On January 1, the state-wide minimum wage in California rose to $16 an hour, for ALL employers. When the state minimum wage increases, so, too, does the minimum salary to be exempt. That salary is now $66,560. That is the salary regardless of whether your employee works full time or part time – if you want them to be exempt, this is what they need to make. If you employ an exempt, part time employee and do not want to pay this amount, you should consider paying them hourly.
I know I have also said the following disclaimer, but I feel like I must say this every time we discuss a raise in the minimum exempt salary. Paying someone this salary of $66,560 DOES NOT MAKE THAT PERSON EXEMPT. They still must be exempt based on the duties they perform, and I have gone into this issue several times in past Briefings, and I will for sure again. If you have doubts on whether your employees are performing exempt duties more than half of the time, contact me. We can perform a time and motion study, if necessary. We have a great window here at the start of the year, as employees seem to deal with these kinds of changes when they know that laws are changing anyway.
Even though the state minimum wage is now $16, many of you do business and have your employees work in jurisdictions that have a higher minimum wage based on local laws, such as the city of Los Angeles. Importantly, if you have remote workers who live and therefore work in these jurisdictions, their wages will be governed by where they work, NOT by where your business is based. The same is true of sick leave, which is more generous in many locations than the five days now required by the state. Know where your workers work.
Below is a table of all the various jurisdictions in California and their respective minimum wages. Some of these increased this past July, some just this January 1, 2024, but here they are all in one place:
| Alameda | $16.52 | |
| Belmont | $17.35 | |
| Berkeley | $18.07 | |
| Burlingame | $17.03 | |
| Cupertino | $17.75 | |
| Daly City | $16.62 | |
| East Palo Alto | $17.00 | |
| El Cerrito | $17.92 | |
| Emeryville | $18.67 | |
| Foster City | $17.00 | |
| Fremont | $16.80 | |
| Half Moon Bay | $17.01 | |
| Hayward | $16.90 | |
| Long Beach | $17.55 for Hotel Workers $17.36 for Concessionaire workers | |
| Los Altos | $17.75 | |
| Los Angeles (City) | $16.78 or $19.73/hour for hotels with 60 or more rooms | |
| Los Angeles (Unincorporated Areas of County) | $16.90 | |
| Malibu | $16.90 | |
| Menlo Park | $16.70 | |
| Milpitas | $17.20 | |
| Mountain View | $18.75 | |
| Novato | $16.60 ($16.86 for Very Large Employers with 100+ Employees) | |
| Oakland | $16.50 or $17.94 for hotel workers with Health Benefits $23.91 for hotel workers without Health Benefits | |
| Palo Alto | $17.80 | |
| Pasadena | $16.93 | |
| Petaluma | $17.45 | |
| Redwood City | $17.70 | |
| Richmond | $17.20 | |
| Sacramento | $16.00 | |
| San Carlos | $16.87 | |
| San Diego | $16.85 | |
| San Francisco | $18.07 | |
| San Jose | $17.55 | |
| San Leandro | $16.00 | |
| San Mateo | $17.35 | |
| San Mateo County (Unincorporated) | $17.06 | |
| Santa Clara | $17.75 | |
| Santa Monica | $16.90 or $19.73 for hotels and businesses operating on hotel property | |
| Santa Rosa | $17.45 | |
| Sonoma | $17.60 | |
| South San Francisco | $17.25 | |
| Sunnyvale | $18.55 | |
| West Hollywood | $19.08 |
Also remember there are other minimum wages that are going to increase in this state, for specific industries. Fast food workers will have a minimum wage of $20, if their employers have 60 locations nationwide, effective April 1, 2024. And healthcare workers will need to earn anywhere between $18 – $23 an hour, depending on what type of facility employs and where they work. The healthcare minimum wage will increase in June of this year, and I will get into a more detailed discussion of all of this as we near that deadline.