The California Labor Law Guide

California's standard statewide minimum wage is $16.90 per hour for all employers, regardless of size. The old split between large and small employers has been permanently eliminated.

Industry-specific rates

Some industries have their own rates:

• Fast food restaurant employees are subject to a $20.00+ minimum wage determined annually by the Fast Food Council.
• Healthcare facility workers are subject to tiered minimum wages ranging from $19.28 to $25.00 per hour depending on the facility type.

The healthcare tiers are:

• Tier 1: $25.00
• Tier 2: $19.28
• Tier 3: $22.00
• Tier 4-5: $23.00

Local municipal minimum wages (2026)

Some jurisdictions enforce a local minimum wage that supersedes the state baseline. The rates below are effective as of July 1, 2026.

• Alameda: $17.76
• Belmont: $18.95
• Berkeley: $19.61
• Burlingame: $17.86
• Cupertino: $18.70
• Daly City: $17.50
• East Palo Alto: $17.90
• El Cerrito: $18.82
• Emeryville: $20.34
• Foster City: $17.85
• Fremont: $18.05
• Glendale: $25.00 (hotel workers, 60 or more rooms)
• Half Moon Bay: $17.91
• Hayward: $17.79 (26+ employees) or $16.90 (25 or fewer employees)
• Long Beach: $26.50 (hotels with 100+ rooms) or $18.58 (airport/convention concessionaires)
• Los Altos: $18.70
• Los Angeles (City): $18.42
• Los Angeles (hotel workers): $25.00 to $29.25, depending on health benefits offered
• Los Angeles (airport workers): $25.00
• Los Angeles County (unincorporated): $18.47
• Malibu: $17.91 (scheduled increases currently frozen due to a local emergency ordinance)
• Menlo Park: $17.55
• Milpitas: $18.50
• Mountain View: $19.70
• Novato: $17.73 (100+ employees), $17.46 (26 to 99 employees), or $16.90 (1 to 25 employees)
• Oakland: $17.34, or $25.14 (hotels without benefits) and $18.85 (hotels with benefits)
• Palo Alto: $18.70
• Pasadena: $18.57
• Petaluma: $18.31
• Redwood City: $18.65
• Richmond: $19.18
• San Carlos: $17.75
• San Diego (City): $17.75
• San Diego (hospitality: hotels with 150 or more rooms) and amusement parks: $19.00
• San Francisco: $19.61
• San Jose: $18.45
• San Mateo (City): $18.60
• San Mateo County (unincorporated): $17.95
• Santa Clara: $18.70
• Santa Monica: $18.47
• Santa Monica (hotels): $25.00
• Santa Rosa: $18.21
• Sonoma (City): $18.47 (26+ employees) or $17.38 (25 or fewer employees)
• South San Francisco: $18.15
• Sunnyvale: $19.50
• West Hollywood: $20.25, or $20.87 (hotel workers)

California is a strict no-tip-credit state. Employers must pay all employees the full state or municipal minimum wage (whichever is higher) for every hour worked.

An employer cannot legally use a tip credit to offset its minimum wage obligation, so all earned tips are entirely in addition to the employee's standard hourly pay. Gratuities are the sole property of the employee.

California enforces both daily and weekly overtime thresholds. Employers must pay non-exempt employees one and one-half (1.5) times their regular rate for:

• All hours worked in excess of eight (8) hours in a single workday.
• All hours worked in excess of forty (40) hours in a single workweek.
• The first eight (8) hours worked on the seventh (7th) consecutive day of work within a single workweek.

Double time

California is one of the few states that mandates double time. Employers must pay non-exempt employees double (2.0) their regular rate for:

• All hours worked in excess of twelve (12) hours in a single workday.
• All hours worked in excess of eight (8) hours on the seventh (7th) consecutive day of work within a single workweek.

Mandatory unpaid meal periods

California requires employers to provide non-exempt employees a 30-minute, uninterrupted, unpaid meal period, on this timeline:

• First meal period: must begin before the end of the employee's fifth (5th) hour of work.
• Second meal period: required if an employee works more than ten (10) hours in a workday, and must begin before the end of the tenth (10th) hour of work.

Meal period waivers

Meal periods may only be waived under highly specific conditions:

• First meal waiver: by mutual consent of the employer and employee, only if the total shift is completed in six (6) hours or less.
• Second meal waiver: by mutual consent, only if the total shift is completed in twelve (12) hours or less and the first meal period was not waived.

Some industries, such as healthcare and motion pictures, have distinct waiver rules governed by their respective IWC Wage Orders.

Mandatory paid rest breaks

Employers must authorize and permit non-exempt employees to take a 10-minute, uninterrupted, paid rest break for every four (4) hours worked, or major fraction thereof.

• Timing: rest breaks must be scheduled in the middle of each work period insofar as practicable. Employers cannot legally let employees skip rest breaks to leave a shift early, and rest breaks cannot be combined with meal periods.
• Threshold: a rest period is not required for shifts totaling less than 3.5 hours in a day.

On-duty meal periods

California strictly defaults to off-duty meal periods, meaning the employee must be completely relieved of all work duties and free to leave the premises. If the employee is required to remain on duty, the 30-minute period must be paid as regular hours worked.

An employer may use a paid, on-duty meal period only if all three of these conditions are met:

• The nature of the work actively prevents the employee from being relieved of all duties (for example, a lone security guard or sole convenience store clerk).
• There is a signed, written agreement between the employer and the employee authorizing an on-the-job meal period.
• The written agreement explicitly states that the employee may revoke it in writing at any time.

Premium pay for missed breaks

If an employer fails to provide a compliant meal or rest break (including breaks that are late, interrupted, or less than the required duration), the employer must pay a premium penalty:

• One hour of premium pay for any day a rest break is missed.
• One hour of premium pay for any day a meal break is missed.

The maximum penalty is two hours of premium pay per day.

Vacation leave

California has no legal requirement to provide paid or unpaid vacation time. That said, if there is an agreement, certain employers are obligated to pay out vacation.

Paid sick leave

Starting January 1, 2024, California requires employers to give eligible employees 40 hours or 5 days of paid sick leave per year, whichever is greater. For example, an employee working 10-hour days, 5 days per week, would be entitled to 50 hours per year.

Employers can frontload the full amount at the start of the year or let employees accrue it over the course of the year. Under the accrual method, all unused paid sick leave must carry over to the next year, up to an accrual cap of 80 hours or 10 days, whichever is greater.

Employees are eligible after working at least 30 days for the same employer within one year in California, but they must complete a 90-day employment period before actually taking any paid sick leave. This includes full-time, part-time, per diem, staffing agency, and temporary employees.

Many California cities and counties have their own paid sick leave laws that may provide greater entitlements than the state law. Consult your local regulator for more information.

Effective January 1, 2025, California's Healthy Workplace Healthy Family Act lets employees use paid sick leave for absences tied to a family member being a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The law already covers the employee when they are the victim.

Holidays

In California, hours worked on holidays and weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) are treated as normal working hours. The state does not require employers to provide paid holidays or time off for any holiday.

Almost all minors under 18 are covered by California's child labor protections under the California Labor Code.

Emancipated minors are subject to all state child labor requirements and can apply for a work permit without their parents' permission.

The rules restrict the days, times, and number of hours minors can work in California. The key restrictions are below.

Age 16 to 17

• When school is in session, they may work up to 4 hours per day on a school day and 8 hours on a nonschool day or any day preceding a nonschool day, up to a total of 48 hours per week. They must have completed 7th grade to work while school is in session.
• When school is not in session, they may work 8 hours per day, up to 48 hours in a week.
• They can work between 5 AM and 10 PM, and until 12:30 AM on an evening preceding a nonschool day.

Age 14 to 15

• When school is in session, they may work up to 3 hours per school day, outside school hours, and 8 hours on a nonschool day, up to a total of 18 hours per week.
• When school is not in session, they may work 8 hours per day, up to 40 hours in a week.
• They can work between 7 AM and 7 PM, and until 9 PM from June 1 through Labor Day.

Age 12 to 13

• Cannot be employed on any school day, even during non-school hours.
• May be employed during school holidays and vacations.
• Most officials will not approve a work permit for this age group allowing work beyond the restrictions specified above for 14- to 15-year-olds.

What counts as a split shift

Under California law, a split shift is a daily work schedule interrupted by an unpaid, non-working period established by the employer. To qualify, the interruption must be longer than a bona fide meal period, and the break must be required for the benefit of the employer.

Voluntary shifts and exceptions

A split shift premium is not owed when:

• The employee explicitly requests the scheduling break for their own personal convenience.
• The employee voluntarily picks up an extra, non-consecutive shift through a shift-swapping or open-shift claiming tool.
• The employee resides at their place of employment (for example, an on-site property manager).

The split shift premium

When an employer mandates a split shift, it must pay the affected non-exempt employee a split shift premium. The baseline premium equals exactly one (1) hour of pay at the state minimum wage or the local municipal minimum wage, whichever rate is higher for that worksite.

The minimum wage offset calculation

California lets employers credit any wages paid above the minimum wage toward the split shift premium obligation. Because of this offset, highly compensated hourly employees often do not trigger a split shift payout.

Los Angeles County Fair Workweek Ordinance

Effective July 1, 2025, the Los Angeles County Fair Workweek Ordinance applies to retail businesses (NAICS categories 44-45) with 300 or more employees globally. It covers employees who perform at least two hours of work per week within the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Covered employers must provide employees with:

• A written Good Faith Estimate of the expected work schedule upon hire, or within 10 days of a current employee's request. Employers cannot substantially deviate from this estimate (for example, a 20% difference in actual hours worked) without a documented, legitimate, and unforeseen business reason.
• At least 14 days' advance notice of work schedules.
• Compensation for employer-initiated schedule changes made within the 14-day window: one additional hour of regular pay for changes to the date, time, or location, or for added time exceeding 15 minutes, and half-pay for hours lost due to reduced shifts or cancellations.
• At least 10 hours of rest between shifts. Employees may voluntarily consent in writing to work within this rest period, but the employer must pay a premium of 1.5 times the regular rate for hours worked during that 10-hour window.
• The offer of additional work shifts to existing, qualified employees before hiring new staff, contractors, or temporary workers. Employers must make the offer at least 72 hours before hiring externally, and employees have 48 hours to accept.
• Employees cannot be required to find their own coverage when missing a shift for legally protected reasons.

Los Angeles Fair Work Week Ordinance

The City of Los Angeles enacted its Fair Work Week Ordinance in 2023 to make retail schedules more predictable. Large California retailers (with at least 300 employees worldwide) are required to provide employees with:

• A good faith estimate of expected work hours, days, locations, and whether the employee can expect any on-call shifts;
• At least 14 days' notice of work schedules;
• Predictability pay for schedule changes;
• A chance to say no to extra work or clopenings;
• At least 10 hours of rest between shifts, or premium pay to work through it (with consent);
• Access to new hours before hiring new staff; and
• Notice of their rights under Fair Work Week, posted in the workplace.

San Francisco

San Francisco's Formula Retail Employee Rights Ordinance took effect in 2014. It applies to Formula Retail Establishments (chain retailers) with at least 40 stores worldwide and 20 or more employees in San Francisco, as well as their janitorial and security contractors. Key requirements:

• Covered employers must offer any extra work hours to existing part-time employees before hiring new staff or using contractors or staffing agencies.
• Employees must be given a good faith written estimate of their expected minimum number of shifts per month and the days and times of those shifts.
• Work schedules must be posted at least 2 weeks in advance.
• Employers must pay predictability pay for schedule changes.
• Employers must pay premium pay when an employee is required to be on call but is not called in to work.

Emeryville

The City of Emeryville enacted its Fair Work Week Ordinance on July 1, 2017. It applies to retail firms with 56 or more employees worldwide and 20 or more employees in Emeryville, and requires:

• At least 14 days' advance notice of the work schedule;
• Notice, the right to decline, and compensation for schedule changes with less than 14 days' notice;
• The offer of open shifts to existing employees before hiring new staff;
• At least 11 hours of rest between shifts (or payment of clopening premium pay); and
• The right to request a flexible working arrangement.

San Jose

San Jose's Opportunity to Work Ordinance, effective in 2017, requires covered employers to offer open shifts to existing, qualified, part-time employees before hiring new employees or using contractors or staffing agencies. It applies to all employers with 36 or more employees within the city of San Jose, who must also post the official notice in the workplace.

Berkeley

The City of Berkeley Fair Workweek Ordinance took effect in 2024. It applies to employers who employ at least 10 employees in the City and are:

• in the building services, healthcare, hotel, manufacturing, retail, or warehouse services industries, and employ 56 or more employees globally; or
• in the restaurant industry, and employ 100 or more employees globally; or
• franchisees primarily engaged in the retail or restaurant industries and associated with a network of franchises with franchisees employing in the aggregate 100 or more employees globally; or
• nonprofit corporations in the industries specified above, employing 100 or more employees globally.

Like the other Fair Workweek laws, Berkeley's ordinance requires covered employers to:

• Provide a good faith estimate of the days and times the employee can expect to work;
• Provide at least 14 days' advance notice of the work schedule;
• Obtain employee consent and pay predictability pay for schedule changes;
• Provide at least 11 hours of rest between shifts or pay clopening premium pay; and
• Offer work to existing, qualified part-time employees before hiring new staff or contractors to do the work.