California Minimum Wage Workers Will Receive $15 Per Hour By 2023

Published April 8, 2016

California amended its labor code with two provisions: one, planned statewide minimum wage increases; and two, an allowance for paid sick time for in-home support services workers.

California’s $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Schedule

The California minimum wage will increase to $10.50 per hour on January 1, 2017 for businesses with 26 or more employees, and then increase each year until reaching $15 per hour in 2022.

Once the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour for all businesses, wages could then be increased each year up to 3.5 percent (rounded to the nearest 10 cents) for inflation as measured by the national Consumer Price Index.

* Rate adjusted to changes in Consumer Price Index (if any) to a cap of 3.5 percent each year.

The law grants the Governor “off-ramping” power to pause scheduled increases for one year in case of poor economic conditions – except for the $10.50 initial rate increase and after the rate has been indexed in 2024.

According to California’s estimates, more than 2 million workers earn the minimum wage rate.

California would like to be the first state in the nation to reach the $15 minimum wage rate statewide, but New York might slip in to take the prize by as much as two years ahead of California, depending on the schedule for New York’s “Rest of State” workplaces.

Meanwhile, the fate of a ballot initiative that would have put a $15 minimum wage rate to voters later in November 2016 remains uncertain. The Fair Wage Act of 2016 initiative (#15-0032) would have phased in planned rate increases to arrive at the $15 level by 2021.

Paid Sick Time for IHSS Workers

The new law also phases in sick leave for In-Home Supportive Services workers starting in July 2018.

In-home support services (IHSS) workers will be eligible to earn and use paid sick time beginning July 1, 2018. Covered workers will accrue one hour paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 had previously excluded in-home support service workers from eligibility. An IHSS worker provides homemaker and personal care assistance to disabled or aging persons who want to live in their own homes.