California Labor Laws 2025 cover wages, leave rights, termination procedures, workplace safety, and protections for vulnerable employee groups. Employers must meet strict rules on pay, time off, hiring practices, surveillance, child labor, and whistleblower protections.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
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Employers are required to pay all wages owed at the moment of termination if they fire an employee.
All earnings owed at the point of resignation must be paid by the employer if an employee leaves with a minimum 72-hour notification.
The company has seventy-two hours after the worker quits to pay all outstanding wages if the worker does not offer a minimum 72-hour notification.
Young people below the age of eighteen need a permit in order to work.
The only times that children ages 12 and 13 are often permitted to work are during school breaks. On ordinary school days, students cannot be employed either before their lessons or after.
The work types and schedules for 14 and 15-year-olds are under government rules. Working in railroads, factories, workshops, or manufacturing, or using machinery, is prohibited for them.
Employers may not employ sixteen and seventeen-year-olds for any job that is considered hazardous, according to the Code of Federal Regulations.
The state designates HR personnel who work for companies with five or more employees and who hire children as required child abuse responders. Any incidents of physical or sexual abuse, illegal harm, cruelty, abandonment, or unwarranted punishment must be reported.
Mandatory child abuse reporting also applies to frontline supervisors at companies with five or more workers that additionally hire minors. They are exclusively in charge of reporting sexual abuse, though.
These workers must receive training from qualified companies on how to spot and report abuse.
1. CA Labor laws concerning Sick Days
According to California law, companies must offer and permit workers to take a minimum of forty hours or 5 days of paid time off for sickness annually as of 1st January 2024.
Employees can specify whether they are using the sick leave for their own use or for kin care, according to an amendment made to the Kin Care Law in 2020. To let their employees know that they are able to select the days individually, employers must update their leave policies.
2. California Family & Medical Leave
If you have been an employee for one year, the CFRA allows you to take up to twelve weeks off without pay to care for a sick relative, interact with your baby, or treat a serious illness you may have.
From 1st July 2020, someone can make use of Paid Family Leave for eight weeks instead of six weeks.
The federal Family & Medical Leave Act may mandate that employers offer unpaid leave to their workers.
The Family Temporary Disability Insurance program was expanded in 2020 by AB 2399 to allow employees to use the program to handle problems involving family members serving in the military.
Starting in 2022, parents-in-law are included in the definition of “family member,” therefore if a worker’s father or mother-in-law has a critical illness that needs their care, the employee is legally permitted to take time off to attend to them.
3. CA Labor laws for Bereavement leave
Upon the death of a family member, companies with five or more workers should give their employees bereavement leave for five days as a maximum. Any member, whether spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, parent-in-law, or domestic partner, is thought of as family for bereavement leave. Bereavement leave may be used as often as necessary.
A staff member must have served the company for a minimum of 30 days prior to requesting bereavement leave to qualify. The leave days must be used within 3 months of the death of the family member, but they do not have to be successive.
4. Vacation Time
Although California doesn’t require companies to offer leave, if they do implement a paid vacation program, they must reimburse employees for any unused vacation time when they leave their jobs.
5. CA Labor Laws for Jury Duty Leave
Companies are not obligated to compensate workers for time spent responding to jury summonses, but they are also prohibited from disciplining workers for having time off to respond to jury summonses provided they are given adequate notice.
6. Voting time
Employers must allow workers to take a maximum of two hours off in order to cast their ballots.
Workers who wish to take time off to cast their votes must notify their company no less than three days in advance.
7. Sexual assault or domestic violence or leave
Any worker who is a victim of abuse (domestic) is entitled to leave work to receive assistance in preserving the health, welfare, or safety of themselves or their children. This includes taking time off to obtain an order of protection or another judicial order.
Unless specifically stated in a contract of collective bargaining, all employees must be permitted to make use of any available personal leave, vacation, cumulative paid sick leave, or compensatory time off to take this leave.
If a company has at least twenty-five workers, employees who are victims should be allowed time off from work to get advice with safety planning for domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking, psychiatric help, medical care, or support from a family violence shelter, program, or rape crisis facility.
If an employee does not give notice before missing work, their employer can ask for a leave reason, but this right is not limitless. Police reports, court orders, and medical or counseling notes can show the necessary information.
8. CA Labor Laws for Emergency Response Leave
Employers are required to permit their staff members to take time off in order to work as volunteer firefighters, reserve peace officers, or emergency rescuers. An employee who takes such leave cannot be fired or subjected to discrimination by their employer.
For preparation as a volunteer fireman, reserve peace official, or emergency rescue staff, companies with at least fifty employees must permit a maximum of fourteen days of unpaid absence.
9. Bone marrow and Organ donation leave
Employers with fifteen or more workers are required to offer paid & unpaid leave for organ donation & paid time off for bone marrow donation, regardless of whether the workers have used up all of their sick leave.
Organ donation has a 60-day yearly cap; the initial thirty days of donation must be paid, and the remaining 30 days can go unpaid. Employees who donate bone marrow are eligible for five paid workdays.
The company may mandate that the worker spend a maximum of five days of accumulated paid time off for the full bone marrow donor leave and a maximum of fifteen days of accumulated paid leave off for the donation of organs. (Note: The employer is responsible for covering the employee’s full bone marrow donation absence as well as a maximum of thirty days of leave for organ donation, even if the staff member has used up all of their paid time off before starting the leave.)
The employer may ask the worker to submit an official medical note attesting to the worker’s status as a bone marrow or organ donor and the medical necessity of the donation.
10. School Leave
There are two kinds of school leave in California. Every staff member, irrespective of the size of the firm, must be granted leave for disciplinary issues of the child. For workers who are guardians or parents of school-age kids and must attend meetings and hearings on disciplinary actions being discussed or implemented against the child, this offers unpaid time off. An employee who takes this kind of absence cannot be disciplined or fired by their employer.
Companies with a minimum of 25 workers in one place are required to provide leave for regular school involvement. In order to attend events, enroll the kid in daycare or school, or handle an emergency, an employee may take a maximum of forty hours of leave every calendar year.
In order to compensate for these absences, the employee might have to use paid leave, if it is available. Unpaid time must be permitted if paid leave is not available.
11. Military Leave
Workers who serve in the US armed forces or perform military tasks for ongoing National Guard duty are required to be granted leave. The employee has the right to come back to their job or one with comparable rank, compensation, and benefits after serving. The employer is prohibited from firing an employee without reason for a period of one year.
Seventeen days of leave without pay are granted to members of the Naval Militia, the National Guard reserve corps, and the US military reserve corps. There is a 15-day unpaid leave policy for state military reserve members.
During a military war, employers with 25 or more workers are required to provide a maximum of ten days of unpaid time off to the spouse of a service member who was given leave from deployment. In order to qualify, the spouse needs to work an average of a minimum of 20 hours each week. Employers are not allowed to take adverse action against the spouse for asking or using leave.
1. Anti-Discrimination Legislation
By state law, it is not allowed to discriminate in the workplace in California due to someone’s:
Starting 1st January 2021, the Labor Commissioner’s statutes now give employees a year to report a discriminatory dismissal instead of six months as before.
2. Termination Law
Since California acts as an “at-will employment” state, workers may be fired at any time and for whatever reason without a formal employment contract.
By 31st March 2021, companies with 100 or more workers have to file a “pay data report” to the State Department of Fair Employment and Housing. From now on, they will have to do it every year.
The following must be included by employees in their pay data report:
A. A breakdown of workers in each of these categories by gender, race, and ethnicity:
B. An analysis of employee pay by sex, race, and ethnicity in one of the 11 pay bands that the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics uses
C. The total number of hours worked during the period under review year by each employee in a certain pay band.
According to the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) and other laws, you are required to:
For a minimum of three years: Maintain employment contracts, collective bargaining agreements, paychecks, certificates, notices, agreements, and purchase and sales records for a minimum of three years. After an employee is employed, keep complete copies of their I-9 for three years. The form should be kept for a minimum of one year following the employee’s departure if they have worked for more than three years.
For a minimum of two years: Maintain standard employment and income documentation, such as timesheets, wage-rate tables, billing and shipping, and documentation of wage additions or deductions. Additionally, save the documentation that demonstrates the reasons you might pay workers of different genders varying wages, including compensation rates, job assessments, merit and seniority systems, and collective bargaining contracts.
For a minimum of one year: Employers are required by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to retain all worker records for a minimum of one year beyond the date of departure.
Other laws pertaining to record-keeping that you can be subject to:
All job-related health injuries and illnesses-related files should be kept for five years under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Still, records about exposure to potentially hazardous materials should be kept for thirty years.
Files related to seniority and reward systems, as well as benefit programs, must be retained for a minimum of one year after they conclude. Additionally, you have six years to keep yearly reports and summary summaries of benefit plans.
You must also keep pertinent details of leaves, policies, notices, and other documents for three years if your business is subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act.
1. California’s legislation pertaining to background checks
The Fair Credit Reporting Act of the federal government governs background checks. When doing background checks, companies should make sure they are adhering to the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s regulations.
California mandates that employers run background checks on employees who work for transportation network companies, as well as those who work at institutions that offer community care, residential facilities for the elderly, or child care.
2. California Laws Concerning Investigative and Credit Checks
Except in specific situations, employers are not permitted to request a credit history report on a candidate or employee.
3. Conviction and Arrest Check Laws in California
Employers with 5 or more staff must not request criminal records on any application form. You are not allowed to check or consider an applicant’s criminal history until you offer them a conditional position. No one can lawfully pass on information related to arrests, convictions, or diversions.
Employers who ultimately obtain a candidate’s criminal history and plan to reject them must perform an individual evaluation to ascertain whether the candidate’s conviction background has a direct and negative relationship with particular job duties. This evaluation should also take into account the applicant’s job description, the severity of the conduct or offense, the length of time since the conduct or offense, and the type of the job.
The hiring authority must give the applicant written notice and give them 5 days to reply if they decide in advance that the applicant’s criminal record prohibits them from the position. The following must be included in the notification: Notification of the conviction/convictions that disqualify the offer and serve as the foundation for the initial decision to withdraw it. If available, a duplicate of the criminal history report.
A description of the candidate’s right to reply to the company’s notice of their preliminary decision before it becomes final, together with the deadline for doing so. The explanation must let the applicant know that the answer could involve presenting proof of mitigating circumstances, rehabilitation, or both, or it could involve presenting material that questions the veracity of the conviction background report that served as the basis for withdrawing the offer.
4. California Alcohol and Drug Testing Laws
Employers decide on an individual basis whether to test their candidates or staff for alcohol or drugs.
When administering alcohol or drug tests, we advise the following procedures: only administer tests to candidates if they are relevant to the position and in line with business needs, administer a drug or alcohol test to candidates only after extending an offer of employment prior to their start date.
Screen each candidate for the same job, Employees should only be tested for drugs or alcohol if there is a specific indication of usage, if the worker is in a position where safety is a concern, or if screening is mandated by federal law. The drug test should be performed by a qualified physician or a certified lab.
5. COBRA Laws
A federal provision known as COBRA permits many workers to keep receiving health insurance coverage even after their job ends. Many states have enacted their own equivalents of the federal COBRA, referred to as “mini-COBRAs,” because the statute is restricted to firms with 20 or more employees. Under California’s mini-COBRA, workers can keep their coverage for a maximum of 36 months. As soon as an unforeseen occurrence takes place, we advise employers to notify workers of their COBRA rights.
6. Laws for Whistleblower Protection
Employers are prohibited from firing, discriminating against, or retaliating against a worker for the following reasons:
Furthermore, businesses might not have a rule that forbids workers from reporting legal infractions.
7. ABC Test for Independent Contractor
Only when each of the following requirements is met may an employee be categorized as an independent contractor:
Newspaper publishers are excluded from the evaluation until 1st January 2022, under the “Save Local Journalism Act.”
8. The CA Reporting Pay Time Law
According to the Reporting Time Pay Law, companies must offer workers “reporting time” compensation when they arrive for work on time but are either not put to work or are only given half of a regular shift.
9. Social Media Usage by California Employers
California companies are prohibited by the “Employer Usage of Social Media law” from asking workers for their passwords in order to get into their social media profiles.
An employer is not allowed to ask anyone in their employment to share their social media accounts, watch them use social media during work, or give private information about those accounts. If an applicant or employee declines to give out their private social media information, the law says the employer may not discriminate against them in any way.
10. California Premium pay for split shifts
Employees with a schedule that involves a split shift are eligible for extra compensation described as a “split shift premium” if they make a minimum salary or nearly so. Split shifts are work schedules that are divided up by employer-mandated non-paid & non-working periods. Over-an-hour breaks will probably be interpreted as a split shift. A split shift doesn’t happen if a worker asks for a break for personal reasons. Minimum wage workers have the right to 1 hour of salary for working a split shift.
11. California Law on the Day of Rest
Employers are not allowed to make workers work over 6 days in a workweek unless the job’s requirements are reasonable. If employees are legitimately compelled to work more than 6 days in a workweek, they must be given at least one out of every seven workdays free in the exact same month of the year.
12. California’s statute on employee monitoring
Any video or audio recordings made by employers in locations where an employee may reasonably anticipate privacy—such as a locker room, restroom, or other space used for changing clothes—are prohibited. Employers who plan to record video or audio should, as a matter of best practice, inform new hires in writing of this policy.
California demands permission from all persons being recorded when it comes to telephone recording.
An employer’s ability to perform workplace searches and inspections is likewise restricted under the California Constitution. Personnel should be given written warning of the likelihood of a search and inspection, together with information about what may be inspected (e.g., locker, desk, handbag), if their employer plans to conduct a check in the workplace or wishes to retain the authority to do so. When performing an inspection or search, an employer’s legitimate business objectives should be balanced against California’s robust privacy rights.
13. The Telephone Monitoring Law of California
Since California constitutes an “all parties” permission state, each individual on a call must be informed that their conversations are being tracked or recorded and must give their approval before the call may be placed or continued. This implies that employers can only listen in on or record phone conversations between their own staff members after informing each employee that such conversations may be recorded or monitored. However, unless an outside entity has also given their consent, employees’ phone calls to them may not be tracked or recorded.
14. The Sexual Harassment Training Legislation of California
Supervisors employed by companies with at least fifty staff members are currently required by California to complete obligatory training on preventing sexual harassment & abusive conduct. Supervisors in California are required to undergo training once every 2 years. After taking on the role, new supervisors have six months to complete their training.
All workers for companies with at least five workers must complete training by 1st January 2021. Non-supervisory staff are required to receive one hour of training every two years, while supervisors are required to receive 2 hours.
15. Hours and wages at a warehouse distribution facility
Major warehouse distribution facilities—those with 100 or more employees in a single site or 1000 or more in the state—must give written explanations of all the quotas that employees must meet.
Quotas may consist of:
Companies are also expected to provide written details about the outcomes caused by failing to hit their quotas. Workers are protected if they do not know ahead of time that there is a quota.
Workers are not permitted to face discipline by their employer if the OSHA regulations conflict with the quotas or deny them breaks.
16. Silenced No More Act
Employers are prohibited by the Silenced No More Act from enforcing non-disclosure provisions for settlements involving any type of workplace discrimination or harassment, not only sex. Nonetheless, non-disclosure agreements for the paid settlement funds are not prohibited by law.
Limitations also apply to non-disparagement agreements. The following must be included in any written policy or practice that contains such a clause:
“This doesn’t prevent you from discussing or reporting information on workplace behavior you suspect is illegal, whether it’s harassment, discrimination, or other concerns.”
17. Requirements for recordkeeping
Employers are required to keep personnel records for both applicants and employees for at least four years. Employers are required to retain all relevant documentation, nevertheless, until they are notified that the DFEH (Department of Fair Employment and Housing) has addressed an employee’s grievance.
18. Distribution of food delivery tips
Platforms that distribute food might not retain tips. Any tips received for a pickup meal must be given in full to the restaurant, and all tips must be given to the individual who is delivering the meal.
Additionally, food delivery services are not allowed to charge more than the restaurant does.
19. The Lactation Accommodation Law of California
Employers are required by California law to provide lactating workers with accommodations, such as space and time to express their milk throughout the workday. The designated area must be hygienic, secure, and risk-free; it must also include a surface for placing personal belongings and a place to sit; it must have a connection to electricity and charging devices; and it cannot be a restroom.
A sink with water flowing and adequate refrigeration near the worker’s workstation must also be accessible by the employer.
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