What goes up continues to go up!  As we pointed out here last year, the trend of increasing the minimum wage continues, as follows:

State:

On January 1, 2025, the California state minimum wage, excluding fast food industry employers and certain healthcare facilities, will increase from $16.00 per hour to $16.50 for employers of all sizes, reflecting a 3.1% increase, which is based on the expected rate of inflation.  The state minimum wage also governs the exempt employee threshold salary, which will increase accordingly.  The new minimum salary for employees who otherwise qualify to be exempt from overtime will be $68,640 annually for employers of all sizes.

As noted above, new laws impact the minimum wage for fast food industry employers and healthcare facilities in California, sending the hourly minimum rates for such employers above the $16.50 hourly rate that applies to other state employers.  Specifically, as of April 1, 2024, all covered national fast food restaurant employees must be paid at least $20.00 per hour.  And after a number of delays, as of October 16, 2024, specified healthcare workers must be paid a minimum wage which ranges from $18.00 per hour, to $23.00 per hour, depending on the employer type.  Over time, the minimum wage for all covered healthcare facilities will rise to $25.00 per hour.

Local:

Several California municipalities raised their minimum wage rates on July 1, 2024.  Employers should take care to note these changes because the pace of minimum wage increases in these locations surpass the rate required by the State of California. 

Several cities increased their minimum wage rates based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).  Among these are the City of Los Angeles, where the current minimum wage increased from $16.78 to $17.28 per hour for all employers.  In Malibu, Santa Monica and unincorporated Los Angeles County, the minimum wage increased from $16.90 to $17.27 per hour for all employers.  In Pasadena, the current minimum wage increased from $16.93 to $17.50 per hour for all employers. 

The current hourly minimum wage rate for the City of West Hollywood (excluding hotel workers) is currently $19.08.  An increase scheduled to occur on July 1, 2024, was postponed to January 1, 2025, by an April 16, 2024, vote of the City of West Hollywood’s City Council.  The adjusted rate will be based on the CPI.  The current hourly minimum wage rate for City of West Hollywood hotel employees is $19.61.

In determining whether a given increase applies, employers should know that it is not where an employee lives, or where an employer is based, that determines the minimum wage that must be paid.  Rather, it is where the employee works that determines the applicable minimum wage rate.  In many municipalities, if an employee works as few as two hours in the city in a week, that municipality’s minimum wage will apply to the time worked there for that week.

The author would like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Joanne Warriner.