Labor & Employment Law Blog

California health care employers will recall that Governor Newsom signed SB 525 into law in October 2023, setting into motion planned increases to the required minimum wage for certain health care employees who work at covered health care facilities. SB 525 required increases to the health care minimum wage to begin in June 2024, but the law’s start date became a matter of confusion and chaos, with the State first delaying SB 525’s start date to July 1, 2024 based upon budgetary concerns, only to then delay it again until at least October 15, 2024.

On January 1, 2024, California’s statewide minimum wage rate increased to $16 per hour. Alongside this hike to the minimum wage, the base salary requirement for California employees exempt under the administrative, professional, and executive exemptions increased to an annualized salary of $66,560.