California Labor Laws
California labor laws are among the strictest in the country—for good reason. Laws that protect the employee from feeling overworked reduce fatigue and increase safety; they also ensure employees have a better quality of life by securing a work-life balance. But employment laws also benefit employers.
Happier, healthier workers not only increase workplace morale but also save organizations money. A Gallup poll found that an actively disengaged employee costs an organization $3,400 for every $10k of salary (34%). For each employee lost, the cost to replace them could be anywhere from 50% to a staggering 250% of their salary.
Adhering to California labor laws that are put in place to benefit your labor force will only benefit your organization in turn. (Not to mention that you’ll avoid hefty fines and union grievances.)
To help you navigate California labor laws, we highlighted employment laws that may currently be affecting your hourly workforce and the ways you can more easily abide by them.
Day of Rest
Section 551 of California labor laws provides that “every person employed” in “any occupation” working more than 30 hours a week is entitled to the equivalent of one day of rest in a seven-day period. Section 552 further clarifies that no employer can require employees to work in excess of six days in a row.
These provisions apply equally to both public agencies and private employers. Violation results in a misdemeanor.
The Day of Rest rule makes it clear that employers are responsible for their employees’ safety. With workforce fatigue being a major challenge for high-stress and dangerous sectors like nuclear energy or public safety, it is easy to see why this is such an important law to adhere to.
If your organization is still relying on paper-based scheduling, it’s easy to unknowingly assign an employee an overload of shifts. Besides violating California labor laws, you are also putting that employee at risk of physical pain or drowsiness, increasing the likelihood of an accident.
Having an automated scheduling software greatly reduces the inherent human error in scheduling. It keeps track of all employee shift schedules for you, so you can easily keep track of how many days someone has worked.
Paid Sick Leave
California employers must provide paid sick leave under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act. Employees accrue at least one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, with a minimum of 24 hours (three days) available per year. Some employers may choose to front-load the full entitlement at the beginning of the year.
Accurate tracking of sick leave is critical. Mismanagement—such as failing to record accruals or incorrectly denying time off—can result in penalties, wage claims, and administrative fines. Organizations relying on manual processes risk accidentally over-scheduling employees or violating accrual rules.
Automated scheduling and payroll systems simplify sick leave compliance by tracking accruals in real time and alerting managers when an employee is absent or nearing their maximum accrual. This ensures shifts are covered while keeping your organization compliant with California labor laws.
California Family Rights Act (CFRA)
The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for family or medical reasons. Unlike federal FMLA, CFRA applies to employers with five or more employees and covers a broader range of family relationships, including caring for a family member with a serious health condition, bonding with a new child, or addressing an employee’s own serious health condition.
For scheduling and timekeeping, CFRA leave can affect shift coverage, overtime calculations, and workforce planning. Employees on leave must not be scheduled until their return date, and payroll must accurately account for wage replacement through programs such as California Paid Family Leave when applicable.
Organizations using automated scheduling and workforce management tools can track leave requests, approvals, and return dates, ensuring compliance while avoiding unnecessary labor costs or missed coverage. These tools also reduce the risk of penalties for mismanaged leave under California labor laws.
Minimum Wage and Overtime Rate Increases
In a state-mandated effort to reach a $15 minimum wage by 2022, California employers with 26 workers or more saw a minimum wage increase of one dollar. Employees must now be paid a minimum of $12 per hour as of January 1, 2019. These requirements are part of California labor laws designed to protect workers and ensure fair compensation.
Section 510 of the California Labor Code stipulates that time-and-a-half be paid for any hours worked that surpass 8 in a day and 40 in a week. Any time worked that exceeds 12 hours in a single day is double their regular hourly wage.
Other phased-in overtime charges came into effect last month as well. For agricultural employers with 26 or more employees, their workers will be entitled to collect overtime pay after 9.5 hours per day, or 55 hours per week. Traditionally, agricultural workers received time-and-a-half after working 10 hours per day (60 hours per week).
There is no doubt that any increase in an employee’s wage will affect an organization’s bottom line, but that does not mean that costs can’t be controlled. When scrutinizing your current methods for issuing overtime, are your schedulers aware of which employee is close to exceeding their 40 hours? If they aren’t, then you are at risk of accidentally assigning too many unnecessary overtime hours.
We’ve previously discussed how automated workforce management can drive total overtime costs down by 19%. Providing visibility into hours worked and centralizing communication for overtime requests makes it easier for your complex scheduling organization to streamline OT hours.
Meal and Paid Rest Breaks
By federal law, employers are not legally required to allow breaks. However, under California labor laws, employers must provide meal and rest breaks—one of only a handful of states to require both.
Employers must provide a 30-minute meal break once the employee has worked five hours; once they’ve worked 10, employees are entitled to another break if they choose to take it. These meal breaks can go unpaid.
The rest break, however, must be paid. Employees are entitled to a ten-minute rest break for every four hours worked without a cessation in pay. If practical, these breaks must be provided in the middle of the work period.
Practical Employer Guidance
Complying with California labor laws requires more than knowing the statutes—it requires consistent application in daily operations. Employers must proactively monitor schedules, track hours, and manage leave to prevent violations of day-of-rest, meal and rest break, overtime, and sick leave rules.
Key steps for maintaining compliance include:
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Audit schedules regularly to avoid overwork, unapproved overtime, or missed breaks, ensuring employees do not exceed daily or weekly limits.
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Integrate timekeeping with payroll to track hours worked, overtime calculations, and leave accruals accurately, preventing wage disputes and fines.
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Document all hours, breaks, and leave requests to provide an auditable trail that demonstrates compliance in case of labor inspections or disputes.
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Use automated scheduling and workforce management tools to track hours worked, leave balances, shift coverage, and return dates for employees on protected leave, reducing administrative burden and human error.
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Train managers and schedulers on compliance requirements, including how to handle unexpected absences, adjust shifts, and respond to overtime requests while staying within legal limits.
By combining proactive oversight, accurate recordkeeping, and automated tools, organizations can maintain compliance with California labor laws, protect employees’ rights, and reduce the risk of costly penalties or operational disruptions.
The Indeavor Solution
To keep HR and Operations sane amid these updated California labor laws, fatigue management, and streamlined overtime allowances are key. The great news is that you can get all these benefits with Indeavor.
Without a centralized system like ours, companies in California are at a high risk of not being compliant with these specific rules; alternatively, they will spend a lot of time internally trying to manage them. Indeavor is your safety net because it automates compliance coverage – union, local, state, federal, and fatigue.
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