Minimum Wage Ordinance

3 Key Provisions of the Law: 1) Annual Minimum Wage Increase; 2) Paid Sick Leave; and 3) Hospitality Service Charges

Scroll for Regulations, FAQs, Posters and Notices

Annual Minimum Wage Increase

A Small Business is one with 55 or fewer employees working within the geographic boundaries of the City of Emeryville. A Large Business is one with 56 or more employees working within the geographic boundaries of Emeryville. After July 1, 2019, both large and small businesses subject to the same minimum wage rate.

The wage and escalation schedule is summarized in the following table:

Effective Date	≤55 Employees	56+ Employees
July 2, 2015	$12.25	$14.44
July 1, 2016	$13.00	$14.82 (CPI)
July 1, 2017	$14.00	$15.20 (CPI)
July 1, 2018	$15.00	$15.69 (CPI)
July 1-9, 2019 July 10, 2019 July 1, 2019	$15.00 (only for small independent restaurants) $16.30 (CPI) (only for small independent restaurants) $16.30 (CPI) (all small and large businesses)
July 1, 2020	$16.84(CPI) (all businesses)
July 1, 2021	$17.13 (CPI) (all businesses)
July 1, 2022	$17.68 (CPI) (all businesses)
July 1,2023	$18.67 (CPI) (all businesses)
July 1, 2024	$19.36 (CPI) (all businesses)
July 1, 2025	$19.90 (CPI) (all businesses)

Note: Effective April 1, 2024 SB 1228 mandates $20/hr minimum wage for all fast food workers which exceeds the local standard. Find out more information on this Bill about minimum wage.

Paid Sick Leave

Update as of January 1, 2024

On January 1, 2024, Senate Bill (SB) 616 went into effect and expanded paid sick leave (“PSL”) for almost all California employers and employees. SB 616 amended Labor Code sections 245.5, 246, and 246.5, and increased the minimum required amount of PSL for California employers to 40 hours or 5 days, whichever is more (e.g., if an employee works 10‑hour days, the employee will be entitled to 5 days, or 50 hours of PSL). However, local ordinances that require a greater amount of PSL must be adhered to if it more favorable to the employee. Details of the exceptions are addressed in the FAQ document and on the state Department of Labor Standards Labor Enforcement website.

Local Ordinance Background

On July 1, 2015, AB 1522 went into effect requiring that all Employers in the State of California provide Paid Sick Leave to both full-time and part-time Employees. The City’s ordinance includes additional Paid Sick Leave benefits beyond the State requirements. Emeryville’s ordinance requires Paid Sick Leave for full-time, part-time and temporary Employees and includes the following:

Minimum of 48 Paid Sick Leave hours accruable for Employees of small businesses (55 or fewer Employees within Emeryville city limits) and 72 hours for Employees of Large Businesses (56 or more within Emeryville city limits).
In each year of employment, an Employee may use up to the total number of Paid Sick Leave hours accrued allowed by employer but subject to the minimum number of accruable Paid Sick Leave hours, as described above.
AB 1522 allows an Employee to use Paid Sick Leave to provide care for a family member. The Emeryville ordinance broadens the definition of “family member” to include a designated individual (if Employee has no spouse or registered domestic partner) for whom an Employee can use Paid Sick Leave to provide care. In addition, the Employee may use Paid Sick Leave to provide care for a guide dog, signal dog, or service dog of the Employee, Employee’s family member, or the person designated by the Employee.

Hospitality Service Charges

Emeryville’s ordinance also requires that Hospitality Employers who collect service charges from customers must pay the entirety of those charges to the Hospitality Workers who performed those services for which the charge was collected. Examples of activities that could fall under a “service charge” are: delivering food or beverage to a hotel room, catering duties at banquets, or carrying luggage to room for hotel guests.

Resources

General

Minimum Wage & Paid Sick Leave Ordinance

Regulations(PDF, 5MB)

FAQs(PDF, 339KB)

Posters/Notices

All Official Notices must be provided to all current and future Employees upon hire.

The poster(s) and Official Notices are required to be provided in all languages spoken by 10% or more of the workplace’s Employees.

2025 Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Poster

2025 Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Notices

Service Charge Notice

English(PDF, 52KB) | Chinese(PDF, 157KB) | Farsi(PDF, 222KB) | Spanish(PDF, 135KB)

Forms

Paid Sick Leave Designation Form(PDF, 203KB)

This form meets the Paid Sick Leave requirement of providing Employees an opportunity to designate a person to use their paid sick leave for if they do not have a spouse or registered domestic partner and must be provided to each current and future employee.

Complaint Declaration Form

English(PDF, 127KB) | Spanish(PDF, 296KB)

If you believe that your Employer is not paying you the required minimum wage, not providing Paid Sick Leave, or otherwise violating the Emeryville Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, please complete a Complaint Declaration form.

You may submit the form to the City:

Via mail to: Economic Development and Housing Division
Community Development Department
1333 Park Avenue
Emeryville, CA 94608
In person at the City of Emeryville City Hall at the address above Monday through Thursday from 9 am to 5 pm, excluding City holidays.
Via email to: minwage@emeryville.org