Healthcare Employees Receive Minimum Wage Raises in California

Healthcare Employees Receive Minimum Wage Raises in California

This summer, the minimum wage increased for healthcare employees working with specific employers in the state, strengthening their earning power and recognizing the vital work that they perform for society. Effective July 1, 2025, many healthcare workers around California are earning $24.00/hour.

Who Counts as a Healthcare Employee

The increase resulted from Senate Bill (SB) 525, which Governor Newsom signed in 2023, and which took effect on October 16, 2024, and which, as of this summer, increased the minimum wage for healthcare employees in California at a wide range of facilities.

The definition of a “healthcare employee” under SB 525 is broad, encompassing a wide range of roles and positions that both directly and indirectly provide or assist in the provision of healthcare services and patient care. Examples of covered roles at healthcare facilities include the following:

• Physicians
• Janitors
• Guards
• Housekeeping staff
• Groundskeepers
• Clerical workers
• Nurses
• Medical residents, fellows, or interns
• Caregivers
• Patient care technicians
• Non-managerial administrative employees
• Gift shop employees
• Schedulers
• Laundry employees
• Medical billing and coding personnel
• Food service employees
• Call center and warehouse employees
• Technical and ancillary services employees

Which Facilities are Subject to the Increase

Covered facilities include many or most of the healthcare workers in the state, including:

• Covered Health Care Facilities operated by large counties with more than 5 million people as of January 1, 2023: increased from $23.00/hour to $24.00/hour
• Covered Health Care Facilities operated by small counties with fewer than 250,000 people: $18.00/hour to $18.63/hour
• Hospitals or Integrated Health Systems with 10,000+ full-time employees, including skilled nursing facilities managed by these employers: increased from $23.00/hour to $24.00/hour
• Hospitals with 90% or more of their patients paid for by Medicare or Medi-Cal: increased from $18.00/hour to $18.63/hour
• Rural Independent Covered Health Care Facilities: $18.00/hour to $18.63/hour
• Dialysis Clinics: $23.00/hour to $24.00/hour
• Independent Hospitals with 75% or more of their patients paid for by Medicare or Medi-Cal: $18.00/hour to $18.63/hour

Other healthcare facilities will be subject to minimum wage increases in summer 2026.

If you are a healthcare employee, you can find further information to determine whether you work at a healthcare facility covered by this year’s minimum wage increase by consulting the Department of Industrial Relations.

Effect on Healthcare Employees’ Wages:

These wage increases will affect most non-exempt healthcare workers. To be classified as exempt/salaried, you must earn a monthly salary of one-and-a-half times the applicable minimum wage, or two times California’s minimum wage, whichever is greater. And if you are a non-exempt/hourly employee, for each hour you work beyond 40 hours per week, you must be paid an overtime salary of one-and-a-half times the applicable rate.

If an employer tries to pay less than the wage you are entitled to or fails to compensate you with the proper amount of overtime, please contact Bryan Schwartz Law, P.C.