West Coast Compliance Guide

The West Coast is among the most progressive areas of the country. And employers with locations there know what that means — numerous and complex employment laws.

In addition, the laws crafted on the West Coast also often set the tone for legislation in other states, making the compliance issues there especially relevant for employers that operate across the nation.

In this West Coast Compliance Guide, created by GovDocs in May 2024, you will find information for California, Oregon and Washington regarding:

• Labor law posters
• Minimum wage
• Paid leave
• Pay transparency
• Meal and rest breaks

Labor law posters are the backbone of any compliance program. And California has a lot of them.

California has 87 posters as of May 2024 (including wage orders) currently active in GovDocs Labor Law Poster Program. Of these posters, there were eight mandatory updates (including Spanish updates) handed down in 2023, as well as updates to each of the 17 wage orders at the end of last year.

But the real challenge for employers is all the local jurisdictions with labor law poster requirements. In addition to the state posters, there are 9 county and 207 city labor law posters also active in GovDocs’ postings offerings

Mandatory posters (excluding wage orders and wage supplement) at the state level currently issued in 2024: 34

In 2022, California became the first state to reach a $15 standard minimum wage for large employers Now, at the beginning of 2024, California’s minimum wage hit $16.00 for all employers. In addition to the standard wage rate, the Golden State recently passed a state-level fast food worker minimum wage of $20.00 and a healthcare worker minimum wage (multiple rates), which went into effect on April 1^st and May 1^st of this year, respectfully. Also on the industry wage front, there are some local jurisdictions in California with special minimum wage rates for hotel workers.

Of course, there are numerous cities in California, as well as Los Angeles and San Mateo Counties, with their own minimum wage rates which apply to the unincorporated areas of the Counties.

As of May 2024, there are 38 California cities with their own minimum wage rates and several are at or above the $17 an hour mark, including:

• Belmont
• Berkeley
• Cupertino
• East Palo Alto
• El Cerrito
• Emeryville
• Foster City
• Half Moon Bay
• Los Altos
• Los Angeles
• Milpitas
• Mountain View
• Palo Alto
• Petaluma
• Redwood City
• Richmond
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• Santa Clara
• San Mateo
• Santa Rosa
• Sonoma
• South San Francisco
• Sunnyvale
• West Hollywood

Of note, West Hollywood is the first city in California to breach the $19 threshold with a current minimum wage of $19.08 in effect. There are also a handful of cities above $18.00, including Berkeley, Emeryville, Mountain View, San Francisco, and Sunnyvale.

For a full list of rates, see our blog: California Minimum Wage.

Finally, as a reminder, California prohibits employers from taking a tip credit so there is no tipped employee wage in California.

California has a multitude of leave laws (paid and unpaid), however, we are only going to address the following two paid leave laws:

• Paid sick leave
• Paid family and medical leave

As is the case with minimum wage, several cities in California also have their own paid leave laws — nine jurisdictions have paid sick leave laws and four have paid sick leave specific only to hotel workers.

Below are a few of the basics for the state paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave laws in California.

Paid Sick Leave

Covered Family Member Summary

• Employee’s child (biological, adopted, foster, step, legal ward or to whom the employee stands in loco parentis and regardless of age or dependency)
• Parent (biological, adoptive, foster, step, legal guardian of employee or employee’s spouse or domestic partner or person who stood in loco parentis when employee was a minor)
• Spouse
• Registered Domestic Partner
• Grandparent
• Grandchild
• Sibling
• Designated person – someone identified by the employee at the time the employee requests paid sick days

Eligible Reasons for Use

Employee or family member’s health condition including diagnosis and preventive care, and time off for employee for domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Date Accrual Begins Summary

At start of employment.

Accrual Rate Summary

1 hour for every 30 hours worked.

Max Accrual Cap Summary

80 hours or 10 days

Waiting Period Before Use Summary

Eligible for use on 90th day of employment.

Paid Family and Medical Leave

Covered Employee Summary

An employee includes any individual providing labor or services for remuneration. To be eligible for benefits, an employee must have been paid wages from employment of at least $300.

Does not include an independent contractor that is: 1) is free from the control or direction of the hiring entity; 2) performs work outside the usual course of hiring entity’s business; and 3) customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed.

Covered Family Member Summary

• Child – biological, adopted, foster, step, legal ward, child of a domestic partner or the person to whom the employee stands in loco parentis;
• Parent – biological, foster, adoptive, in-law (including parent of spouse or domestic partner), step, legal guardian, or person who stood in loco parentis to employee as a child
• Grandparent – parent of employee’s parent
• Grandchild – child of employee’s child
• Sibling – biological, adopted or affinity through common legal or biological parent
• Spouse
• Domestic partner

Eligible Reasons for Leave Summary

• Serious illness of employee
• Caring for a seriously ill family member
• Caring for family member due to active military duty of certain family members
• Bonding with new child through birth adoption or placement

Employee Protections Summary

Employees shall take Paid Family Leave concurrently with FMLA and CRFA and are therefore afforded rights and protections under those laws. It shall be unlawful to refuse to hire, discharge, fire, suspend, expel or discriminate an employee for using leave or providing information regarding the family care and medical leave or participating in related proceedings.

Job Protection Summary

Employees should take paid family leave concurrently with FMLA and CRFA and if so, be given the same rights and protections under those laws. Employer shall maintain health care benefits and restore employee to the position, rights and benefits earned prior to taking leave.

Pay transparency has been a hot topic of late, and California recently expanded its law.

Effective January 1, 2023, employers with 15 or more workers are required to include the pay range for positions in job postings. In addition if an applicant requests it, employers must provide the pay range for the position to the applicant..

The information which must be provided in the job posting is the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position. The law also applies to third parties that post jobs on behalf of the employer.

Lastly, there are now expanded pay data reporting requirements that requires employers with 100 or more workers to provide specific pay data annually to the California Civil Rights Division. These employers are required to disclose mean and median hourly rates by demographic group to better identify gender and race-based pay disparities.

Learn about other jurisdictions in our Pay Transparency Guide or view our interactive map for pay transparency laws by state.

California also has requirements for employers regarding meal and rest breaks for nonexempt employees.

Meal Breaks

Starting with meal breaks, shifts of five hours or more require a 30-minute work-free meal break. It must start by the fifth hour of work. Employees can waive their meal break if the shift is six hours or less.

Meanwhile, for shifts more than 10 hours but less than 12 hours, a second meal break is required. This must be provided by the end of the 10th hour. Employees can waive one meal break but not both.

The penalty for employers that fail to prove proper meal breaks is one hour of pay.

Rest Breaks

In California, the rest break rules are generally:

• 10 minutes for every four hours worked
• Must be uninterrupted, relieved of all duties
• No on-call status for the employee
• Employees have the freedom to leave the premises
• Generally, they would be taken on either side of meal break or middle of shift

Again, the penalty for failure to provide a rest break is one hour of pay.

While not quite as broad as California, Oregon still has several labor law posters for employers to monitor.

Oregon has 27 state-level labor law posters as of May 2024 in the GovDocs Labor Law Poster Program, and there were four mandatory updates in 2023.

Interestingly, there are no mandatory labor law poster requirements at the city and county level in Oregon.

Oregon mandatory posters at state level currently issued in 2024: 14

Oregon’s minimum wage could take the title as the most complex in the nation.

It is governed by a unique system that is generally applied by county — the more densely populated an area is, the higher the rate.

But the rates don’t perfectly align with county boundaries, making tracking and applying rates especially cumbersome for employers with locations in Oregon.

Accordingly, Oregon minimum wage has three separate rates, which increase on July 1, 2024, as follows:

$15.95 per hour – Portland metro

Areas within the Urban Growth Boundary, including parts of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.

$14.70 per hour – Standard

Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Deschutes, Hood River, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, Wasco, Yamhill, and parts of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington outside the Urban Growth Boundary.

$13.70 per hour – Non-urban

Baker, Coos, Crook, Curry, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa and Wheeler counties.

Again, though, the rates aren’t always applied evenly across counties. Fortunately, the state provides an Urban Growth Boundary tool to help employers identify which rates apply to their locations.

Lastly, the state does not have a separate rate for tipped employees.

Like California, Oregon has both paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave (PFML). Unlike California, there are no cities in the state with their own paid sick leave ordinances.

Paid Sick Leave

Covered Employee Summary

• All employees except for the following:
• An employee who receives sick time under federal law
• An independent contractor
• A participant in work training program under state or federal assistance program
• A participant in a work study program providing students in secondary or post-secondary educational institutions with employment opportunities for financial assistance or vocational training
• A railroad worker exempted under the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act
• An individual employed by the individual’s parent, spouse, or child

Covered Employer Summary

Employers with 10 or more employees in Oregon must provide paid sick leave. Employers with six or more employees in Oregon must provide paid domestic violence leave.

Covered Family Member Summary

• Spouse or same gender domestic partner
• Parent – including custodial and non-custodial, biological, adoptive, step- or foster parent and in-law of spouse or same-gender domestic partner
• Child – including biological, adoptive, step or foster child of employee or employee’s same-gender domestic partner, whether adult or minor
• Grandparent of employee; Grandchild of employee
• Parent-in-law of employee or with whom employee was or is in a relationship of in loco parentis

Eligible Reasons for Sick Leave Summary

• Employee or family member illness, injury, health condition, diagnosis, treatment, including preventive care
• Family leave such as caring for self or family member with serious health condition
• Dealing with death of family member
• Home care for child will illness or condition that is not serious health condition but requires home care
• Safe time
• Public health emergency, including level 2 or level 3 emergency evacuation orders or absences due to air quality or heat index level issues
• Donation of sick time from one employee to another as long as receiving employee uses sick time for eligible reason and the employer has a policy allowing for donation of sick time between employees

Date Accrual Begins Summary

First day of employment.

Accrual Rate Summary

1 hour for every 30 hours worked or 1-1/3 hours for every 40 hours worked.

Max Accrual Cap Summary

40 hours per year; 80 hours total.

Waiting Period Before Use Summary

Eligible for use on the 91st calendar day of employment.

Max Use Per Year Summary

40 hours

Paid Family and Medical Leave

Covered Employee Summary

Employee that has earned at least $1,000 in wages during the base year or alternate base year. Includes home care workers, self-employed individuals and employees of a tribal government.

Excludes independent contractors, participant in a work training program, work-study program in a secondary or post-secondary educational institution, volunteers and exempted railroad volunteers.

Covered employees must have contributed to PFML Insurance Fund in order to be eligible for benefits.

Covered Family Member Summary

Child, including the child of a domestic partner and person standing in loco parentis, parent, legal guardian or ward, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, spouse or registered domestic partner. Relationships include, biological, adoptive, step-relationships, in-law and foster care relationships. An eligible “child” is an individual under the age of 18 or older as an adult dependent substantially limited by a physical or mental impairment.

Eligible Reasons for Leave Summary

• To care for and bond with child during the first year after the child’s birth or during first year after placement of child through foster care or adoption
• Absence due to employee’s serious health condition
• To care for an eligible family member due to their serious health condition

Safe Time:

• To seek legal or law enforcement assistance to ensure the health and safety of the employee or the employee’s minor child or dependent, including preparing for and participating in protective order proceedings or other civil or criminal legal proceedings related to domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking
• To seek medical treatment for or to recover from injuries caused by domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment or stalking of the eligible employee or employee’s minor child or dependent
• To obtain, or to assist a minor child or dependent in obtaining counseling from a licensed mental health professional related to an experience of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking
• To obtain services from a victim services provider for the eligible employee or the employee’s minor child or dependent
• To relocate or take steps to secure an existing home to ensure the health and safety of the eligible employee or the employee’s minor child or dependent

Weeks Allowed Per Type of Leave Summary

Twelve weeks paid leave for any combination of family leave, medical leave, or safe time leave.

Employee may also be eligible for a combination of paid and unpaid leave up to 16 weeks, with two additional weeks of paid leave provided for limitations due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition, but no more than 18 weeks total per benefit year.

Learn more about the recent amendments to Oregon paid leave laws that are effective July 1, 2024.

Unlike both California and Washington, as of May 2024, Oregon does not have a pay transparency law.

Regarding meal and rest breaks, Oregon’s laws are not quite as generous as California’s.

Meal breaks

Employees are entitled to a 30-minute meal break for every work period 6 to 8 hours in duration as follows:

• If the shift is 7 hours or less, the break must occur after the conclusion of the second hour worked but before the start of the fifth hour of work
• If the shift is longer than 7 hours, the break must occur after the conclusion of the third hour of work but before the beginning of the sixth hour of work

Rest Breaks

Under Oregon law, employees are entitled to 10-minute rest breaks for every four hours worked.

Washington is the middle ground between California and Oregon for labor law posters.

Washington has 21 state posters as of May 2024 but there was only one mandatory state update in 2023. While Washington does not have any county-level postings, there are 13 city-level posters employers must continue to monitor for changes in 2024.

Washington mandatory posters at state level issued in 2024: 9

Last year, the statewide minimum wage in Washington became the highest in the nation. The minimum wage is now $16.28, effective Jan. 1, 2024.

Washington’s latest minimum wage law was enacted through a ballot referendum in 2016. It called for scheduled increases starting in 2017. The final scheduled bump to $13.50 was in 2020.

Following a few years of scheduled increases, in 2021, Washington moved to indexed rates based on the applicable Consumer Price Index.

It’s set to go up again on Jan. 1, 2025, and, depending on the Consumer Price Index, it could still be the highest state minimum wage rate in the U.S. next year.

Meanwhile, five cities in Washington also have adopted their own minimum wage ordinances:

Seattle’s minimum wage increased to $19.97, effective Jan. 1, 2024, for large employers.

For SeaTac, its minimum wage rate only applies to hospitality and transportation employees. Still, it’s another substantial number, with a rate of $19.71, effective Jan. 1, 2024.

As determined by a voter-approved minimum wage ballot measure, Tukwila’s  minimum wage rate of $20.29 per hour for large employers (over 500 employees worldwide), and $18.99 per hour for mid-size employers (between 15-500 employees worldwide) is now currently in effect.

On July 1, 2024, a new minimum wage ordinance will take effect in Renton, increasing the citywide minimum wage to $20.29 for large employers and $18.29 for small employers.

Additionally, Burien recently passed a new minimum wage law that will take effect on January 1, 2025, for level 1 employers, which increases the city wage rate to $3.00 above the Washington state minimum wage in effect at that time.  On July 1, 2025, the Burien minimum wage rate increases to $2 above the Washington rate for level 2 employers.

Finally, King County adopted a new minimum wage ordinance just this month, which will boost the minimum wage in the unincorporated areas of King County to $20.29 for large employers, effective January 1, 2025.

Like California and Oregon, Washington prohibits a lower minimum wage for tipped employees.

Like California and Oregon, Washington has both paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave (PFML).

Washington has two cities with paid sick leave ordinances: Seattle and Tacoma.

To help employers maintain compliance, below are some of the basics of both state-level laws.

Paid Sick Leave

Covered Employee Summary

All employees are covered, unless an exception applies. Those employees not covered are as follows:

• Certain farm laborers
• Individuals employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity or in the capacity of outside salesperson
• Volunteers of an educational, charitable, religious, state, local governmental body or agency, or nonprofit organization
• Certain publication workers
• Carriers subject to regulation by Part 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act
• Individuals engaged in forest protection and fire prevention activities
• Certain workers working in the development of character or citizenship or promoting health or physical fitness or providing or sponsoring recreational opportunities or facilities
• On-call employees who spend most of their working time on-call and individuals whose duties require residing/sleeping at the place of employment
• Vessel operating crews of the Washington state ferries operated by the department of transportation
• Certain junior hockey players
• Constructions workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Covered Employer Summary

All private employers are subject to the paid sick leave law.

Covered Family Member Summary

• Child (biological, adopted, foster, step, or child to whom employee stands in loco parentis, is legal guardian or is de facto parent, regardless of age or dependency)
• Parent of employee or employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner (biological, adoptive, de facto, foster parent, step-parent, legal guardian, or person who stood in loco parentis when employee was minor child)
• Spouse
• Registered domestic partner
• Grandparent
• Grandchild
• Sibling

Eligible Reasons for Sick Leave Summary

• Employee’s illness, injury, or medical condition including diagnosis and preventive care
• To care for a family member with an illness, injury, or medical condition including diagnosis and preventive care
• When employee’s place of business is closed by order of public health official for any health-related reason
• When an employee’s child’s school or place of care is closed by order of public health official for health-related reason
• Absences that qualify as safe time absences due to domestic violence such as: preparing for or participating in a civil criminal proceeding, medical or mental health treatment, services from a domestic violence shelter, crisis center, or other social services center, relocating or other actions to increase safety

Date Accrual Begins Summary

At start of employment.

Accrual Rate Summary

1 hour for every 40 hours worked.

Max Accrual Cap Summary

No applicable provision.

Paid Family and Medical Leave

Covered Employee Summary

Employees who have worked at least 820 hours during the qualifying period and whose work is localized in Washington.

Covered Family Member Summary

• Child – including biological, adopted, foster, step, child’s spouse, or child to whom employee stands in loco parentis, is a legal guardian or de facto parent, regardless of age or dependency status
• Grandchild
• Grandparent
• Parent – including biological, adoptive, de facto, foster, step or legal guardian of an employee or employee’s spouse, an individual who stood in loco parentis to employee when employee was a child
• Sibling
• Spouse – including a husband, wife or state-registered domestic partner
• Individual who regularly resides in the employee’s home or where the relationship creates an expectation that the employee care for the person

Eligible Reasons for Leave Summary

Employee is entitled to paid family and medical leave for the following:

• Employee’s own serious health condition
• To provide physical or psychological care for a family member of employee due to a serious health condition
• To bond with employee’s child after birth, placement or adoption
• Any qualifying exigency due to employee’s spouse, child, or parent is on covered active duty
• Bereavement leave following death of a child after birth, placement or adoption

Effective Jan. 1, 2023, many employers in Washington State must disclose the salary range, or wage scale, and a description of all benefits and other compensation in job posting.

It applies to employers with 15 or more workers. The pay transparency law amended Washington’s existing requirements that employers must disclose wage information to applicants only upon their request.

A “job posting” is defined as:

“Any solicitation intended to recruit job applicants for a specific available position, including recruitment done directly by an employer or indirectly through a third party, and includes any postings done electronically, or with a printed hard copy, that includes qualification for desired applicants.”

Employers still need to provide salary range or wage scale upon request to employees offered a new position, promotion or internal transfer.

Meal Breaks

Employees in Washington are entitled to a 30-minute meal period during any scheduled work shift that exceeds five hours of work. The meal period must start between the second and fifth hour from the beginning of the employee’s shift.

An employee working 3 or more hours of overtime must be allowed at least one 30-minute meal period prior to or during the overtime period.

Employers should note that in Washington there are different meal period requirements for minors.  Minors under 16 are entitled to a meal period of 30 minutes for every four hours worked. Minors under 18 are entitled to a 30-minute meal period after five hours of work.

Rest Breaks

For rest breaks in Washington, employees are entitled to 10 minutes for every four hours worked. If possible, the rest break should occur in the middle of the work period. No employee should be required to work more than 3 hours without a rest period.

Employment laws exist at the city, county, state and federal levels and make compliance especially complex for employers operating across the U.S.

But, as seen here, it’s even more of a challenge to maintain compliance along the West Coast, where legislators have been aggressive over the past decade in passing employee friendly laws impacting employers.