Guide to employee benefits and HR laws in California | PeopleKeep (2024)

FAQs

What employee benefits are required by law in California? ›

Federal and California laws require employers to provide their employees with certain other statutory benefits⁵. These include social security and Medicare tax, unemployment insurance tax, and family and medical leave.

Social Security and Medicare. Unemployment insurance. Workers' compensation insurance. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protections.

Medicare and social security, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, health insurance, and family and medical leave are all benefits that the federal government requires businesses to provide.

Minimum Wage Increases: As of Jan. 1, 2024, the California state minimum wage will increase to $16 per hour for all employers, regardless of employee headcount. This also means that as of Jan. 1, 2024, exempt employees in California must be paid a minimum annual salary of $66,560.

An employer cannot engage in wage discrimination based on sex, race, or other protected classes. Employees may also be entitled to leave, including pregnancy and maternity leave, family leave, medical leave, and military leave. Depending on the type of leave, the time could be paid or unpaid.

California Family Rights Act

California employers with 50+ employees must provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to employees for the employee's own serious health condition or to care for a family member with a serious health condition.

The three R's—Respect, Recognition, and Reward—are more than just concepts; they're the pillars on which successful businesses are built. By implementing this simple framework and principles, you can ensure that you will be creating a workplace culture that not only retains, but attracts, the top talent.

HIPAA does allow an employer to make distinctions in benefits that are offered and in the cost of benefits when those distinctions are not discriminatory.

Employer mandate overview

Employers must offer health insurance that is affordable and provides minimum value to 95% of their full-time employees and their children up to the end of the month in which they turn age 26, or be subject to penalties. This is known as the employer mandate.

How many hours is full-time for benefits in California? ›

According to the California Department of Industrial Relations, a full-time employee works 40 hours per week. However, you won't want to confuse the 40-hour work week with the Affordable Care Act regulations, which identify full-time workers as those who work 30 hours per week.

MEDICAL AND/OR LIFE INSURANCE:

(Labor Code §2806) A terminated employee may be entitled to continued coverage under the federal COBRA act or California's continued coverage requirements.

These schedules also permit nonexempt employees to work more than eight hours in a day without incurring daily overtime. Common examples of alternative workweek schedules are the 4/10 (employees work four 10-hour days in a workweek) or the 9/80 (employees work 80 hours in nine days over two workweeks).

Effective July 1, 2024, Senate Bill (SB) No. 553 will require virtually every California employer to implement a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan. The new law does not have an implementation grace period.

In 2024, California has expanded its required paid sick leave, added reproductive loss leave, increased the minimum wage, and added industry-specific minimum wages.

Legally required employee benefits in the U.S. Federally-mandated benefits in the U.S. include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation. Other statutory benefits, such as family leave, medical leave, and health insurance, only apply to qualifying employers.

The CalHR Benefits Division is responsible for the design, acquisition, and oversight of the statewide employee benefit programs. This includes dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, wellness, employee recognition, retirement, life, long-term disability and legal insurance, and other statewide benefit programs.

Legislation that created CalSavers stipulates employers must offer a retirement savings plan. If there's no workplace retirement plan in place, businesses must offer their employees CalSavers, the state-operated retirement savings plan — or else face fines.