A proposed California Senate Bill, SB-525 Minimum wage: health care workers would mandate a minimum wage of $25 per hour for all California health care workers. Virtually everyone working in California health care, including support staff as well as health workers, would be covered by the legislation.
Anyone who has been to a grocery store, made a rent payment, or put gas in their car in recent months can easily understand the motivation for this bill. Even before the recent spike in inflation, the cost of life's necessities has been skyrocketing. Economic survival has become a challenge for health care workers along with the rest of us.
The bill could cover as many as 1.5 million workers
The surprising thing about this bill is its massive coverage. Just about everybody involved with health care in California will qualify for the $25 an hour minimum wage increase. Janitors, security guards, and food service workers are examples of staff workers that would be covered by the bill.
The text of the bill describes two enormous groups: everyone working at a health care facility, and everyone providing health care, regardless of the location. According to SB-525, “Covered health care employment” means:
“All paid work performed on the premises of any health care facility, regardless of the identity of the employer.”
And:
“All paid work providing health care services performed for any person that owns, controls, or operates a covered health care facility, regardless of work...
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