SACRAMENTO, California — Some of California’s lowest-paid health care workers are getting a raise Wednesday state law gradually increase their wages to at least $25 per hour.
Workers in rural, independent health care facilities will earn at least $18 an hour, while others in hospitals with at least 10,000 full-time employees will earn at least $23 an hour this week. The law will increase worker wages over the next decade, with the $25 hourly rate taking effect sooner for some than others.
About 350,000 workers will be paid more starting Wednesday, according to the University of California, Berkeley Labor Center.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law last year and workers would get a raise in June. Lawmakers and the governor agreed this year delay the law to help close an estimated $46.8 billion budget deficit.
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.
“SB 525 strikes the right balance between significantly improving wages and protecting jobs while safeguarding care at community hospitals across the state,” she said in a statement.
California’s minimum wage for most workers in the state is $16 per hour. Voters will decide in November whether to raise the rate gradually to $18 per hour by 2026, which would be the highest statewide minimum wage in the US Fast food workers in California, workers must now be paid at least $20 an hour under a law Newsom signed last year.
When the law was passed last year, some health care providers raised concerns that it would place a financial burden on hospitals trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The law could lead providers to cut hours and jobs, critics say.
Many hospitals in the state have already started implementing pay increases under the law’s original timeline, said Sarah Bridge, vice president of advocacy and strategy at the Association of California Healthcare Districts.
“It obviously creates financial pressure that wasn’t there before,” Bridge said of the law. “But our members are all primed and ready to make the change.”
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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