Minimum Wage Increase in 2025
Beginning on January 1, 2025, California’s minimum wage will increase from $16.00/hour to $16.50/hour. The increase applies to all employers of any size. Earlier this month, the Director of the CA Department of Finance determined and certified that this increase correlates to an increase in the Consumer Price Index of 3.18% based on a comparison of the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, and July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2023.
As a result of the increase in the minimum wage, the minimum salary for “white collar” exempt employees also will increase from $66,560 per year to $68,640 per year.
Revisiting COVID-19 Prevention Regulations
In recent weeks, California has seen a significant uptick in COVID-19 cases. Although California’s COVID-19 State of Emergency proclamation is no longer in effect, the increase in cases makes it a good time to review the COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations, which remain in place. Issued and enforced by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), the regulations apply to all employers, employees, and places of employment except for the following: work locations where there is only one employee who has no contact with others, employees who work from home or from a location chosen by the employee and not under the control of the employer, and employees covered by the Aerosol Transmissible Diseases regulation.
COVID-19 Prevention Program
The main requirement of the regulations is that employers develop a written COVID-19 Prevention Program or include the required elements in their existing Injury and Illness Prevention Program. Pursuant to the written program, employers must do the following: determine measures to prevent COVID-19 transmission and identify and correct COVID-19 hazards; provide COVID-19 training to employees; and investigate and respond to COVID-19 cases in the workplace.
Determining Measures to Prevent Transmission; Identifying and Correcting Hazards
Employers must review orders and guidance from the state and local health departments related to COVID-19, and it should be treated as an airborne infectious disease. Preventative measures include remote work, physical distancing, reducing the density of people indoors, and restricting access to the work area.
Face Coverings and Personal Protective Equipment
The regulations specify that employers must provide face coverings and ensure they are worn when required by the California Department of Public Health. Face coverings also must be provided and worn during outbreaks (three or more COVID-19 cases among employees in an exposed group within a seven-day period). In addition, employers must provide and ensure the use of face coverings by employees returning to work after having had COVID-19. Employees who had symptoms are required to wear face coverings until 10 days have passed since the symptoms began; employees who did not have symptoms are required to wear face coverings until 10 days have passed from the date of their first positive COVID-19 test.
Ventilation
To prevent the transmission of COVID-19, employers must also develop, implement, and maintain effective indoor ventilation methods, including one or more of the following: maximizing the quantity of outside air used indoors, providing filter-circulated air when possible, and using High Efficiency Particulate Air filtration units where ventilation is inadequate.
COVID-19 Cases in the Workplace
The regulations specify the steps employers must take to investigate and respond to COVID-19 cases in the workplace. These steps include determining which employees may have been exposed through a close contact and making testing available to employees with a close contact at no cost and during working hours. Employers must also exclude COVID-19 cases, during their infectious period, from the workplace. Employees with no symptoms do not have an infectious period and so do not need to be excluded from work.
The definition of “close contact” depends on the size of the workspace: in indoor spaces of 400,000 or fewer cubic feet per floor, close contact is sharing the same indoor airspace as a COVID-19 case for 15 minutes or more during the infectious period; in large indoor spaces greater than 400,000 cubic feet per floor, close contact is being within six feet of the COVID-19 case for 15 minutes or more during the infectious period. “Infectious period” for COVID-19 cases is defined as a minimum of 24 hours from the day of the onset of symptoms until 24 hours have passed with no fever and mild and improving symptoms.
Testing
Employers must offer confidential testing at no cost and during paid time in the following situations: to employees who had a close contact at work with a person with COVID-19 during their infectious period; during an outbreak, to all employees within the exposed group at least once a week; and during a major outbreak, to employees in the exposed group twice per week.
What’s Next
Although there has been a spike in COVID-19 cases in California, Cal/OSHA has not implemented emergency regulations, so employers should continue to comply with the non-emergency regulations, which remain in effect until February 3, 2025, and monitor orders and guidance from the state and local health departments.
