California health workers this month will finally get a long-promised minimum wage increase.
It’ll kick in this month, according to a letter state health officials sent to the Legislature today, describing a process that should trigger the pay boost.
“The health care minimum wage increases shall be effective 15 days after the date of this notification, on October 16, 2024, unless a later effective date is specified,” Michelle Baass, the director of the California Department of Health Care Services wrote in the letter.
The state’s Department of Industrial Relations confirmed the implementation date on its website today.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last year signed a law, Senate Bill 525, that gradually phases in pay increases for the state’s lowest-paid health workers to $25 an hour over a number of years.
The law was initially set to go into effect June 1, but Newsom asked lawmakers for a delay because of state budget concerns. The law is expected to cost the state $1.4 billion in the first six months of implementation, according to estimates from earlier this year by the Department of Finance.
The deal Newsom struck to postpone the wage increase had an uncertain start date. It stipulated the raises could begin sometime between Oct. 15 and Jan. 1. The roll out date depended on the state bringing in at least 3% more tax revenue than the administration expected, or the state starting to collect data to secure federal funding that will help offset some of the costs related to the law.
The letter from the Department of Health Care Services notifies the Legislature that the latter is now in place.
Some employers stuck to the original deadline of June 1 and have already provided a pay bump. But most workers have been patiently waiting.
Health workers who stand to…
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