On May 16, 2022, the West Hollywood, California City Council approved amendments to the City’s minimum wage and leave ordinance that took effect Jan. 1, 2022.
The Details:
Minimum wage:
Under the ordinance, the minimum wage in West Hollywood increased on Jan. 1, 2022, and will increase again on July 1, 2022, January 1, 2023, and July 1, 2023 as follows:
January 1, 2022
Hotel workers $17.64 per hour
Employers with 50 or more employees $15.50 per hour
Employers with 49 or fewer employees $15.00 per hour
July 1, 2022
Hotel workers To be determined based on inflation
Employers with 50 or more employees $16.50 per hour
Employers with 49 or fewer employees $16.00 per hour
January 1, 2023
Hotel workers To be determined based on inflation
Employers with 50 or more employees $17.50 per hour
Employers with 49 or fewer employees $17.00 per hour
July 1, 2023
Hotel workers To be determined based on inflation
Employers with 50 or more employees $17.64 per hour + CPI from July 1, 2022
Employers with 49 or fewer employees $17.64 per hour + CPI from July 1, 2022
Leave:
Paid leave
The ordinance requires that employers provide full-time employees at least 96 compensated hours of time off per year for sick leave, vacation, or personal necessity. Full-time employees are entitled to accrue at least 96/52 (1.846) hours of compensated time off each week of employment. Compensated time off doesn’t accrue for work in excess of 40 hours a week. Full-time employees who work less than 40 hours a week will receive the compensated time off in proportional increments.
Unpaid leave
In addition to the paid leave, employers must permit full-time employees to take at least 80 additional hours per year of uncompensated time off to be used for sick leave for the employee’s or their immediate family member’s illness where the employee has exhausted their compensated time off for that year. Full-time employees who work less than 40 hours a week will receive the uncompensated time off in proportional increments.
Amendments:
Major amendments to the West Hollywood ordinance include the following:
· To determine employer coverage, existing employers should calculate their employee count based on the number of employees employed per quarter during the most recent calendar year. A new employer’s initial determination of size should be based on the actual number of hires at the time of opening. After the business has opened, the employee count should be determined by the average number of employees per week in the first 90 days.
· Eliminating the cash payout requirement once every 30 days for accrued compensation time over the maximum accrual. Under the original law once employees accumulated 192 paid leave hours, employers were required to provide a cash payment once every 30 days for accrued leave that exceeded the accrual cap, paid at the rate the employee was paid at the time of cash-out.
· Extending the one-year waiver for financial hardship to comply with the paid leave portions of the ordinance. The original provisions of the law provide that the City Manager could provide a one-year waiver if the employer demonstrated by documentation that they would experience financial hardship in complying with the leave provisions. Specifically, that the employer would need to show that in order to avoid bankruptcy or a shutdown, they had to reduce their workforce by more than 20% or curtail their employees’ total hours by more than thirty percent 30%. The amendment also added a second hardship condition for a waiver. Specifically, that it will be a hardship to implement the compensated and uncompensated leave provisions due to the existing payroll and human resources processes and platforms the employer has in place. The City Manager may grant up to two three-month waivers based on the second hardship provided the second three-month waiver shall only be granted if implementation hardships remain and the employer has made diligent progress towards implementing the provisions. Total waivers granted cannot exceed one year.
In addition, the City published administrative regulations to help in the implementation of the ordinance.
Next steps:
Employers subject to the West Hollywood minimum wage and leave ordinance should review the following documents to ensure they are administering the ordinance as required.
Minimum wage and leave ordinance
Approved amendments
Administrative regulations
Have questions?
Please contact your dedicated service professional with any questions.