This graph illustrates California’s continual increase of the minimum wage. Inflation notwithstanding, the minimum wage has increased by a total of $9.84 in the past 100 years, according to the State of California Department of Industrial Relations. The biggest percentage increase of the hourly wage was the jump from 1943 to 1947, when the total rose from $0.45 to $0.65, a 44.44-percent increase. ” captionposition=”right”] The start of the new year will also serve as the new standard for minimum wage for California residents, as the hourly wage will increase from $9 to $10, effective on Jan. 1.
Along with the minimum-wage increase will be a number of new bills affecting employers and employees that will go into effect the same day, as well.
One of these changes is the exemption of overtime laws.
Overtime provisions state that nonexempt employees ages 16 or older who are not required by law to attend school and are not prohibited from the workforce cannot log more than eight hours a day, or 40 hours a week, according to the State of California Department of Industrial Relations. However, some employees may be exempt from this rule.
TelePayroll, a business-management consultant company that provides payroll, human-resources and employee-benefits services, stated, in an email recently sent to their clients, that the minimum-wage increase will impact minimum-salary requirements for exempt employees, who must now take at least two times the minimum hourly wage in order to maintain their exemption from overtime laws.
California cities each have different minimum-wage requirements, according to the email TelePayroll sent to their clients.
Included with these changes are the new bills in California that come as a result of the minimum-wage increase. TelePayroll listed the following laws in 2016:
Fair-pay law
This law prevents an employer from paying its employees any wage rates that are less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex that are doing similar work and are handling similar responsibilities. The exception for employees would be a seniority system, merit system, a method that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production or a factor other than sex that involves education or experience.
Requesting accommodation
This prohibits an employer from discriminating against a person who is requesting some type of accommodation for a disability or a religious belief, regardless of whether or not the request is granted.
Protected conduct
Another protection builds off an existing law that prohibits an employer from firing an employee for any reason that is discriminatory or retaliatory, or involves an employee’s family member who engaged in protected conduct.
Modification of piece-wage rules
This modification requires an itemized statement provided to employees compensated on a piece-rate basis to separately state the total hours of payable rest periods, the rate of pay and total hours of nonproductive time.
Kin Care modifications
The Kin Care statute line has been modified to correlate with the newly enacted paid sick leave law, which allows employees to use half of their sick leave benefits to care for a sick family member.
E-Verify limitation
This limitation prevents an employee from using E-Verify, an online eligibility system to verify employees, to check any type of employment-authorization status, except as required by federal law.
State enforcement of local laws
This authorizes the labor commissioner to investigate and enforce local laws that involve overtime hours or minimum-wage provisions.
The Long Beach Council of Business Associations (COBA) recently announced its support of the minimum-wage increase based off its results in two studies regarding the increase.
One study featured a quantitative survey of 408 businesses and nonprofits, while the other had a qualitative study that researched seven citywide focus-group meetings conducted by S. Groner Associates, Inc., (SGA) a marketing-consultant company.
The studies mull over a potential minimum-wage increase to $15 sometime in the future.
The overall findings, according to COBA, were that most businesses and nonprofits are strongly against a straight minimum-wage increase to $15 by the year 2020. However, the results also showed some signs of support. The factors include:
• Setting the minimum-wage target at $12.50 instead of $15
• Including the amount of benefits an employer provides to an employee as a factor for minimum wage
• Providing a delayed implementation period for small businesses and nonprofits to adjust operational cost and revenue to accommodate for a potential new wage
“Based on these findings, COBA is proposing a middle way forward,” said Kraig Kojian, who represents the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Long Beach Associates at COBA. “We are saying there is a middle path that will help workers and minimize the harm to small businesses, nonprofits or the other workers that may have their jobs cut to make room for the increase.”
COBA also noted that the focus groups it studied were fearful what a rate of $15 an hour could do to business operations, with the worst possible outcome leading to layoffs.
A proposed solution by COBA will include the following:
• One-year delay on implementation for business with 25 or fewer employees
• Two-year delay on implementation for 501(c)3 nonprofits
• Youth wages for ages 21 and younger would be paid at California minimum wage
“COBA’s proposal is succinct and straightforward,” said Jeremy Harris, who represents the chamber for COBA. “This is based on multiple conversations with our stakeholders, the data presented by the SGA report and a balanced approach we also feel is the Long Beach way. We look forward to continued conversations with our policy makers in order to ensure businesses are fairly represented.”
According to COBA, its proposal received support from the Long Beach Chamber and the Downtown Long Beach Associates. Discussion on the matter is expected to continue at some point in January at a city council hearing, the company states.
For more information, visit dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm .
