Labor & Employment Law Blog

On Tuesday, July 21, 2015, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to instruct County attorneys to draft a law incrementally raising the County minimum wage to $15.00 per hour by 2020.

The details of the new law are not yet known and the Board of Supervisors will not vote on the wage increase until later this year.  However, the County’s resolution indicates the minimum wage hike will mimic the Los Angeles City minimum wage increase enacted last month.  Specifically, starting in July 2016, the minimum wage will be set at $10.50 with increases to $12.00, $13.25, $14.25, and $15.00 to follow annually in July.  The County minimum wage will then increase annually based on inflation.

It is also expected that, as with the Los Angeles City ordinance, employers with 25 or fewer employees and non-profit organizations will have an additional  one year delay to comply with each of the increases.

More than ten million people reside in Los Angeles County.  However, the minimum wage law will affect only those working in unincorporated areas of the County.  The County of Los Angeles website provides a list of communities that are in unincorporated areas:

While the City of Los Angeles and now the County have adopted minimum wage hikes, many other cities within the County have either declined to do so or are taking a wait-and-see approach.  As a result, the minimum wage for employees working in the County may vary from city to city.

In the coming years, employers who operate in or have employees who work in multiple areas of the County will have to take special precautions to navigate the varied minimum wage areas and ensure their employees are paid the appropriate minimum wage.