Minimum Wage Exempt from FSLA

Posted on December 30, 2016 by Rick Rossignol

While there is an injunction on the Federal Department of Labor increase of the salary test. Employers in California still have to follow the rules for being exempt from the FSLA. The salary test in California for exempt employees is two times the minimum wage. Meaning that the employee must be paid a weekly salary of 2 times the minimum wage. Currently, the employee has to earn $800.00 a week. January the rate will be $840.00 a week. What makes the rule more complicated is Cities have enacted ordinances in their city increasing the minimum wage above the State of California. Looking at the chart below you can see 19 cities have higher rates than the state. Exempt employees working in those cities must be paid two times the minimum wage.

The chart below summarizes the increases scheduled for 2017:

California Local Ordinance Effective Date of Increase 2016 Rate 2017 Rate
Berkeley  October 1, 2017 $12.53 $13.75
Cupertino January 1, 2017 NA $12.00
El Cerrito January 1, 2017 $11.60 $12.25
Emeryville July 1, 2017 $13.00
(55 or fewer employees)
$14.00
$14.82
(56 or more employees)
$15.20
Long Beach January 1, 2017 NA $10.50
Los Altos January 1, 2017 NA $12.00
Los Angeles (City) July 1, 2017 $10.50
(26 or more employees)
$12.00
NA
(25 or fewer employees)
$10.50
Los Angeles County (Unincorporated Areas) July 1, 2017 $10.50
(26 or more employees)
$12.00
NA
(25 or fewer employees)
$10.50
Malibu July 1, 2017 $10.50
(26 or more employees)
$12.00
NA
(25 or fewer employees)
$10.50
Mountain View January 1, 2017 $11.00 $13.00
Oakland January 1, 2017 $12.55 $12.86
Palo Alto January 1, 2017 $11.00 $12.00
Pasadena July 1, 2017 $10.50
(26 or more employees)
$12.00
NA
(25 or fewer employees)
$10.50
Richmond January 1, 2017 $11.52
(without qualifying healthcare benefits)
(Note: Excludes small businesses that pay for 800 or fewer hours of employee labor per two weeks)
$12.30
$10.02
(with $1.50 per hour per employee towards healthcare benefits)
$10.80
$10.76
(Intermediate Minimum Wage)
(Note: Used if employer derives more than half its income from transactions where the employer’s goods and services produced in Richmond are delivered or shipped outside Richmond)
$11.40
San Diego January 1, 2017 $10.50 $11.50
San Francisco July 1, 2017 $13.00 $14.00
San Jose January 1, 2017 $10.30 $10.50
San Leandro July 1, 2017 NA $12.00
San Mateo January 1, 2017 NA $12.00
$10.50 (nonprofit employers)
Santa Clara January 1, 2017 $11.00 $11.10
Santa Monica July 1, 2017 $10.50
(26 or more employees)
$12.00
NA
(25 or fewer employees)
$10.50
Sunnyvale January 1, 2017 $11.00 $13.00

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