Some California employees, however, are subject to a higher living wage ordinance such as: (1) San Francisco which increased its minimum wage to $9.79, effective January 1, 2008 and (2) Santa Monica which increased its living wage to $13.05 for certain employers providing services to the city (Effective July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009).

On June 16, 2008, the First District Court of Appeals in Amral v. Cintas Corporation, ___ Cal.App.4th __ (2008) held that when an employer agrees to be bound by a city’s living wage ordinance, ALL of the employees working for the employer are entitled to the protection of the living wage ordinance (LWO), even if some of the employees work outside the city boundaries, or on non-city projects.

Facts. In Amral, the defendant signed a contract to provide laundry services to the City of Hayward, which had a local wage ordinance (LWO) that required city contractors to pay at least $9.25 to “any individual employed by a service contractor on or under the authority of any contract for services with the City.” Defendant paid the rate prescribed by the LWO of $9.25 to its employees who worked within the City of Hayward, but not to the employees who worked at a centralized plant in another city.

Held. In Amral the Appellate Court rejected the defendant’s argument that the plaintiffs were providing a service to the company rather than the City, and therefore did not fall with the scope of Hayward’s LWO. The court held that Hayward’s LWO applied to ALL work performed by ALL of the defendant’s employees.

Employers subject to a LWO should have an attorney review their city’s LWO to determine if the employer is required to pay ALL of their employees the specified living wage, regardless of where and for whom those employees are performing their job duties.

Updated California work place posters for employers can be found for free at: http://www.dir.ca.gov/wpnodb.html.