San Francisco Minimum Wage and Overtime Laws

On February 23, 2004, the City of San Francisco established a minimum hourly wage for the employees pursuant to Administrative Code section 12R (the Minimum Wage Ordinance or MWO). Under MWO section 12R.4, San Francisco employers shall pay to employees no less than the minimum wage for each hour worked in the geographic boundaries of the City. The local minimum wage in the City and County of San Francisco exceeds the State minimu wage, and it is adjusted each year based on increases in the regional Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers.

Under section 12R.3(a) of the ordinance, an employee is any person who, in a particular week, performs at least two hours of work for an employer within the geographic boundaries of the city. The local San Francisco minimum wage during the past few years have been as follows:
$8.82 per hour during 2006; $9.14 during 2007; $9.36 during 2008; and $9.79 during and till the end of 2009.

In addition to paying the minimum hourly wage under the MWO, San Francisco employers are required to pay overtime under California law in in compliance with the IWC Order No. 4-2001.

Thus, typically, the retail businesses such as stores and restaurants are subject to the following overtime requirements:

Employees should be paid one and a half time of their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per workweek or 8 hours in any workday and for the first 8 hours of work during the seventh consecutive day of work. An employee shall be compensated double the regular rate for all hours in excess of 12 hour workday and for any overs beyond the first 8 hours of work on the seventh consecutive workday.

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