Ask Mary | October 2024

When does the SB 525 Health Care Worker minimum hourly wage increase take effect? 

The minimum wage increases will become effective on a date between October 15, 2024 and January 1, 2025. The precise effective date depends on several factors: 

• The effective date will be October 15, 2024 if state agency cash receipts for July through September 2024 are at least 3 percent higher than projected in the 2024 Budget, or 

• The effective date will be the sooner of January 1, 2025 or 15 days after the California Department of Health Care Services notifies the Legislature that it has initiated the data retrieval related to hospital quality assurance fees for the program period commencing January 1, 2025. The earliest that this data retrieval can begin is October 1, and the data is generally retrieved in October each year. 

Here are some examples of how the triggers listed above to implement the minimum wage increases could work: 

• If on October 10, 2024, the Director of Finance informs the Joint Legislative Budget Committee that the agency cash receipts as defined in SB 159 for July 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024 are at least 3 percent higher than projected in the 2024 Budget, the law will go into effect on October 15, 2024. 

• If the State Department of Health Care Services notifies the Legislature on October 1, 2024 that it has started retrieving the data in the trigger, the law will go into effect on October 16, 2024, which is 15 days after the State Department of Health Care Services’ notification. 

Given these timelines, employers are encouraged to be prepared to implement the new wages as early as October 15.