West Coast Compliance Guide
Last Updated: May 2025
Labor law posters are the backbone of any compliance program. And California has a lot of them.
California has 88 posters as of May 2025 (including wage orders) currently active in GovDocs Labor Law Poster Program. Of these posters, there were seven mandatory updates (including Spanish updates) handed down in 2024, as well as 36 wage order updates 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 8 county and 210 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 2025, California’s minimum wage hit $16.50 for all employers. In addition to the standard wage rate, the Golden State 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 1st and Oct 16th in 2024, 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 two counties in California, Los Angeles and San Mateo Counties, with their own minimum wage rates that apply to the unincorporated areas of their respective counties
As of May 2025, there are 38 California cities with their own minimum wage rates and all but one are now above the $17 an hour mark. There are also a handful of cities at or above $19 an hour including:
Of note, West Hollywood was the first city in California to breach the $19 threshold with a current minimum wage of $19.65, which is the highest in the state. There are also several cities above $18, including Berkeley, San Francisco, El Cerrito, Palo Alto, and Santa Clara.
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:
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.
Covered Family Member Summary
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.
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
Eligible Reasons for Leave Summary
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.
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. If the employee’s shift is six hours or less, a meal break may be waived by mutual agreement between the employer and employee.
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:
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 30 state-level labor law posters as of May 2025 in the GovDocs Labor Law Poster Program, and there were 11 mandatory updates in 2024.
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: 20
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, 2025, as follows:
$16.30 per hour – Portland metro
Areas within the Urban Growth Boundary, including parts of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.
$15.05 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.
$14.05 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.
Covered Employee Summary
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
Eligible Reasons for Sick Leave Summary
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
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 workers.
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
Safe Time:
Weeks Allowed Per Type of Leave Summary
Twelve weeks paid leave for any combination of family leave, medical leave, or safe time leave.
Up to 2 additional weeks for limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. The two additional weeks of leave for limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions are only available one time per pregnancy, regardless of whether the individual has started a new benefit year.
Unlike both California and Washington, as of May 2025, 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:
Rest Breaks
Under Oregon law, employees are entitled to 10-minute rest breaks for every four hours worked. The rest break should be taken in the middle of each four hour work period and are to be taken separately from meal breaks.
Washington is the middle ground between California and Oregon for labor law posters.
Washington had 1 mandatory update in 2024, but so far in 2025 there have been 2 mandatory updates. Washington has 1 county level poster and 15 city-level posters employers must continue to monitor in 2025.
Washington has 24 state posters as of May 2025. Washington has one county-level posting and there are 15 city-level posters employers must continue to monitor for changes in 2025.
Washington mandatory posters at state level in 2024: 9
Washington’s minimum wage remains the highest in the nation and is currently set at $16.66 as of Jan. 1, 2025.
Washington’s 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, 2026, and, depending on the Consumer Price Index, it will continue to compete with California, Connecticut, and New Jersey for the highest state minimum wage rate in the U.S. next year.
Meanwhile, seven cities in Washington and one county have adopted their own minimum wage ordinances:
Notably, six out of the eight jurisdictions currently have minimum wage rates in place that are above the $20 threshold.
On May 1, 2025, the minimum wage in Bellingham will increase to $18.66 per hour. Then on July 1, 2025, the newest city to pass their own minimum wage ordinance, Everett, will increase its city wage rate to $20.24 for large employers (more than 500 employees) and $18.24 for other covered employers (15-500 employees or annual gross revenue over $2 million).
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 three cities with paid sick leave ordinances: Seattle, SeaTac, Tacoma. SeaTac’s paid sick leave law applies to hospitality and transportation workers only.
To help employers maintain compliance, below are some of the basics of both state-level laws.
Covered Employee Summary
All employees are covered, unless an exception applies. Those employees not covered are as follows:
Covered Employer Summary
All private employers are subject to the paid sick leave law.
Covered Family Member Summary
Eligible Reasons for Sick Leave Summary
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.
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
Eligible Reasons for Leave Summary
Employee is entitled to paid family and medical leave for the following:
Weeks Allowed Per Type of Leave
In any benefit year, employees are allowed to take 12 weeks for family leave or medical leave and may be extended to 14 weeks if employee experiences a serious health condition with a pregnancy that results in a period of incapacity.
Up to 16 weeks of combined family and medical may be taken in any benefit year and may be extended to 18 weeks if employee experiences a serious health condition with a pregnancy that results in a period of incapacity.
Effective Jan. 1, 2023, employers in Washington State with 15 or more workers must disclose the salary range, or wage scale, and a description of all benefits and other compensation in job postings.
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 must also 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. Minors are entitled to a rest break of at least 10 minutes for every two 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.
Ready to tackle compliance on the other side of the country?
Our East Coast Compliance Guide outlines key employment law requirements in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York to help your business stay informed.
GovDocs simplifies employment law compliance for multi-jurisdiction employers in the U.S. and Canada. The GovDocs platform integrates solutions for physical labor law posters, electronic labor law posters, minimum wage management, and paid leave management in one convenient place to help you master the employment laws impacting your business. Whether you manage a poster, minimum wage or paid leave program, our products cut through research time, provide proactive insights into the everchanging landscape of employment laws and reduce the risk of noncompliance.