It is important that employers in California not only know the multitude of statewide employment regulations but also familiarize themselves with local ordinances in the California cities where employees work.

The following are some of the important ordinances employers with operations in the City of San Jose should be aware of.

Minimum Wage

Effective January 1, 2022, the minimum wage for employers within the geographic boundaries of San Jose or who are subject to the San Jose Business License Tax, is $16.20, regardless of the size of the business. Employers are required to post official notice of the minimum wage in a place where employees can read easily.

Opportunity to Work Ordinance

This law took effect in 2017 and requires employers to offer additional hours of work to current part-time employees who are capable of performing additional work prior to hiring more employees, including subcontractors or the use of temporary staffing services.

The ordinance covers employers of 36 or more employees. The number of employees includes both full and part-time employees within the city of San Jose.

Employers are recommended to take the following steps to ensure compliance:

1. Identify the need for additional hours of work to be performed.

2. Determine how to communicate an offer of additional hours, timeline, and process for response to qualified existing part-time employees.

3. Based on employees’ response to the offer of additional hours, the employer determines how best to disperse additional hours to existing employees.

4. If not all hours can be dispersed to existing part-time employees, the employer can hire a new employee or employees.

Covered employers are required to post the official notice informing employees of their rights under the ordinance.

The City of San Jose has also published a Frequently Asked Questions page for the ordinance.