In the immortal words of Mao Zedong: “Let a hundred flowers blossom!”
Multiple cities and hamlets throughout California have enacted slightly differing and, of course, maddeningly confusing non-uniform minimum wage laws. Not surprisingly, no one in Sacramento seems at all concerned about the administrative burden to California employers in having to monitor and comply with so many different rules.
For those of you keeping track at home, here’s the current state of affairs:
Minimum Wage Increases
The following cities’ and county minimum wages are slated to increase:
| City | # of Employees | Minimum Hourly Wage Beginning July 1, 2018 | Minimum Hourly Wage Before July 1, 2018 |
| Emeryville | 56 or more employees
55 or fewer employees |
$15.69
$15.00 |
$15.20
$14.00 |
| Los Angeles (city) | 26 or more employees
25 or fewer employees |
$13.25
$12.00 |
$12.00
$10.50 |
| Los Angeles (county) (unincorporated areas only) | 26 or more employees
25 or fewer employees |
$13.25
$12.00 |
$12.00
$10.50 |
| Malibu | 26 or more employees
25 or fewer employees |
$13.25
$12.00 |
$12.00
$10.50 |
| Milpitas | — | $13.50 | $12.00 |
| Pasadena | 26 or more employees
25 or fewer employees |
$13.25
$12.00 |
$12.00
$10.50 |
| San Francisco | — | $15.00 | $14.00 |
| San Leandro | — | $13.00 | $12.00 |
| Santa Monica** | 26 or more employees
25 or fewer employees |
$13.25
$12.00 |
$12.00
$10.50 |
** Hotel workers’ minimum wage will be indexed, meaning that their rates will be adjusted annually based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Most of these jurisdictions’ minimum wages are slated to increase again on July 1, 2019.
Belmont adopted an ordinance to establish its own minimum wage at $12.50/hour beginning July 1, 2018, with another increase set to go into effect on January 1, 2019.
Salary History Ordinance
San Francisco’s new Consideration of Salary History ordinance (also known as the Parity in Pay ordinance) will go into effect on July 1, 2018, and will prohibit employers from considering applicants’ current or past salaries when determining whether to extend an offer of employment and what salary to offer. The ordinance also prohibits employers from asking applicants about their current or past salary, or disclosing a current or former employee’s salary history without that employee’s authorization (assuming that salary history is not publicly available).
However, it is important to remember that salary inquiry prohibitions are not unique to San Francisco – California recently enacted its own slightly different, statewide legislation that went into effect on January 1, 2018.
Employers should take care to review whether these ordinances impact their work force and ensure that they are compliant by the beginning of next month.