California health care workers get a pay bump under a new minimum wage law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Some of the lowest-paid health care workers in California will get a pay bump Wednesday under a state law gradually increasing their wages to at least $25 an hour.

Workers at rural, independent health care facilities will start making a minimum of $18 an hour, while others at hospitals with at least 10,000 full-time employees will begin getting paid at least $23 an hour this week. The law will increase workers’ pay over the next decade, with the $25 hourly rate kicking in sooner for some than others.

About 350,000 workers will have to be paid more under the law 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 the impact on patients when workers cover two or three jobs, whether on short-staffed nursing home floors, in hospital operating rooms, or at the front desks and phone lines of community clinics,” state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, a Democrat who authored the law, said in a statement.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law last year, and workers were slated to get raises in June. Lawmakers and the governor agreed this year to delay the law to help close an estimated $46.8 billion budget shortfall.

The law applies to a wide range of workers, including those providing services at psychiatric health facilities, urgent care clinics and residential settings, according to the state Department of Industrial Relations. It does not apply to employees at state-run health care facilities.

California’s minimum wage for most workers in the state is $16 an hour. Voters will decide in November whether to increase that gradually to $18 an hour, which would be the highest statewide minimum wage in the U.S., by 2026. Fast food workers in California must now have to be paid at least $20 hourly under a law Newsom signed last year.

Some health care providers raised concerns when the law was passed last year that it would put 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 said.

Many hospitals in the state have already begun increasing wages under the law’s original timeline, said Sarah Bridge, vice president of advocacy and strategy with the Association of California Healthcare Districts.

“It obviously does create financial pressures that weren’t there before,” Bridge said of the law. “But our members are all poised and ready to enact 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 services.

“SB 525 strikes the right balance between significantly improving wages while protecting jobs and safeguarding care at community hospitals throughout the state,” she said in a statement.

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Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @ sophieadanna