Insight & Commentary on California Workplace Law Issues & Developments
The California employment law landscape is ever-evolving. Watch a recording of our California Legal Update Webinar Series to learn about the latest changes and how they affect employers.
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On September 30, 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law two bills designed to address ongoing concern of pay inequity. A.B. 1676 amends the California Fair Pay Act by prohibiting employers from relying on an employee’s prior salary to justify a disparity between the salaries of similarly situated employees. S.B. 1063 extends the Fair…
Much like the agricultural harvest cycles it may affect, September 12, 2016, marks the planting season for the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016.
Assembly Bill 1066 (“AB1066”), signed into law by Governor Brown, is an aggressive “phase-in” overtime bill, which will cultivate and change the wage and hour landscape for agricultural workers…
California has many requirements for the content of an employee wage statement, including this year’s new requirements for employees paid by a piece rate. Employees paid by piece rates must be separately compensated for rest and recovery periods and, where the employee does not earn at least minimum wage in addition to the piece rate, must be separately paid for non-productive time. The amount of time for these periods, the applicable rates of pay, and gross wages for these periods is required to be on the wage statement.
Continue Reading WHAT’S ON YOUR WAGE STATEMENTS?
California’s unfriendly business environment took another unprecedented step this week, with Governor Jerry Brown raising the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour by 2022. Governor Brown signed SB 3 into law on April 4, 2016.
The new law annually increases the state minimum wage starting January 2017. California’s minimum wage currently is $10.00 per hour. California employers opposed the bill arguing the minimum wage increases will make it even more difficult for in-state producers to compete with out-of-state employers; employer advocacy groups also argued the bill will result in more employers leaving the state.
Continue Reading Governor Brown Raises the Minimum Wage to $15.00 per Hour, Despite Strong Employer Opposition
California Governor Jerry Brown just announced a compromise that would raise the state minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022 and head off competing union-backed ballot measures. The proposal raises the current $10 minimum wage every January starting in 2017 until it reaches $15 in 2022.
Employers with fewer than 25 workers have an …
California’s City of Santa Monica’s City Council has adopted an ordinance that enacts minimum wage and paid sick leave requirements for covered employees as well as new regulations pertaining to service charges and surcharges. Ordinance Number 2509 became effective on February 25, 2016, although its provisions will not be implemented until July 1, 2016.
The City Council authorized the City Manager to establish a working group to review and recommend technical adjustments to the adopted Ordinance.
We discuss key provisions below.
Employers with at least 26 covered employees shall pay no less than the following hourly wages:
Employers with up to 25 employees will have an additional year to satisfy each of these pay rates. Therefore, hourly pay increases for smaller employers will start on July 1, 2017, at $10.50 per hour, reaching $15.00 per hour by July 1, 2021.
Continue Reading Santa Monica, California, Joins Patchwork of Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Laws
Effective January 1, 2016, California employers face a Labor Commissioner with significantly enhanced authority to enforce judgments for unpaid wages under California’s Fair Day’s Pay Act.
The new law seeks to prevent “wage theft” by authorizing the Labor Commissioner to issue stop work orders against employers (and successor employers) who have judgments against them for nonpayment of wages, to issue levies against employers’ bank accounts and accounts receivable, and to place liens against employers’ real and personal property.
The law also imposes criminal and personal liability against certain individuals acting on behalf of an employer, including owners, officers, directors, or managing agents, for various Labor Code violations. The law’s key provisions are highlighted below.Continue Reading California Labor Commissioner’s Enforcement Powers Set to Expand Dramatically
Waiting time penalties imposed under Section 203 of the California Labor Code are not “wages” for purposes of federal income or employment taxes, according to a Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum issued by the Internal Revenue Service. Although the Memorandum is not precedential, it provides guidance regarding the IRS’s current views on the taxability of such payments. The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has long taken the position that waiting time penalties are not wages.
Continue Reading Waiting Time Penalties Under California Labor Code Not Wages for Federal Tax Purposes
Anyone paying attention to national politics knows increasing the minimum wage is a hot topic being debated by employee and business groups. While the debate rages, the Sacramento City Council decided not to wait for the feds or the state to act, and recently voted 6-3 to increase the Sacramento city minimum wage, as follows:
Continue Reading Sacramento Minimum Wage Increases
