California has some of the strongest laws guaranteeing employee rights. All of these rights apply to nonexempt employees, who are not salaried. Exempt employees are those who make at least $1,320 per week, or $68,640, gross, annually. They are entitled to some of these rights, namely those not regarding pay and leave. Nonexempt employees’ protections include the following:
Overtime Pay
These employees must be paid 1.5 times their usual hourly rate for all hours worked beyond eight during any one day or after 40 in any one week. Additionally, if someone works all seven days in a week, then the entire seventh day counts as overtime regardless of the number of hours worked that day or during the week in question. If you work more than 12 hours in a day or more than eight hours on the seventh day, then you are entitled to double your standard hourly rate for all applicable hours.
Breaks and Meals
California requires employers to provide regular meal and rest breaks. For every four hours worked, you must be granted one paid break of at least 10 minutes’ duration. Further, for every five hours worked, you are entitled to an unpaid 30-minute meal break. Yes, that means that if you work 10 hours or more, you get two unpaid meal breaks.
Freedom From Discrimination
California’s protections in this regard are comprehensive. No employer may discriminate against you for any of the following 12 reasons:
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Gender, or lack thereof
- Sex, which includes conditions applicable to people who are assigned female at birth, such as pregnancy or breastfeeding
- Age
- Disability as long it doesn’t preclude you from safely performing the applicable duties
- Medical condition
- Sexual orientation
- Martial status
- Military status, such as being a veteran and/or conscientious objector
- National origin that is separate from ethnicity
Freedom From Sexual Harassment and/or Coercion
No one is allowed to force you to have sex of any kind for any reason. Additionally, personal comments, jokes, and/or disparaging remarks about your gender and/or sexual orientation are considered harassment regardless of intent.
Family or Medical Leave
In a medical or family emergency, you are allowed to take up to 12 weeks off without pay to deal with the problem. California law requires your employer to give you your job back when you want to return, provided that you can still perform the duties required of your job. Barring that, your employer must reassign you to a job that you can perform if you’re unable to continue at your old job for one reason or another. They also have to continue to give you medical insurance coverage while you’re away.
Minimum Wage
California’s minimum wage is much higher than the federal minimum wage in the United States. That minimum wage is $16.50 per hour.
Freedom from Workplace Retaliation
As long as you act in good faith, your employer is not allowed to punish you for reporting any violations that occur at your workplace. You are also allowed to ask questions about salary and to have reasonable accommodations for your religious beliefs and/or applicable disability. Protection from whistleblowing is also mandatory.
Safety
Employers must provide a safe work environment. The environment must also protect the privacy of all employees. You have the right to file safety complaints without fear of retribution. Also, if you refuse to do a certain job because you have a reasonable suspicion that the workplace is unsafe, then you are likewise protected against retribution of any kind.
Sick Leave
The minimum requirement is one hour of paid sick leave per 30 hours worked. If you’re a full-time employee, then it’s 40 hours of paid sick leave for every 12 months worked in the same job. In truth, however, many employers realize that generous sick leave policies attract and retain good employees and offer much more than the minimum.
Freedom From Wrongful Termination
Your employer is not allowed to fire you for filing workers’ compensation claims, blowing the whistle in good faith, using “too much leave,” or for anything you say, which is protected under the First Amendment. Your employer letting you go during a probationary period is not wrongful termination unless you can prove that it was because of one of the prohibited categories.
Receiving Back Pay, Bonuses, and/or Paid Leave
If your employer retaliates against you, then not only are you entitled to your job back, but you are also entitled to receive everything that you lost in the interim. Further, if you were the victim of workplace harassment, then you would be entitled to have no contact with the person, or persons, who harassed you if that person or persons still had a job where you work.