5 Tips for Small Business Compliance With California Employment Laws

California employment laws are some of the best in the United States at protecting employee’s rights and ensuring they are compensated fairly for any work they do.

All this means that if you run a small business in California, you need to ensure employment law compliance or face stringent penalties.

So, what do you need to know about California work regulations if you run a business in the state?

Here are five tips for small business compliance with California employment laws.

1. Paycheck Laws

The employment laws in California require that every employee gets given an itemized pay stub which includes the following information:

• The last four digits of the employees Social Security Number
• Start and end days for the pay period
• Wages before deductions
• Employer’s name and address
• Total hours worked
• Breakdown of overtime hours worked
• Deductions
• Wages after deductions
• Any sick leave and holiday time taken

If a wage slip is inaccurate, or not given, employers can get punished by law.

2. Minimum Wage Laws

Califonia labor laws ensure that employees have a high minimum wage. Some jurisdictions have higher rates than others. Unlike in some states, employers also need to pay the full minimum wage to tipped workers.

The state and city minimum wages will depend on the size of your company. The minimum wage will rise if your company has 26 or more employees then you’ll need to pay the higher rate.

Some cities have an even higher minimum wage for companies with more than 100 employees.

Gig economy workers categorized by California AB5 are covered by the minimum wage laws.

3. Meal and Break Laws

All businesses in California must ensure they allow sufficient time for breaks and meals. This means a paid rest break of at least 10 minutes for every four hours an employee works and an unpaid meal break of 30 minutes for every five hours.

If a break is not provided, an additional hour’s pay will be due to the employee.

4. Predictive Schedule Laws

To ensure employees have a good work-life balance, many jurisdictions within California have started implementing predictive schedule laws.

These require that a schedule be posted at least 14 days in advance. So far, San Francisco and Emeryville have both adopted this rule.

5. Minimum Shift Laws

An aspect of the predictive schedule laws that applies across the entire state is the guaranteed payment for scheduled shifts.

This means that if an employee is scheduled and turns up to work but the shift is canceled, then the employer needs to pay at least half of the hours of the scheduled shift.

This does not include events such as natural disasters or power outages.

Complying With California Employment Laws

It is essential that you don’t leave California employment laws to chance. Non-compliance could be costly to your business and could leave you with a demoralized workforce.

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