May 2022: West Hollywood City Council Approves Amendments to Minimum Wage Ordinance

Update Applicable to:
All employers in the city of West Hollywood, California

What happened??
On November 23, 2021, we notified you that the city council of West Hollywood passed Ordinance No. 21-1168 that implements an increase in the minimum wage and new leave requirements for employees in the city that went into effect on January 1, 2022 for hotel employers and on July 1, 2022 for all other employers. This is an update to that communication.

What are the details?
On May 16, 2022, West Hollywood’s city council approved amendments to Ordinance No. 21-1168.

The following amendments were implemented:

• Previously, the calculation of the number of employees for purposes of coverage of the Ordinance was based on the calculation of employees from 2019. In the amendment, the number shall be determined by the number of employees employed per quarter during the most recent calendar year. For new employers, an initial determination of size shall be based upon the actual number of hires at the time of opening.
• In the original Ordinance, employers were required to provide a cash payment once every 30 days for accrued compensated time over the maximum accrual. The amendment eliminates the cash payout requirement.
• In the original Ordinance, employers could only seek one-year waivers for the minimum wage requirements of the Ordinance. The amendment extends the one-year waiver for financial hardship to comply with the paid leave portions of the Ordinance.

The city also published administrative regulations to assist in the implementation of the ordinance. The regulations provide guidance in areas such as:

• Calculation of number of employees
• Methods for distribution of compensated and uncompensated leave
• Guidance for application of waivers for certain employers
• Required notices

For more information, please see the links below:

Ordinance No. 21-1168

Administrative Regulations

Article

What do employers need to do?
Employers should review the links provided above and make adjustments to their minimum wage and leave policies to be in compliance with the law before it goes into effect.