California Employment Law : Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Fox Rothschild Law Firm : San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego

One of my recurring themes is the challenges that California law imposes on employers. (I had a great idea for an image to put here, but it's incredibly difficult to find a tasteful photo of someone beating a dead horse.) We've summarized the various legal requirements in these guides.

But San Francisco employers have it worse. In addition to the rigorous and constantly shifting state law requirements, they also have to deal with onerous city requirements (including the second highest minimum wage in the country). There are also requirements for commuter benefits, per-employee spending on health care, a paid sick leave ordinance, and more.

My colleague Tyreen Torner prepared an excellent summary of these requirements that you can find here. If you have employees in San Francisco, I'm sure you'll find it useful. If not, don't throw it in the trash. Along with everything else, San Francisco has the toughest mandatory composting and recycling law in the U.S.

Updated April 2, 2012 to reflect that Santa Fe, NM has edged us out for highest minimum wage by a nickel.

• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I've written before about San Francisco's high minimum wage.  Well, it's going up.  Effective January 1, 2012, the San Francisco minimum wage goes from $9.92 to $10.24 per hour.  According to the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, which enforces the minimum wage ordinance, this figure applies to anyone who, in a particular week, performs two hours of work within the city limits.

I don't begrudge anyone their right to earn a decent living.  But if a business that relies on unskilled labor has a choice where to open, wouldn't it avoid a location where it has to pay entry-level employees 28% more than the state minimum wage?  For an earlier discussion of jobs leaving the state as a whole, read this.

Update -  Here's a December 1, 2011 Huffington Post article about SF's minimum wage and studies discussing the effects of such increases.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

San Francisco has always been at the forefront of recognizing new protected categories.  For example, the city has prohibited employment discrimination based on height or weight for over a decade. Now, the city's Human Rights Commission wants to add a new protected category:  criminal convictions.

If the HRC has its way, employers and landlords will be prohibited from considering criminal convictions in hiring and housing decisions.  Hearings on the proposal begin next week. 

Listen, I know for a fact that there are people with convictions in their pasts who have "paid their debt to society" and have the skills and abilities to perform admirably in the workplace.  But there are also those whose prior criminal -- sometimes violent -- behavior makes them a liability.  So why shouldn't employers be allowed to consider an applicant's prior criminal convictions when making a hiring decision?

Hopefully, resistance to this proposal will be strong enough to cause the Commission to rethink its actions.  But if not, look on the bright side.  If the proposal becomes law, and you go to prison for violating it, you can get a job and a place to stay when you get out. 

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link