Today, July 1, 2014, is the day that the minimum wage goes up in California from $8 per hour to $9 per hour. The minimum wage will stay at $9 per hour until January 1, 2016, when it will again rise to $10 per hour. One aspect of this wage hike that is not immediately apparent is that the minimum monthly salary required to classify an employee as exempt is also going up, as it is pegged to the minimum wage. That is, in order to be exempt, an employee must be paid at least twice the minimum wage, on a monthly salary basis (careful, there are other necessary elements as well, not just the salary test). Thus today, the minimum salary for an exempt employee goes up from $2,773.34 per month (equating to $33,280 per year) to $3,120 per month (equating to $37,440 per year). On January 1, 2016, the minimum salary for an exempt employee will go up again to $3,466.67 per month (equating to $41,600 per year).
–Adam K. Treiger
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