A new year will bring new laws for businesses to follow, including higher minimum wages, increased workplace safety and expanded family leave.
For starters, California’s minimum wage on Jan. 1 will increase to $15 per hour for businesses with 26 or more employees, and $14 per hour for companies employing 25 or fewer workers. The graduated minimum wage hikes were signed into law in 2015 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.
Some jurisdictions, however, have their own laws in place that already exceed the higher minimum wage laws about to take effect.
“Every year, California and local cities change their minimum wages,” said Lisa Ann Hilario, an employment law specialist at Santa Rosa-based Spaulding McCullough & Tansil. “From a pocketbook perspective,” the minimum wage hikes make the biggest dent in a company’s expenses, she added.
And what’s unique to the pandemic age that’s under the radar, the minimum wage standard must apply to where employees live and conduct remote work, not where a company’s headquarters is located. For example, the rate in Petaluma and Santa Rosa is $15.85 in 2022. The city of Sonoma’s rate is set at $16 for large employers and coincides with the state’s rate for small firms.
“Those (minimum wage) rates apply if an employee works (remotely) more than two hours a week,” Hilario said.
One of the more pressing wage laws for the North Bay business community, especially in wine country, is Assembly Bill 1066, which...
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