in 2016 has also afforded some workers more rights as of Jan. 1, 2021. Assembly Bill 1066 was signed in 2016 to gradually afford agricultural and farm workers more rights when it comes to overtime pay. Although workers in most industries in California are entitled to receive overtime pay for any hours worked in excess of eight hours per day or 40 hours per week, farm workers have not been included under these laws. Instead, farm worker overtime pay has been determined by a 1970s executive action stating that these workers are only entitled to overtime for hours worked in excess of 60 hours a week or 10 hours a day. As of Jan. 1, 2021, these thresholds were lowered to 45 hours in a week, and 8.5 hours in a day.
Are There Federal Laws Currently Pushing to Raise the Minimum Wage?
Bills have been put before Congress in the most recent legislative sessions to push up the federal minimum wage. One of these was known as the Raise the Wage Act which would make a $15 an hour minimum wage a national standard. However, that bill did not make it out of the Senate.
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. California’s minimum wage, however, has been increasing $1 each year since 2017, even though the federal minimum wage has stayed the same since 2009.
What Cities in California Are Pushing Up Their Minimum Wage?
According to data released from the UC Berkley Labor Center, many cities implemented a minimum wage increase over the course of 2020.
These cities include Alameda, Belmont, Cupertino, Daily City, Freemont, Los Altos, Mountain View, Oakland, Petaluma, Red Wood City, San Jose, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, and Sunnyvale among others.
Why Have Some Fought against Increasing Minimum Wage?
There are opponents in California and around the country that do not support raising the minimum wage. The primary argument put forward by these people is that the result would be fewer jobs since employers would have to pay $15 an hour to every employee, meaning that they might hire fewer workers.
One Congressional Budget Office study found that the wage increase at the federal level of up to $15 an hour would lead to a loss of over one million workers. Federal data, quoted by Forbes, also shows that the rural manufacturing base of the economy in California could be heavily hit by the higher minimum wage.
Other factors impacting wage growth and job creation including local and state taxes, energy and land costs, access to roads and clean water, suitable labor supply, and the current legal environment. The last several years have been difficult for California’s labor environment, calling more attention to the debate around the minimum wage in California.
As California minimum wage laws have been steadily changing for the past several years, some workers may be unaware of the minimum amount they are entitled to be paid. If you believe that your employer has failed to comply with state minimum wage laws, you may be eligible to speak with an experienced attorney about your legal rights and potentially pursue reimbursement and compensation for these lost wages.
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