By admin 
Workers across the country are preparing to relax and take time off this Labor Day holiday. To keep you informed, The Sacramento Bee has compiled a list of up-to-date state wage and labor laws to make sure you know your rights and entitlements as a worker in California.
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What is the minimum wage?
California’s minimum wage was raised to $16.90 an hour at the start of 2026 — an increase of 40 cents. The wage increases automatically yearly through a state formula that accounts for inflation, and it is set to rise to $17.40 starting on Jan. 1, 2027.
In comparison, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and has not changed since 2009.
Since 2024, the minimum wage for fast food workers of chains with more than 60 locations nationwide has been $20. The law that put that wage in effect, Assembly Bill 1228, also created a Fast Food Council to determine future minimum wage increases and to establish other employment standards at fast food restaurants.
Certain California health care workers can earn a higher minimum wage ranging up to $25 an hour, depending on the facility where they work.
20 California cities and counties have higher minimum wages than the state’s — mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Los Angeles metropolitan area. They range from $17.34 an hour in Oakland to $20.34 an hour in Emeryville.
California has the highest minimum wage of any state in the nation; Washington D.C. has the highest minimum wage overall at . However, the state’s minimum wage is still significantly lower than what is needed to get by in California, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator. Based on data from February, a single adult with no children would need to earn about $30.48 an hour to cover basic living costs while working full-time. That wage is $36.38 for households with two working adults and two children.
How about salaries?
Salaried employees exempt from overtime pay in California are entitled to a minimum annual income of $70,304 as of Jan. 1, 2026. The state requires that exempt employees must earn at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, assuming a 40-hour workweek and 52 weeks per year.
After the statewide minimum wage raises to $17.40 an hour in January 2027, the minimum salary will increase to $72,384 a year.
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Certain professions are entitled to higher salaries before becoming exempt. Under California Labor Code section 515.5, employees in the computer software field who satisfy specific conditions must earn a minimum monthly salary of $10,214.44, or $122,573.13 a year, to be exempt from overtime.
What about pay for state workers?
The Bee maintains a pay database, updated with data from 2025, with information about public employee compensation in California government agencies and the state’s public universities.
The highest paid civil servant in 2025 was Stephen Gilmore, chief investment officer for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Gilmore earned about $2.3 million in total compensation last year.
More recently, state scientists have been fighting to finance unfunded raises set to take effect in July. State scientists were scheduled to receive a special salary adjustment ranging from 3% to 5%, however the raise was contingent on money being set aside by the legislature that ultimately was not.
Some 240,000 people are employed by the state outside public universities, including part-time employees, according to the State Controller’s Office. Another 400,000 work in the University of California and California State University systems.
What new labor laws took effect this year?
Senate Bill 642, which took effect on Jan. 1, extended the statute of limitations on filing claims for violations of the California Equal Pay Act from two to three years. The California Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from paying employees “at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of another sex, race, or ethnicity for substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions,” according to the Department of Industrial Relations.
Under the amended law, employees who think they have been unfairly paid less than their counterparts in similar roles now have up to three years to file a claim. The law also extends the period for which employees may receive compensation during which any violation existed, up to a maximum of six years, and introduced stricter transparency rules regarding pay scales.
The Workplace Know Your Rights Act also took effect this January and requires employers to provide written notice to their employees annually of their workplace rights under California law. The notice must include information on a worker’s protection from retaliation, protection against unfair immigration-related practices, right to name an emergency contact, rights to union and group activity, worker’s compensation rights and their rights during law enforcement actions. The penalty for failing to send a notice is $500.
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