GOVDOCS EMPLOYMENT LAW COMPLIANCE
West Coast Compliance Guide
Last Updated: March 2023 | Read Time: 20 min
GOVDOCS EMPLOYMENT LAW COMPLIANCE
Last Updated: March 2023 | Read Time: 20 min
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 March 2023, you will find information for California, Oregon and Washington regarding:
Labor law posters are the backbone of any compliance program. And California has a lot of them.
California has 31 active posters as of March 2023 (including wage orders). Plus, there were nine mandatory updates (including Spanish updates) at the state level handed down in 2022, 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 smaller jurisdictions with labor law poster requirements.
In 2022, California became the first state to reach a $15 standard minimum wage (for large employers) and it hit $15.50 for all employers at the beginning of 2023.
Of course, there are several cities in California, as well as Los Angeles County, with their own minimum wage rate. Also, San Mateo County will have its own rate starting April 1, 2023. It also applies only to unincorporated areas of the county, like Los Angeles County.
As of March 2023, there were 38 cities with their own rates. (Some have laws that do not apply due to the higher state rate.) And many of them are high. As of Jan. 1, 2023, many California cities are at or above the $17 an hour mark, including:
For a full list of rates, see our blog: California Minimum Wage.
Lastly on the minimum wage front, there are some jurisdictions in California with special rates for certain industries, notably those for hotel and healthcare workers.
With paid leave, California several different laws, such as paid disability leave, paid parental leave, etc.
The two major laws at the state-level we cover here are:
However, as is the case with minimum wage, several cities in California also have their own paid leave laws — eight jurisdictions have paid sick leave laws and four have paid sick leave specific 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
48 hours or 6 days
Waiting Period Before Use Summary
Eligible for use on 90th day of employment.
Covered Employee Summary
Employee includes any individual providing labor or services for remuneration. To be eligible for benefits, 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 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.
The law requires employers to make salary ranges for positions available to applicants and employees. That portion of the law became effective Jan. 1, 2023. It applies to employers with 15 or more workers.
Also, “pay scale” means 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 to better identify gender and race-based pay disparities. That portion of the law applies to employers with 100 or more workers.
(Learn about other jurisdictions in our blog, Pay Transparency Laws.)
The running theme for California continues with meal and rest break laws. There are several for employers to note.
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:
Again, the penalty for failure to provide a rest break is one hour of pay.
Lastly, California has a day of rest law: employees are entitled to one day of rest every seven days.
While not quite as broad as California, Oregon still has several labor law posters for employers to monitor.
Oregon has 10 active posters as of March 2023 and there were seven mandatory updates in 2022.
Interestingly, however, there are no mandatory labor law poster requirements at the city and county level in Oregon.
Oregon minimum wage could take the title as the most complex in the nation.
It is governed by a unique system. Minimum wage in Oregon 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.
Oregon minimum wage has three separate rates, which most recently increased July 1, 2022.
However, that was the final scheduled increase under the minimum wage law in Oregon. Beginning July 1, 2023, and in succeeding years, the Oregon minimum wage will go up based on inflation.
At a high level, Oregon minimum wage (as of March 2023) breaks down like this.
$14.75 per hour – Portland metro
Areas within the Urban Growth Boundary, including parts of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.
$13.50 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.
$12.50 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). Though a couple of cities previously had paid sick leave laws on the books, the state’s paid sick leave law preempted both.
While the paid sick leave law in Oregon has been in effect since 2016, there are some recent items to note about the state’s PFML law. Contributions to the program began Jan. 1, 2023, with employees able to take benefits beginning Sept. 3, 2023.
At the beginning of 2023, workers began paying 0.6 percent of their gross wages, with large employers contributing 0.4 percent to fund the PFML program. (Employers with less than 25 workers are not required to pay into the program. However, they can choose to pay into it if they wish to get access to “assistance grants” to cover costs such as overtime or a temporary replacement worker.)
Before getting into the specifics of paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave in Oregon, it is worth noting that the state does not have any cities with their own paid leave laws.
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 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.
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.
Employee may also be eligible for a combination of paid and unpaid leave up to 16 weeks, with two additional weeks of paid leave may be provided for limitations due to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical condition but no more than 18 weeks total per benefit year.
Unlike both California and Washington, Oregon does not, as of March 2023, have a pay transparency law.
However, it should be noted that both Oregon and Portland are aggressive with enforcement of equal pay laws.
Regarding meal and rest breaks, Oregon’s laws are not quite as generous as California’s.
Meal breaks
For shifts of six hours or longer, employees are entitled to a 30-minute meal break. There are certain parameters to note:
Lastly, if the shift is 14 or more hours, the employee must receive a second meal break.
Rest Breaks
Under Oregon law, employees are entitled to 10-minute rest breaks for every four hours worked.
Washington is kind of in the middle of California and Oregon for labor law posters.
The state has 10 active posters as of March 2023 and there were three mandatory updates in 2022.
Most noteworthy for minimum wage in Washington is that it has the highest state rate in the nation. The minimum wage is $15.74, effective Jan. 1, 2023.
Following a few years of scheduled increases, Washington in 2021 moved to indexed rates based on the applicable Consumer Price Index.
The state’s current rate is effective as of Jan. 1, 2023. It’s set to go up again on Jan. 1, 2024, and, depending on the Consumer Price Index, it could still be the highest state minimum wage rate in the U.S. next year.
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.
Meanwhile, three cities in Washington also have their own rates:
Seattle’s minimum wage increased to $18.69, effective Jan. 1, 2023, for large employers (it is the highest standard rate in the U.S. as of March 2023).
For SeaTac, its minimum wage rate only applies to hospitality and transportation employees. Still, it’s another substantial number, with a rate of $19.06, effective Jan. 1, 2023.
Starting in July 2023, Tukwila will have its own minimum wage rate of $18.99 per hour for large employers (over 500 employees worldwide), as determined by a voter-approved minimum wage ballot measure.
Like California and Oregon, Washington has both paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave (PFML).
The state’s PFML law has been in effect since 2017, with PFML going into effect a year later.
Also, both Seattle and Tacoma have paid leave laws, as well.
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 covered.
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:
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.
Under the amended Washington pay transparency law, job postings are not required, but if job postings are used, employers must include the appropriate disclosures, effective Jan. 1, 2023.
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.
For rest breaks in Washington, employees are entitled to 10 minutes for every four hours worked.
Employment law is a broad and complex portion of running a business, especially for employers that operate 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 laws that impact employers.
Plus, California, Oregon and Washington also take enforcement seriously, making compliance with these laws (and others) doubly important.
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.