Minimum wage changes are on their way in January 2017. If you haven’t already examined employee pay and minimum wage rates, now is the time to make those reviews ASAP!
California Minimum Wage – January 1, 2017
California will be raising its minimum wage for non-exempt employees working for employers with 26 or more employees to $10.50 per hour, effective January 1, 2017. Employers with 25 or fewer employees have a one-year delay in implementation, and will remain at $10.00 per hour.
This minimum wage increase will also impact exempt employees, who must be paid at least two times the state minimum wage for full-time (i.e., 40 hours a week) work to remain exempt from state overtime rules. Please see above for more information on exempt salary.
Local Minimum Wage Increases – January 1, 2017
Several cities in California have also passed local ordinances relating to the minimum wage, which impact non-exempt employees. The following cities will have minimum wage increases effective January 1, 2017:
- Cupertino, CA – $12.00 per hour
- El Cerrito, CA – $12.25 per hour
- Long Beach, CA – $10.50 per hour for businesses with 26 or more employees
- Los Altos, CA – $12.00 per hour
- Mountain View, CA – $13.00 per hour
- Palo Alto, CA – $12.00 per hour
- Richmond, CA – $12.30 per hour
- Sacramento, CA – $10.50 per hour
- San Diego, CA – $11.50 per hour
- San Jose, CA – $10.40 per hour
- San Mateo, CA – $12.00 per hour (unless a 501(c)(3))
- Santa Clara, CA – $11.10 per hour
- Sunnyvale, CA – $13.00 per hour
Campbell, CA; Milpitas, CA; and Monte Sereno, CA are considering minimum wage increase that could be effective January 1, 2017. This is part of an overall campaign in the Santa Clara County region to have all cities on the same minimum wage schedule.
In general, any employee working at least 2 hours per work week in a city with a local minimum wage ordinance must be paid the relevant minimum wage for that time, although there are exceptions to this rule for employees in Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, San Mateo, and Sunnyvale. Minimum wage posters must be updated with these new increases, and materials are available through The Craft Beer Attorney or through the municipality itself.
These minimum wage increases do not impact the salaries of exempt employees working in these areas, which remain tied to the higher of either the federal Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage or the State of California minimum wage.
NEW I-9 Requirements
On November 14, 2016, the Dept. of Homeland Security issued a new Form I-9. This is the form completed for all new and rehired employees, and must be completed within the first 3 days of employment. The new Form I-9 version must be used for all new employees and/or rehired employees coming on board on or after January 21, 2017. You do not – and should not – complete new Form I-9s for existing employees based on this form update.
The new form and instructions can be found here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9. Please contact our office if you have any questions about the new form, I-9 completion, and I-9 storage and retention policies.