Some of California’s lowest-paid health care workers will receive a pay raise on Wednesday under State Law Gradually increase their wages to at least $25 per hour.
Workers at independent rural health care facilities will start making at least $18 an hour, while others at hospitals with at least 10,000 full-time employees will start making at least $23 an hour this week. The law would increase workers’ wages over the next decade, with the $25-an-hour rate taking effect faster for some than others.
About 350,000 workers will have to receive higher wages under the law starting Wednesday, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law last year, and workers were scheduled to receive wage increases in June. This year, lawmakers and the governor agreed Delay the law To help close the estimated $46.8 billion budget deficit.
Carmella Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, said last year that the legislation would support workers and protect access to health care services.
“SB 525 strikes the right balance between significantly improving wages while protecting jobs and preserving care in community hospitals across the state,” she said in a statement.
California’s minimum wage for most state workers is $16 per hour. Voters will decide in November whether to raise the rate or not Gradually to $18 per hour By 2026, which would be the highest state minimum wage in the United States Fast food workers In California, people must now be paid at least $20 an hour under a law Newsom signed last year.
Some health care providers raised concerns when the law was passed last year that it would place a financial burden on hospitals as they try to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics said the law could prompt service providers to cut hours and jobs.
Many hospitals in the state have already begun implementing pay increases under the law’s original timeline, said Sarah Bridge, vice president of advocacy and strategy for the California Association of Health Care Districts.
“It clearly creates financial pressures that didn’t exist before,” Bridge said of the law. “But our members are all ready and willing to enact change.”