California minimum wage increase for health care workers effective this week: What to know
LOS ANGELES - A minimum wage increase for certain health care workers in California goes into effect Oct. 16.
Senate Bill 525 is part of a plan to gradually increase the pay for thousands of health care workers to $25 over the next decade. While it was originally enacted in the fall of 2023 and was slated to take effect June 1, the deadline was delayed by Gov. Gavin Newsom due to concerns over the impact on the California budget.
The law is expected to cost the state $1.4 billion in the first six months of implementation, according to estimates from earlier this year by the Department of Finance.
Workers of covered health care facilities that provide health care services (including patient care) or provide services supporting the provision of health care are covered. The following facilities are mentioned:
- Hospitals and Hospital Systems
- Care in residential settings
- Physician's groups
- County mental health facility
- County correctional facility
- Mental Health Rehabilitation Centers
- Outpatient clinics
For example, workers at the state's largest health systems, including Adventist, Dignity Health, Sutter, and UC Health will start their pay increases at $23 an hour.
Approximately 426,000 workers are expected to benefit from the law, according to estimates from the UC Berkeley Labor Center. This includes medical assistants, front office staff, medical billing personnel, patient techs, janitors, food service workers, among others.
You can see the full list of covered health care facilities by tapping or clicking here.
The amount of wage increase depends on the employer/type of health care facility:
- Hospital or integrated health system with 10,000 or more full-time employees: $23
- Dialysis Clinics: $23
- Safety Net Hospitals: $18
- Intermittent clinics, community clinics, rural health clinics, or urgent care clinics associated with community or rural health clinics: $21
- All other covered health care facilities not listed in the other categories and not run by counties: $21
- Covered health care facilities run by large counties (more than 5 million people as of Jan. 1, 2023)
- Covered health care facilities run by medium-sized counties (250,000 to 5 million people as of Jan. 1, 2023)
- Covered health care facilities run by small counties (less than 250,000 people as of Jan. 1, 2023)
While a city or county cannot pass an ordinance setting a higher minimum wage only for health care workers covered by this law, a city or county can have an existing higher general minimum wage or set one for all employees that would apply to employees covered by this law. A local government can also have an existing higher minimum wage or set one specific for a particular group of employees so long as it does not include covered health care facility employees.
SUGGESTED: $20 minimum wage goes into effect for California fast food workers
The next scheduled increase is set for July 1, 2025.
Right now the minimum wage for most people in California is $16 per hour, which is already among the highest in the nation. The minimum wage for most fast food workers in the state is $20 per hour, an increase that began in April and has had ripple effects statewide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.