At Greenberg Traurig, we live our motto “built for change” and apply it for the benefit of the businesses we serve. Our California Labor and Employment Practice appreciates that although California presents opportunity, it also presents an often unique set of employment risk propositions, and these risks are often just one set among a constellation of others that require management.

We also believe that while employers need to manage that risk, neither a stream of the “sky is falling” communications regarding every court rumination, nor a list of developments so comprehensive that the significant and the idiosyncratic blur together is the correct approach.

We address the developments by issue and add some thoughts on why we think it may matter to your company.

The Statewide Minimum Wage and Minimum Salary for Exempt Status are Going Up.
Although not the product of new legislation, on Jan, 1, 2016, the statewide minimum wage increases to $10 per hour. Because the salary threshold for exempt status must be at least twice the full-time equivalent of the minimum wage, exempt employees will need to make at least $3,466.67 per month or $41,600 per year. Apart from issues of compliance, as the minimum wage continues to increase, the salary cost of preserving the exemption for that lowest level supervisor also increases. At some point that begs the question as to how important the exemption is in context.

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