©2023 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2023 Cal-Peculiarities | 201 § 15 Temperature: Employers must maintain, in each work area, temperatures providing “reasonable comfort, consistent with industry-wide standards for the nature of the process and the work performed.” Employers also must remove “excessive heat or humidity” created by work, and must maintain the temperature in toilet, resting, and change rooms at or above 68 degrees. § 16 Elevators: Employers must provide adequate elevators or escalators when employees work four or more floors above ground level. § 17 Exemptions: The DLSE can—on a showing of “undue hardship” to the employer and no material effect on employees—waive the requirements of sections 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 of the Wage Orders. § 18 Filing Reports: Referring to employer duties imposed by Labor Code section 1174(a). § 19 Inspection: Referring to employer duties imposed by Labor Code section 1174. § 20 Penalties: Violations of the Wage Order trigger criminal misdemeanor penalties (as described in Labor Code section 1199) as well as civil penalties in the amount of $50 per pay period for each underpaid employee for an initial violation and $100 per pay period for each underpaid employee for each further violation. § 22 Posting of Order: Employers must keep the Wage Order posted in an area where it may be easily read during the workday. Where that is not practical, employers must make a copy of the order available on request. 7.2 Minimum Wages 7.2.1 State-wide minimum wage California, along with more than a dozen other states, imposes a higher minimum wage than does federal law. Effective January 1, 2023, California’s minimum wage is $15.50 for all employers, regardless of the number of employees.8 The federal minimum wage, by contrast, has remained at $7.25 since July 2009. By 2016 legislation, the California minimum wage will continue to rise further in accordance with inflation.9 For each year following 2022, the Department of Finance will calculate a yearly minimum wage increase at either 3.5% or the increase in the U.S. Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (U.S. CPIW), whichever is lesser. The minimum wage will stay the same if that index is negative. The Governor can pause minimum-wage hikes based on economic conditions, up to two times. California heaps significant penalties on employers that fail to pay minimum wage. First, the underpaid employee is entitled to liquidated damages in an amount equal to the amount of the unpaid wages, plus interest thereon,10 unless the employer shows that it had reasonable grounds, in good faith, to believe that its actions complied.11 Second, the Labor Code imposes civil penalties of $100 per employee per pay period for a first, intentional, violation, and $250 per employee per pay period for repeated violations, on “[a]ny employer or other person acting either individually or as an officer, agent, or employee of another person” who fails to pay the minimum wage.12 Third, the Labor Code imposes criminal penalties on “[e]very employer or other person acting either individually or as an officer, agent, or employee of another person” who “causes to be paid to any employee a wage less than the minimum fixed by” a Wage Order.13 7.2.2 The peculiar “pay separately for each hour” doctrine In America generally, employers subject to the FLSA satisfy their duty to pay the minimum wage by paying an average hourly wage that meets the minimum, even if the employer does not separately compensate each hour of
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTkwMTQ4