California’s minimum wage rises to $16.50 per hour statewide in 2025, with even higher rates in many cities. Employees must receive the correct wage, and legal action is available for unpaid minimum wages.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
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California’s minimum wage is currently $16.50 per hour starting from 1st January 2025.
In California, employers are not allowed to pay employees anything below the minimum wage. If the California minimum wage regulations are broken by your employer, you may file:
The following commonly asked questions concerning minimum wage regulations and workers’ rights in California are addressed by our California employment and labor law attorneys:
California’s minimum statewide salary is $16.50 an hour in the year 2025.
California minimum wage statute takes precedence over the $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage. You are required to get a higher minimum wage if you are employed in California.
A lot of Californian cities and counties also have their very own minimum wage. You are entitled to the higher California minimum wage if you are employed in any of these locations.
Cities in California where the minimum wage is higher include:
Please take note that the minimum wage for employees at national fast-food chains is now $20 per hour starting on April 1, 2024. Additionally, take notice that, based on the facility, the minimum pay for healthcare professionals will range from $18 to $23 per hour as of June 1, 2024.
Employees in California cannot consent to be paid less than the statutory minimum wage.
In California, the minimum wage serves as a definitive floor on pay. Workers and their employers cannot consent to forgoing California minimum wage rules, just like they cannot with other significant wage and hour legislation like California overtime regulations.
Don’t forget that non-exempt workers have a right to the California minimum wage throughout the duration of their on-call shifts.
A minimum salary must be paid to garment workers starting from September 2021. It is no longer possible to pay them by clothing (“piecework”).
The minimum wage standards in California are subject to several limitations under the state’s wage & hour regulations.
The following are exempt from California’s minimum wage regulations:
Workers who are physically or mentally disabled are now required to receive the minimum wage. This regulation is gradually being phased out of any legal exceptions.
Employees who are categorized as self-employed workers under California employment legislation are likewise exempt from the minimum wage requirement.
Furthermore, as a requirement of the California wage & hour legislation, “exempt employees” (those who are excluded from the state’s requirements for overtime compensation and meal/rest breaks) usually have to make no less than the minimum wage.
Workers who get a large percentage of their pay in tips, like waiters, aren’t exempt from California’s minimum wage regulations. In California, servers must get the same minimum salary as other workers.
A California wage & hour attorney can assist you in bringing a lawsuit against your employer if they fail to give you the appropriate state or municipal minimum salary for any reason. You might also have a case against the employer’s
If you file a minimum wage case in California, you could be awarded the following minimal damages:
Additionally, you can be eligible for “liquidated damages” in the sum of interest and unpaid necessary minimum wages. To put it another way, your entire recovery may be double what your company underpaid you.
If the company can demonstrate that paying you less than the minimum wage constitutes an honest error, they will be exempt from paying the extra “liquidated damages.”
Individuals who are underpaid are typically the ones whose entitlements to a minimum wage are infringed. These workers might not be able to afford to hire an experienced employment attorney. And when an employer doesn’t pay one worker the minimum wage, they typically don’t pay the others either.
A minimum wage class-action lawsuit frequently makes sense in these situations.
In a wage & hour class action lawsuit, a lawyer represents a bigger percentage of workers in comparable circumstances where the company has not paid the minimum wage. The attorney is able to invest more resources in the case as a result.
Last but not least, it is illegal for a company to take retaliatory action against you at work for
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of the knowledgeable California employment and labor lawyers if you have any inquiries concerning the state’s minimum wage or would want to discuss the matter in confidence.
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