California’s state minimum wage — currently $9/hr — is poised to bump up to $10/hr on January 1, 2016. Last June, the state Senate passed a bill to increase the minimum wage further (to $11/hr in 2016 and $13/hr is 2017). With the legislative session ending tomorrow and the measure stuck in the Assembly, the bill has no chance of passing. Of course, a number of cities in California, including San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles, have enacted their own minimum wages.
On this topic, want to know a surefire way to avoid having to pay your California workers the state minimum wage? Have them work as sheepherders. But this exemption doesn’t apply to herding goats, cattle, or any other livestock. Just sheep. I have no idea why and I’m not the least bit sheepish to admit that.