California HR Laws for Small Employers (2026)

California at a glance

Pay range in job posts: Employers with 15 or more employees must put a good faith pay scale in every job posting. Any employer must give an applicant the pay scale on reasonable request, and a current employee the pay scale for their own job on request.
New-hire reporting: Report each new or rehired employee to the Employment Development Department (EDD) within 20 calendar days of their first day of work, on Form DE 34 or through e-Services for Business.
Paid sick leave: Employees earn at least 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. You may limit use to 40 hours or 5 days a year and cap the balance at 80 hours or 10 days.
Paid family and medical leave: Paid Family Leave (PFL) pays up to 8 weeks of benefits through EDD at about 70 to 90 percent of wages. Job protection comes from the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), which covers employers with 5 or more employees.
Final pay when you end employment: All wages, including accrued vacation, are due immediately at the time of termination. Late final pay can cost a day of wages for each day it is late, up to 30 days.
Final pay when they quit: Due within 72 hours of quitting. If the employee gave at least 72 hours of notice, pay is due on their last day.
Unused vacation at exit: Earned, unused vacation must be paid out at the final rate of pay. Use-it-or-lose-it policies are illegal, but a reasonable cap on accrual is allowed.

Hiring in California

Pay transparency. Under Labor Code 432.3, an employer with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale in any job posting, and must give it to any third party that posts the job for you. The pay scale is a good faith estimate of the salary or hourly range you reasonably expect to pay when you hire. Every employer, whatever its size, must give an applicant the pay scale on reasonable request and give a current employee the pay scale for their own position on request. See pay transparency in job posts for how to write a compliant range.

Salary history. You may not ask an applicant, yourself or through a recruiter, about their past pay and benefits, and you may not rely on salary history to decide whether to hire someone or what to offer. You must also keep each employee's job title and wage rate history for the length of their employment plus three years.

Criminal history. The Fair Chance Act applies to employers with 5 or more employees. You cannot ask about conviction history until after a conditional job offer. If you then plan to withdraw the offer because of a conviction, you must do an individual assessment of the offense, the time since it happened and the job, send a written preliminary notice, and give the applicant at least 5 business days to respond before sending a final written decision. Background reports themselves also follow federal rules, covered in employee background checks.

California hiring and onboarding checklist
Requirement	Who it applies to	When
Pay scale in job posts	15 or more employees	Every posting
Wage notice (Labor Code 2810.5): pay rate, payday, employer details, workers' comp carrier, sick leave rights	Non-exempt employees	At hire; changes within 7 calendar days
New-hire report to EDD (Form DE 34 or e-Services)	All employers	Within 20 calendar days of the first day of work
Sexual harassment prevention training	5 or more employees	Within 6 months of hire or promotion to supervisor, then every 2 years
Annual workplace rights notice	All employers	By February 1 each year
Workers' compensation insurance	All employers, even with 1 employee	As soon as you have an employee

New-hire reporting. Report every new hire and every rehire to EDD within 20 calendar days of the first day they work for pay. Someone counts as a rehire if they were separated from you for at least 60 consecutive days. The penalty is $24 per unreported employee, or $490 if the failure is intentional. The general process is in new-hire reporting.

Notices and training. Non-exempt employees get a written wage notice at hire in their language. EDD also lists brochures employers must hand out when needed: Disability Insurance (DE 2515), Paid Family Leave (DE 2511) and For Your Benefit (DE 2320). Employers with 5 or more employees must give supervisors at least 2 hours and other employees at least 1 hour of interactive harassment prevention training. Since 2026, every employer must also give employees a workplace rights notice by February 1 each year (the Labor Commissioner publishes a template) and let them name an emergency contact.

Pay, overtime and exempt salaries

The statewide minimum wage is $16.90 an hour from January 1, 2026. Some cities and industries set higher rates, and the higher rate wins. Overtime is daily as well as weekly: non-exempt employees earn 1.5 times their regular rate after 8 hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek, and double time after 12 hours in a day. On the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek, the first 8 hours are paid at 1.5 times and anything beyond 8 at double time.

California exempt pay floors for 2026
Exemption	2026 minimum	Notes
Executive, administrative, professional	$70,304 a year	Twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, plus the duties tests
Computer software employees (Labor Code 515.5)	$58.85 an hour, $10,214.44 a month or $122,573.13 a year	Adjusted each year; duties test applies and job titles do not decide it

A common mistake at tech startups is paying an engineer a salary above the federal threshold but below the California floor and treating them as exempt. In California the state floor controls. See exempt vs non-exempt and overtime rules.

Leave in California

Paid sick leave. Employees who work for you in California for at least 30 days in a year are covered. They earn at least 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. You may limit use to 40 hours or 5 days a year (the minimum rose from 24 hours or 3 days on January 1, 2024) and cap total accrual at 80 hours or 10 days. Instead of accrual you can front-load the full amount; for a new hire, 24 hours or 3 days must be available by the 120th day and 40 hours or 5 days by the 200th day. Unused sick leave does not have to be paid out at exit unless your policy says so, but it must be restored if you rehire the person within 12 months.

California leave laws and when they start
Law	Employer size	What employees get
Paid sick leave	1 or more	At least 40 hours or 5 days of use a year
California Family Rights Act (CFRA)	5 or more	Up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave after 12 months and 1,250 hours of work
Pregnancy Disability Leave	5 or more	Up to 4 months for disability from pregnancy or childbirth, separate from CFRA
Bereavement leave	5 or more	Up to 5 days within 3 months of a family member's death, after 30 days of employment
Paid Family Leave (EDD benefit)	State insurance program	Up to 8 weeks of partial wage replacement in a 12-month period

Paid Family Leave is a wage replacement benefit paid by EDD, at about 70 to 90 percent of wages depending on income. Job protection comes from CFRA, which reaches far smaller employers than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Bereavement leave can be unpaid if you have no paid policy, but employees may use accrued vacation or sick leave. Compare states in paid family leave states and paid sick leave laws.

Final pay in California

California final pay deadlines
Situation	Deadline
You fire or lay off the employee	Immediately, at the time of termination
Employee quits with at least 72 hours of notice	On their last day
Employee quits without 72 hours of notice	Within 72 hours; mailing it at their request counts as paying on the mailing date

Final pay includes all earned and unused vacation or PTO, paid at the final rate. If you willfully pay late, the employee can claim waiting time penalties of one day of wages for each day the pay is late, up to 30 calendar days. Plan the paycheck before the termination meeting, not after. Step-by-step help is in firing an employee in California and final paycheck laws.

When you fire someone, lay them off or put them on leave, you must give them written notice of the change right away. EDD publishes a sample "Notice to Employee as to Change in Relationship". The notice is not required when an employee quits.

Other things to know

Discrimination: the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) covers employers with 5 or more employees. Harassment is prohibited in every workplace, even with fewer than 5.
Pay data reports: private employers with 100 or more employees file an annual pay data report with the Civil Rights Department. Reports for 2025 were due May 13, 2026.
Layoffs: the California WARN Act covers an establishment with 75 or more employees in the past 12 months. A layoff of 50 or more within 30 days, a closure or a relocation of at least 100 miles needs 60 days of written notice to employees, EDD, the local workforce board and local officials. See WARN Act layoffs.
Health coverage: Cal-COBRA covers employers with 2 to 19 eligible employees on an insured plan and allows up to 36 months of continuation. See when do you need to offer COBRA.
Workers' compensation: required even if you have only one employee.
Posters: the Department of Industrial Relations keeps the list of required workplace postings, including minimum wage, workers' compensation and whistleblower notices. See labor law posters.

Common questions

Do California employers with fewer than 15 employees have to share pay ranges?

Not in job posts. But every employer must give an applicant the pay scale on reasonable request and a current employee the pay scale for their own job on request.

How much paid sick leave must a California employer give in 2026?

Employees accrue at least 1 hour per 30 hours worked, and you must allow at least 40 hours or 5 days of use a year. You may cap the total balance at 80 hours or 10 days.

When is a final paycheck due in California after a firing?

Immediately, at the time of termination, including accrued vacation. Willful delays can cost a day of wages per day late, up to 30 days.

What is the minimum salary for an exempt employee in California in 2026?

At least $70,304 a year for the executive, administrative and professional exemptions. Computer software employees need at least $58.85 an hour or $122,573.13 a year.

How MambaHR handles this

MambaHR keeps your California employee records and hiring pipeline and does the admin itself: job posts go out with the pay range, sick leave requests are approved within your policy, and final pay is worked out under California's same-day and 72-hour rules for a person to approve. Every hire, raise, leave and exit becomes a payroll change for your current provider or for Deel-managed payroll (Powered by Deel). Terminations and unclear cases always go to a person, and every change is logged.

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Sources

Last reviewed October 2, 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws change and exceptions apply, so check the sources above or an employment lawyer before you act on a specific case.