Following the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles implemented a new minimum wage increase for all unincorporated cities within Los Angeles County. The minimum wage law follows the City’s requirements, but there are a few areas where the County differs, which can be a trap for employers:
1) County of Los Angeles minimum wage poster.
The County published a poster this week that all employers subject to the County’s law are required to post. According to the County of Los Angeles’ website: “Every Employer shall post this notice in a conspicuous place at any workplace or jobsite located within the unincorporated areas of the County where any Employee works.”
The County’s poster can be downloaded here.
2) Unlike the City of Los Angeles, the County requires the employer to provide written notice of certain items to all employees, which includes new items employers have not had to provide previously – such as tip policies.
Specifically, the County’s ordinance requires the following:
At the time of hire, Employers shall provide each Employee with a written statement disclosing: (1) the Employer’s name, any trade (“doing business as”) names, the physical and mailing address of the Employer’s main office, email address, and the Employer’s telephone number; (2) the Employee’s rate or rates of pay; (3) the Employer’s tip policy, including any tip sharing, pooling, or allocation policies, if applicable; (4) the Employee’s pay basis (e.g., hour, shift, day, week, commission); (5) the formula by which the DCBA can determine the Employee’s rate of pay and total pay; (6) Employee’s established Pay Day for earned wage compensation; (7) each deduction that will be collected from the Employee’s pay each Pay Period; and (8) additional information specified in the Director’s Rules.
Title 8 – Consumer Protection and Business Regulations of the Los Angeles County Code Chapter 8.101.060 B.
The City of Los Angeles does not have a similar provision requiring these written notices to employees. In addition, while the County’s notice requirements closely track the state of California’s notice requirements under Labor Code section 2810.5 (click here to read more about California state requirements set forth in Labor Code section 2810.5), the County requires additional disclosures to employees, such as:
- The employer’s tip policy
- Each deduction that will be collected from the Employee’s pay each pay period
Therefore, employers (especially restaurants) subject to the County’s ordinance, must review the notices provided to employees to ensure that they are complying with all state and County requirements.
3) Having a hard time figuring out if the County’s ordinance applies to your business?
The County published an article explaining how to discovery if the employer’s business is in an unincorporated area of the County, and therefore subject to the County’s minimum wage law.
Here is a list of incorporated cities in the County of Los Angeles, and because they are incorporated, neither the Los Angeles City nor the Los Angeles County minimum wage laws will apply within these cities.