Santa Monica Minimum Wage Rises To $15.96

SANTA MONICA—The minimum wage in the city of Santa Monica rose from $15 to $15.96 starting on Friday, July 1, 2022. The minimum wage applies to all employees physically working in Santa Monica for at least two hours per week – including those who work for employers located outside of the city.

Santa Monica has a separate minimum wage for workers at hotels, which applies to contractors providing hotel-related services on hotel premises (such as valet, maintenance, and cleaning), and businesses that contract, lease, and sublet premises and operate in connection with the hotel (such as a restaurant connected to a hotel that provides room service to guests). The hotel worker living wage is the same as the Los Angeles Hotel Worker Minimum Wage; for qualifying hotel workers it increased to $18.17 per hour on July 1.

Santa Monica requires that employees working within the city to receive paid sick leave:

•Employers with 25 or fewer workers must provide at least 40 hours of paid sick time per year.

•Employers with 26 or more workers must provide at least 72 hours of paid sick time per year.

•Sick time accumulates at the rate of one hour per 30 hours worked, and must be given to all full-time, part-time, and temporary workers.

Employers with workers who are physically located in Santa Monica are also required to post certain notices. Links to the notices, which are available in English, Spanish, and nine other languages, can be found on Santa Monica’s Minimum Wage page. Businesses are expected to post notices in any other language spoken by 5 percent or more of the employer’s workforce.

Employers are not allowed to decrease workers’ hours, wages, or benefits, or otherwise discriminate against a worker for exercising their protected rights under this law. Santa Monica’s Minimum Wage Ordinance protects workers from retaliation if they take action to ensure that employers follow the law. Workers can sue employers that do not follow the law, and those employers may face administrative, civil, and criminal enforcement actions.

The city partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs to enforce its Minimum Wage Ordinance pursuant to the Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 4.62. For those with questions about Santa Monica’s minimum wage law or want to report a violation, email wagehelp@dcba.lacounty.gov, or call 800-593-8222.