The wages offered to California workers count as payment for the agreed regular work useful for keeping the business enterprise moving ahead and making profit. Californians are paid the amount a worker deserves to live well in good health, and support a family.

The milk and honey in California is affordable to all that earn the living wage. At least once every two years, the Industrial Welfare Commission reviews the state minimum wage to make sure every worker has the money to pay for the ordinary costs of living and making the most of one's labor.

Wages

Wages are the money count paid for the business support. When money is paid for the work done at the business, it counts. Employers can pay by hour, by task, by piece, or by commission.

Meals and lodging costs can not count in the employer's total pay used to equal the minimum wage or pay higher. The employee has to agree in writing to count the costs, and then the employer can only count an amount up to the cost amounts listed in the code.

The Minimum Wage

Paying less than the minimum wage written in the California Code and posted in the Minimum Wage Order is unlawful. On January 1 2008, the state minimum wage was set at $8.00 an hour.

Covered Workers

The minimum wage guarantees a living wage for almost all workers in California. Children and young adults have the same minimum as adults. Tipped workers earn the full amount in flat cash wages. Their employers are not allowed to claim their tips as pay that counts for the minimum wage.

But, business owners and entrepreneurs do not have to pay family members the minimum amount. Their parent, spouse, child or adopted child can work for them at any wage they think fair.

Salespersons on commission earn money on the scale set for the occupation. Less than minimum pay is accepted.

The minimum does not set a limit for a Californian participating in a national service program.

Sheepherders have their own minimum in California.

At organized camps, the employer can pay student employees, camp counselors and program counselors 85 percent of the minimum wage (rounded to the nearest nickel) or more for their hours worked. Meals and lodging costs can get taken out of their pay that counts for the minimum wage.

Mentally and physically handicapped Californians can ask the Labor Commission for a special license to get paid less than the minimum wage. The commission sets the special wage the employer must pay. The license can get renewed at the end of a year.

Learners

New men and women on the job can ask for less than the minimum wage. Not matter how old they are. Adults or youth. For the first 160 hours in an occupation they do not have any experience in, they can earn 85 percent of the minimum amount or more as they learn the job and gain experience.

Equal Pay for Equal Work

Pay for men and women goes hand in hand. Employers are not allowed to pay a woman who works at the same place of business as a man less than him. The woman gets paid the same amount for working a job in the same working conditions and using equal skill and effort to fulfill an equal responsibility.

An employer can pay a lower wage rate or salary to a woman when they know the characteristics of the man make them fit and able to do work that contributes more to the business. The typical characteristics are the man's seniority and merit. A higher quantity or quality of production can also justify a higher wage.

No Agreement to Pay Less

Employers have to stay faithful to their commitment to pay the minimum wage set by the State of California. Agreements between an employer and employee to work at a lower wage are not allowed, including an agreement written in a collective bargaining agreement. These unlawful agreements are called waivers.

Enforcement

The Department of Labor Standards Enforcement keeps the wage payments made by employers straight in line with the minimum. They can monitor an employer until they have paid wages they owe to pay the full minimum for all hours worked by an employee.

The staff can also take complaints from workers that were paid less than the minimum wage and complaints from workers whose employer tried to lay them off or fire them for demanding the full minimum or for filing a complaint..

Penalties

Lowering a wage below the minimum can make the employer liable for a fine. The first intentional underpayment costs the employer $100 for every worker paid less than the minimum for each pay period they are underpaid. Another violation of the same kind costs $250. The second violation costs $250 even when the first violation was not intentional.

The department has authority to give out a citation to an employer.

Federal and Local Laws

The California wage stands above the federal minimum wage. If the federal minimum wage written in the Fair Labor Standards Act ever rises above the California wage, the Labor Commission will set aside the lower state wage and change the state minimum wage to equal the federal minimum wage.

Local cities and counties can set higher minimum wages that local employers must pay. San Francisco has a Minimum Compensation Ordinance that says employers in the city must pay a living and healthy wage. A wage that has stood above the state minimum.

The Wage Deal

Work makes the business. Pay makes the worker's life a decent deal.

Sources:

California Code Section 1171 and after (May 2011).

California Industrial Welfare Commisson, Minimum Wage Order MW-2007, California Minimum Wage (2007).