Some of California’s lowest-paid health care workers will get a raise Wednesday under a state law that will gradually increase their wages to at least $25 an hour.
Workers in rural, independent health care facilities will earn at least $18 an hour, while others in hospitals with at least 10,000 full-time employees will earn at least $23 an hour this week. The law will increase worker wages over the next decade, with the $25 hourly rate taking effect sooner for some than others.
About 350,000 workers will be paid more starting Wednesday, according to the University of California, Berkeley Labor Center.
“Today’s victory belongs to the workers who spoke passionately about the grueling work and impact on patients when workers perform two or three jobs, whether on the floors of short-staffed nursing homes, in the operating rooms of hospitals , or at the counters and phone lines of community clinics,” Senator Maria Elena Durazo, a Democrat who authored the bill, said in a statement.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law last year and workers would get a raise in June. Lawmakers and the governor agreed this year to delay the law to help close an estimated $46.8 billion budget deficit.
According to the state Department of Labor Relations, the law applies to a wide range of employees, including those who provide services in psychiatric health care facilities, urgent care clinics and residential settings. It does not apply to employees in state health care institutions.
California’s minimum wage for most workers in the state is $16 per hour. Voters will decide in November whether to gradually raise that to $18 an hour, which would be the highest minimum wage in the U.S. by 2026. Fast-food workers in California must now be paid at least $20 an hour under a law Newsom signed . last year.
When the law was passed last year, some health care providers raised concerns that it would place a financial burden on hospitals as they tried to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The law could lead providers to cut hours and jobs, critics say.
Many hospitals in the state have already started raising wages under the law’s original timeline, said Sarah Bridge, vice president of advocacy and strategy at the Association of California Healthcare Districts.
“It obviously creates financial pressure that wasn’t there before,” Bridge said of the law. “But our members are all primed and ready to make the change.”
Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, said last year that the legislation will support workers and protect access to health care.
“SB 525 strikes the right balance between significantly improving wages while protecting jobs and safeguarding care at community hospitals across the state,” she said in a statement.
