California HR laws impose obligations that reach further than federal employment law in almost every direction, and 2026 raises the numbers again: a $16.90 general minimum wage, a $70,304 exempt salary floor, industry rates of $20.00 for covered fast food workers and up to $24.00 (rising to $25.00 mid-year) for large-hospital healthcare staff, plus written plans, notices, and final-pay deadlines that don’t exist federally. This guide walks through what a California employer has to do across wages, breaks, classification, leave, discrimination, safety, privacy, and separations.
Minimum Wage in 2026
Effective January 1, 2026, every California employer must pay at least $16.90 per hour regardless of company size.1Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage Two industries carry higher mandatory rates.
National fast food chain restaurants covered by the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act must pay at least $20.00 per hour.1Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage The law applies to chains with 60 or more locations nationwide, and franchisees are covered even if their franchise agreement is silent on wages.
Healthcare workers at covered facilities follow a tiered schedule. Large hospital systems and dialysis clinics pay at least $24.00 per hour through June 30, 2026, then $25.00 on July 1, 2026. Other covered healthcare facilities pay $21.00 through June 30 and $22.00 after.2Department of Industrial Relations. Health Care Worker Minimum Wage Frequently Asked Questions Safety-net hospitals and county-run facilities are on separate, slower schedules.
Overtime and the Exempt Salary Threshold
California calculates overtime daily, not just weekly. Work beyond eight hours in a single day earns one and one-half times the regular rate. Beyond twelve hours in a day, or beyond eight hours on a seventh consecutive workday, the rate doubles.3California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 510 – Eight Hours of Labor The 40-hour weekly threshold still applies too, so an employee who works five eight-hour days plus a six-hour sixth day earns overtime on those extra six hours even though no single day exceeded eight.
Salaried employees are not automatically exempt. To qualify for an executive, administrative, or professional exemption in California, an employee must earn at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, which is $70,304 per year in 2026.4Department of Industrial Relations. California’s Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $16.90 Per Hour The federal 2019 threshold is just $35,568, so an employee who is exempt under federal law can still be non-exempt here. The salary test is only half of it. The employee must also spend more than half their time on duties that fit the specific exemption. Miss either prong and the employer is exposed to back-overtime claims.
Meal and Rest Breaks
Breaks generate more penalty pay than most employers expect. An employee working more than five hours in a day must receive a 30-minute unpaid meal break before the end of the fifth hour. A second 30-minute meal break is required when a shift exceeds ten hours, though the employee can waive the second break by mutual agreement if the shift won’t exceed twelve hours and the first break was taken.5California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 512
Separately, employers must provide a paid ten-minute rest break for every four hours worked, scheduled as close to the middle of the work period as practical. The employee must be relieved of all duties during the rest break.
When a compliant meal break isn’t provided, the employee is owed one additional hour of pay at the regular rate. The same one-hour premium applies for each day a rest break is missed.6Department of Industrial Relations. Meal Periods If a meal break and a rest break are both missed on the same day, that’s two hours of premium pay. Accurate time records showing when meal periods start and end are the employer’s best defense, and those records must be kept at least three years.7Department of Industrial Relations. Personnel Files and Records The employer’s duty under Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court is to relieve the employee of duty and provide the opportunity for a break, not to police whether the employee actually stops working.8Supreme Court of California. Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Super. Ct.
Independent Contractor Classification
California uses the ABC test, which presumes every worker is an employee unless the hiring entity proves all three of these:
- The worker is free from the company’s control over how the work is performed, both under the contract and in practice.
- The work is outside the hiring entity’s usual course of business.
- The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade of the same nature as the work performed.9Department of Industrial Relations. Independent Contractors
The second prong catches most companies. A coding firm can’t easily argue that a freelance developer is “outside the usual course” of its business. Some occupations (licensed insurance agents, physicians, and certain professional services) have narrow statutory exemptions, but the default is employee status. Misclassification triggers unpaid overtime, missed-break premiums, denied benefits, and stacked Labor Code penalties.
Pay Transparency in Job Postings
Employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale in every job posting, whether the posting is internal, external, or through a third-party recruiter. The pay scale is the salary or hourly range the employer reasonably expects to pay. Any employer, regardless of size, must provide the pay scale to an applicant on request, and current employees can request the pay scale for their own role.10California Legislative Information. Senate Bill 1162 Penalties run from $100 to $10,000 per violation. For a first offense, an employer can avoid a penalty by updating open postings to include compliant pay scales.
Required Leave and Time Off
Several leave laws overlap, several run concurrently, and several apply to employers well below the federal thresholds. Here’s what each one requires.
California Family Rights Act
CFRA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for the birth or placement of a child, care for a family member with a serious health condition (spouse, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or domestic partner), or the employee’s own serious health condition. It applies to employers with five or more employees.11California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12945.2 Employees qualify with 12 months of service and 1,250 hours worked in the prior 12 months.12California Civil Rights Department. Family Care and Medical Leave Quick Reference Guide
Federal FMLA only applies to employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles of a worksite,13U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act so thousands of small California businesses owe CFRA leave without any federal obligation. When both apply, the leaves generally run at the same time.
Pregnancy Disability Leave
PDL is separate from CFRA. An employee disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition can take up to four months of leave, with no minimum service or hours requirement, from any employer with five or more employees.14California Civil Rights Department. Pregnancy Disability Leave Fact Sheet PDL does not count against CFRA, so an employee could take four months of PDL followed by 12 weeks of CFRA bonding leave, roughly seven months of protected time off. Group health insurance must be maintained through both.
Bereavement Leave
Employers with five or more employees must grant up to five days of bereavement leave after the death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law.15California Civil Rights Department. Bereavement Leave FAQ The leave doesn’t have to be paid, but if the employee has accrued vacation, sick leave, or PTO, the employer must allow it to be used during the bereavement period.
Reproductive Loss Leave
Employees who experience a miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy, or unsuccessful assisted reproduction get five days of leave per event, completed within three months. Multiple qualifying events in the same year cap at 20 days total.16California Civil Rights Department. Leave from Work After a Reproductive Loss Applies to employers with five or more employees; requires 30 days of prior service.
Paid Sick Leave
Under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act, employers must provide at least five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave per year. Employees accrue at a minimum of one hour per 30 hours worked from their first day. Employers can front-load the annual amount instead. Under an accrual model, the employer can cap total accumulated sick leave at 80 hours but must let unused hours carry over year to year.17Department of Industrial Relations. California Paid Sick Leave Frequently Asked Questions
Paid Family Leave and State Disability Insurance
CFRA guarantees job protection, not pay. Paid Family Leave and State Disability Insurance replace part of the wages during covered absences. Employers don’t fund these benefits directly, but they must provide employees with the required claim forms and cannot interfere with filing.
Discrimination, Harassment, and Accommodation
The Fair Employment and Housing Act covers more protected categories than federal Title VII, including race, sex, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, genetic information, and military or veteran status. Discrimination provisions apply to employers with five or more employees. Harassment provisions apply to every employer regardless of size.18Civil Rights Department. Employment
When a supervisor is the harasser, the employer is strictly liable, even if management knew nothing about the conduct. For harassment by coworkers or third parties, the employer is liable if it knew or should have known and failed to take prompt corrective action. A single incident can be enough if it is severe.
FEHA also requires a timely, good-faith interactive process whenever an employee needs a reasonable accommodation for a disability or a sincerely held religious belief. The employer must explore options and provide an accommodation unless doing so would create undue hardship. Document each step. The most common failure isn’t the accommodation itself, it’s refusing to have the conversation, and that refusal alone can support a claim.
Sexual Harassment Training and Workplace Posters
Employers with five or more employees must provide at least two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to supervisors and at least one hour to non-supervisory employees.19LegiScan. California SB1343 – Employers Sexual Harassment Training Requirements New hires and newly promoted supervisors must complete the training within six months, and everyone retrains every two years. The training must cover harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation and include practical examples. It can be online, in person, or by webinar.
Training records must be kept for at least two years and should include the employee’s name, the date, the format, and the trainer. Incomplete records become evidence of non-compliance in a later claim.
Every workplace must post mandatory notices where employees can see them: the FEHA anti-discrimination poster, the current minimum wage notice, payday information, workers’ compensation details, and unemployment and disability insurance information. If 10 percent or more of the workforce speaks a language other than English, the posters must also appear in that language.20California Civil Rights Department. Publications Remote workers should get electronic access to the same notices. An annual audit is a practical habit because wage rates change yearly.
Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
Since July 1, 2024, nearly all California employers must maintain a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan. The requirement applies broadly across general industry, with limited exceptions for certain healthcare facilities under their own standards, corrections facilities, and some law enforcement operations.21Department of Industrial Relations. Cal/OSHA Workplace Violence Prevention for General Industry
The plan must name the people responsible for implementation, describe how the employer will accept and investigate reports, outline emergency response procedures, and include employee training. A violent incident log has to record every incident, regardless of injury. Employee involvement in developing the plan is required by statute. Cal/OSHA can cite for missing or deficient plans, so annual review and updates are expected.
Cal/OSHA and the Injury and Illness Prevention Program
California runs its own state occupational safety plan through Cal/OSHA. Every employer must have a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program covering procedures for identifying and correcting hazards, communicating safety information, and providing training. There’s no small-employer exemption.22Department of Industrial Relations. Cal/OSHA Division of Occupational Safety and Health
California also imposes requirements that don’t exist federally, including heat illness prevention plans for outdoor workers and the workplace violence plan above. The annual injury and illness summary (the equivalent of federal Form 300A) must be posted by February 1 and stay up through April 30. Injury and illness logs must be kept for at least five years. Missing IIPPs are among the most frequently cited Cal/OSHA violations because inspectors check for one on nearly every visit.
Employee Data Privacy Under CCPA/CPRA
The California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, extends data privacy rights to employees and job applicants. Employers must give a Notice at Collection before or when personal information is gathered, explaining the categories collected and why. Personal information is broadly defined and includes government identifiers, home addresses, biometric data, and geolocation.
Employees can access the personal data their employer holds, request deletion of certain information, and correct inaccurate records. Responses are due within 45 calendar days, extendable by another 45 days with notice.23State of California Department of Justice. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Retaliation for exercising these rights is prohibited. HR and IT need a documented process for receiving, tracking, and responding to requests.
The CPRA also created a sensitive personal information category (racial or ethnic origin, government identifiers, account credentials, and similar data). Use of sensitive information must be limited to what’s necessary for employment-related purposes. Data-sharing with benefits administrators, background check vendors, and similar partners needs a compliance review.
If a breach exposes unencrypted personal information because the employer failed to maintain reasonable security practices, affected employees can sue for statutory damages of $100 to $750 per person per incident, or actual damages if higher.24California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1798.150 For a breach touching thousands of employees, the exposure adds up fast.
Personnel Records Requests
Current and former employees can inspect and receive copies of their personnel records, including performance evaluations, training records, and grievance documents. Records must be produced within 30 calendar days of a written request, extendable by up to five days by written agreement. Former employees get one inspection per year.25California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 1198.5 Missing the deadline is a $750 penalty per violation. Personnel records must be retained for at least three years after the employee leaves.7Department of Industrial Relations. Personnel Files and Records
Final Pay and Waiting Time Penalties
Final-pay rules are strict, and the penalties for slow payment are steep by design.
When an employee is fired or laid off, all earned and unpaid wages are due immediately at separation. That includes regular hours, overtime, and the cash value of accrued but unused vacation or PTO.26California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 201 – Payment of Wages Commissions that can be reasonably calculated at that point must be included too. There’s no waiting for the next payday.
For resignations, timing depends on notice. An employee giving at least 72 hours’ advance notice is entitled to final wages at departure. An employee who quits without that notice must receive final wages within 72 hours.27Department of Industrial Relations. Final Pay The employee can request that the check be mailed, and the mailing date counts as the payment date.
Missing these deadlines triggers waiting time penalties equal to one day’s pay for each day the wages go unpaid, capped at 30 calendar days.28Department of Industrial Relations. Waiting Time Penalty For an employee earning $250 per day, a two-week delay adds $3,500 on top of the wages owed. The penalty applies where the failure is “willful,” which courts generally read as anything that isn’t a genuine good-faith dispute. If part of the wages is disputed, the undisputed portion must still be paid on time.
Employers cannot condition final wages on signing a release or waiver. Final wages must be paid at the place of discharge or, for a resignation, at the employer’s office in the county where the work was performed.
Mass Layoff Notice Under Cal-WARN
California’s WARN Act requires 60 days’ advance written notice before a mass layoff, relocation, or plant closure. It applies to employers with 75 or more employees, and part-time employees count toward that threshold. A mass layoff is the separation of 50 or more employees at a single site during a 30-day period, with no percentage-of-workforce test. If a facility closes entirely, notice is required regardless of the number affected. Employees who don’t receive the required 60 days of notice can recover back pay and benefits for each day of the violation.