Long Beach Labor Laws 2026: A Complete Guide for HR & Employer Compliance

Accurate as of May 6, 2026. This guide is informational and not legal advice. For specific situations, consult licensed California employment counsel familiar with Long Beach and Los Angeles County ordinances.

Long Beach is one of a handful of California cities that has built a self-contained employment law layer on top of state and federal rules. The city operates its own hotel worker minimum wage under Measure N and Measure RW, its own airport and convention center concessionaire wage under Chapter 16.60, a hotel housekeeper workload and panic button rule from Measure WW, and a pair of recall and retention ordinances that govern how hotels and commercial property janitorial businesses lay off and rehire workers. None of those rules exist at the California state level. All of them apply on top of California labor law, not instead of it.

That makes Long Beach a unique compliance environment. A hotel HR director in the city is balancing California's wage and hour code, the Los Angeles County minimum wage rules that border the city, the state's paid sick leave law, Cal/OSHA's workplace violence prevention requirements, and the city's own escalating hotel wage that is scheduled to reach $29.50 per hour by July 1, 2028. The same compliance map applies, in a narrower form, to property managers, janitorial contractors, and food and beverage operators tied to the airport or convention center.

This guide breaks down what employers in Long Beach need to track in 2026: the local ordinances unique to the city, the California rules that apply on top of them, the new state laws that took effect on January 1, 2026, and the priority dates HR teams should put on their calendar. For HR teams handling complaints, investigations, and recordkeeping across multiple California jurisdictions, an employee relations platform with case management built in tends to be the difference between defensible documentation and scattered email threads.

The 2026 Long Beach Employment Law Updates HR Teams Should Know First

Long Beach employers face two layers of changes in 2026: the city's scheduled hotel wage step-up under Measure RW, and the California-wide updates that apply to every employer in the state. Here is the short list.

• Hotel worker minimum wage rises to $26.50 per hour on July 1, 2026, under Measure RW. The schedule then increases to $28.00 on July 1, 2027 and $29.50 on July 1, 2028.
• California state minimum wage is $16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026, after a 2.49% inflation adjustment under Senate Bill 3.
• California exempt salary threshold is $70,304 annually in 2026 (two times the state minimum wage on a 40-hour week).
• AB 692 ends most "stay-or-pay" agreements for employment contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026, with a $5,000 per worker statutory damages floor.
• Long Beach airport and convention center concessionaire wage remains at $18.58 per hour as of July 1, 2025, with a separate City Council vote in 2025 to lift those workers to $29.50 per hour by 2028 (final adjustment schedule under city implementation).
• SB 553 workplace violence prevention plans remain mandatory for nearly every California employer, with annual training and incident logs subject to Cal/OSHA inspection.

The detail on each item is below.

How Long Beach Labor Law Sits On Top of California Rules

Long Beach is a charter city. That gives the City Council and Long Beach voters the ability to enact local labor ordinances that operate in addition to California state law. The city has used that authority sparingly but precisely.

Three categories of local rules currently apply:

• Hotel worker rules covered by Measure N (2012) and Measure RW (2024), with panic button and housekeeper workload provisions added by Measure WW (2018).
• Airport and convention center concessionaire rules under Long Beach Municipal Code Chapter 16.60, adopted by Ordinance 14-0002 in February 2014.
• Recall and retention ordinances for hotels with 25 or more employees and for commercial property janitorial employers, both adopted on May 19, 2020.

Outside those categories, employers in Long Beach follow California labor law. There is no general Long Beach citywide minimum wage above the state rate for office, retail, warehouse, restaurant, or healthcare employers. There is no separate Long Beach paid sick leave ordinance for non-hotel and non-concessionaire workers. State law is the floor, and the local ordinances govern the specific industries they cover.

Who enforces what?

The state Labor Commissioner enforces California wage and hour law. The California Civil Rights Department enforces FEHA discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Cal/OSHA enforces workplace safety and the SB 553 workplace violence prevention rule. The city Office of Labor Compliance, reachable at (562) 570-WAGE, fields complaints under the local hotel and concessionaire ordinances. PAGA actions for state Labor Code violations move through Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The Long Beach Hotel Worker Minimum Wage: Measure N and Measure RW

On November 6, 2012, Long Beach voters adopted Measure N. The initiative is codified at Long Beach Municipal Code Chapter 5.48 and set the original local hotel worker wage at $13 per hour, with annual cost-of-living adjustments. The covered floor is hotels of 100 or more guest rooms in the city.

Measure N also imposed five paid sick days per calendar year for covered hotel workers. That ran ahead of California state paid sick leave by years.

What did Measure RW change?

Measure RW passed in 2024. It accelerated the wage schedule and put a fixed timeline on the climb to $29.50 per hour for hotel workers in Long Beach. The published schedule is:

• July 1, 2024: $23.00 per hour
• July 1, 2025: $25.00 per hour
• July 1, 2026: $26.50 per hour
• July 1, 2027: $28.00 per hour
• July 1, 2028: $29.50 per hour
• July 1, 2029 forward: annual CPI adjustment, with a 2% minimum increase per year

Measure RW also pulled in some agency-supplied workers placed at covered hotels. The city published a public notice on May 1, 2025 confirming the $25.00 rate effective July 1, 2025.

Which hotels are covered?

Coverage extends to hotel employers with at least 100 guest rooms in Long Beach. The ordinance reaches workers performing services at the hotel: front desk, housekeeping, food and beverage, banquet staff, valet, and bell. Measure RW also captures workers placed by staffing agencies into covered hotels.

The ordinance does not extend to residential hotels, owner-occupied bed and breakfasts, or hotels operated by 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits, consistent with the structure adopted by Measure N.

What about paid sick leave for hotel workers?

Measure N and Measure RW require five compensated sick days per calendar year, with accrual at five-twelfths of a day per full month worked. That five-day floor is more generous than California state paid sick leave (40 hours, or five days, on accrual after Senate Bill 616) but California's law applies to every employer in the state, while the Long Beach ordinance applies only to covered hotel workers.

Hotel employers must also display the city's required notice in a conspicuous location at each job site and provide written notice to all employees of the ordinance, including new hires. The Long Beach Office of Labor Compliance publishes the current notice each year.

Penalties for hotel wage violations

Long Beach's hotel ordinance allows workers to file a private civil action and recover unpaid wages, liquidated damages, and attorney's fees. The city can also pursue administrative enforcement. Hotel employers who retaliate against workers exercising rights under the ordinance are subject to additional penalties under both the local rule and California Labor Code section 1102.5.

For HR teams managing wage complaints across multiple California cities, having a single intake channel that captures the date of the complaint, the worker's account, and the resolution becomes critical. HR case management built around employment claims keeps that record in one place.

Airport and Convention Center Concessionaire Workers

On February 11, 2014, the Long Beach City Council adopted Ordinance 14-0002, which became Long Beach Municipal Code Chapter 16.60. The ordinance establishes a separate "concessionaire" minimum wage and paid sick day requirement for workers at the Long Beach Airport and the Long Beach Convention Center.

What is the concessionaire wage right now?

The current rate is $18.58 per hour, effective July 1, 2025, per the city's 2025 Notice of Annual Adjustment. The wage adjusts annually based on cost of living.

The City Council voted in 2025 to begin a separate accelerated path that lifts airport and convention center workers toward $29.50 per hour by 2028, mirroring the climb on the hotel side. The implementing schedule and annual rates are published by the city as the council finalizes them. [VERIFY: confirm the published 2026 step-up rate before relying on a specific number for the airport/convention center accelerated schedule.]

Coverage and benefits

• Covered employers: concessionaires and subcontractors at the Long Beach Airport and Long Beach Convention Center.
• Covered workers: employees performing services on-site, including food and beverage, retail, ground services, and cleaning.
• Paid sick days: required under the ordinance, mirroring the hotel worker structure of accrual based on time worked.
• Healthcare differential: the original ordinance includes an additional payment toward healthcare benefits for covered concessionaire workers when the employer does not directly provide qualifying coverage.

Why the concessionaire rule matters for HR

Concession operators at the airport and convention center are usually subcontracted, often through national service providers. Compliance is split between the concessionaire and the staffing agency. HR leaders running those contracts in Long Beach should make sure pay records, sick leave accruals, and the city's annual notice posting are on a single audit calendar. The state Labor Commissioner can hear concessionaire wage claims under California law, but the local rule is enforced by the Long Beach Office of Labor Compliance.

Measure WW: Panic Buttons and Housekeeper Workload Limits

On November 6, 2018, Long Beach voters approved Measure WW, the Hotel Worker Workplace Protection ordinance. The rule is codified in the Long Beach Municipal Code and predates the state of California's SB 553 workplace violence prevention plan by several years.

What does Measure WW require hotels to do?

• Personal panic buttons for every hotel employee assigned to work alone in a guest room. The device must be capable of summoning a designated security officer.
• Workload cap of 4,000 square feet of guest room floor area cleaned in an eight-hour day, for a single housekeeper.
• Premium pay for excess workload: if a housekeeper is required to clean more than the cap or work overtime to do it, the employer must give 30 days notice or pay double the regular rate for the entire workday.
• Right to refuse service in any guest room where the worker reasonably believes a violent or threatening act has occurred.
• Recordkeeping on assignments, square footage cleaned, and incidents reported, with a multi-year retention requirement.

Which hotels are covered?

Measure WW applies to hotels with at least 50 guest rooms. The threshold is lower than Measure N's 100-room floor, which means more properties are pulled into the workplace protection rules than the wage rules.

A union waiver clause was included in the ordinance: provisions of Measure WW may be waived in a collective bargaining agreement that explicitly references the ordinance.

Measure WW and California SB 553

Senate Bill 553 took effect on July 1, 2024 and requires nearly every California employer to maintain a written workplace violence prevention plan, train employees on it, and keep an incident log for at least five years. Hotels in Long Beach are subject to both. Measure WW is more specific: it dictates panic buttons, square footage caps, premium pay, and recordkeeping that go beyond what SB 553 demands. Hotel HR teams should treat the SB 553 plan as the floor and Measure WW as the binding ceiling for housekeeping operations.

A workplace violence prevention plan that satisfies SB 553 needs an intake mechanism for incident reports. Anonymous reporting tools capture the report in a way that preserves the worker's identity if they request it, while still creating the dated log Cal/OSHA expects to see.

Long Beach Worker Recall and Retention Ordinances

On May 19, 2020, the Long Beach City Council adopted two parallel ordinances aimed at workers displaced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both rules remain in force. They have outlasted the public health emergency that triggered them.

The Worker Recall Ordinance

The recall rule covers two categories of employers:

• Hotel employers with 25 or more employees in the city.
• Commercial property employers that provide janitorial services and have more than 25 employees in the city.

When a covered employer needs to rehire after a layoff for "lack of business, a reduction in workforce, bankruptcy, or other economic, non-disciplinary reason," it must offer the position first to qualified former employees laid off on or after March 4, 2020. The offer goes by seniority within the same classification. The employee has at least five business days to accept.

The Worker Retention Ordinance

The retention rule applies in change-of-control or change-of-ownership scenarios in the same two industries. The incoming employer must hire from a preferential list of incumbent workers for at least six months, retain those workers for at least 90 days, and then conduct a written performance evaluation before deciding on continued employment.

Why this matters in Long Beach in 2026

Hotel ownership turnover and janitorial vendor changes are routine in commercial real estate. Long Beach is one of the few California cities where those transitions trigger a binding statutory retention obligation. M&A diligence checklists for any hotel or janitorial vendor operating in the city need to include the recall list and the preferential hire list as transaction inputs.

California State Wage and Hour Rules That Apply in Long Beach

What is California's minimum wage in 2026?

California's state minimum wage is $16.90 per hour for every employer, effective January 1, 2026. The increase is automatic under Senate Bill 3 and reflects a 2.49% adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers.

Long Beach does not have a citywide minimum wage above this state rate for general industries. The state rate is the floor for retail, warehouse, office, restaurant, and most other workers in the city.

What is the California exempt salary threshold for 2026?

The minimum salary for a "white-collar" exempt employee in California is $70,304 annually ($1,352 per week) in 2026. The threshold is calculated as twice the state minimum wage for a 40-hour workweek. Computer professional and licensed physician exempt thresholds are higher and adjust separately each year.

Industry-specific California minimums

• Fast food restaurant workers are paid at least $20.00 per hour under AB 1228, effective April 1, 2024 and unchanged in 2026 absent a Fast Food Council adjustment.
• Healthcare facility workers have phased minimums under SB 525 ranging from $18.00 to $24.00 per hour depending on facility type and headcount, with continued increases scheduled.
• Long Beach hotel workers are at $25.00 per hour through June 30, 2026 and $26.50 per hour starting July 1, 2026, under Measure RW.
• Long Beach airport and convention center concessionaire workers are at $18.58 per hour through June 30, 2026.

Overtime in California

California overtime rules apply to non-exempt employees in Long Beach without modification:

• Time and a half after 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week.
• Time and a half for the first 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of work in a workweek.
• Double time after 12 hours in a workday and after 8 hours on the seventh consecutive day of work.

California is a daily overtime state. A worker who clocks 10 hours in one day, even with only 35 hours in the full week, is entitled to two hours of overtime pay. Employers running biweekly or semi-monthly pay cycles often miss this on the daily side. A wage statement audit is the cheapest way to catch the gap.

Meal and Rest Breaks

Are meal breaks mandatory for non-exempt workers?

Yes. California requires:

• A 30-minute, unpaid, off-duty meal period before the end of the fifth hour of work for any shift over five hours.
• A second 30-minute meal period before the end of the tenth hour for shifts over ten hours.
• A waiver of the first meal period only if the shift is six hours or less, and only by mutual written agreement.
• A waiver of the second meal period only if the shift is twelve hours or less, the first meal was taken, and there is mutual written agreement.

What about rest breaks?

Non-exempt workers are entitled to a paid 10-minute rest period for every four hours worked or major fraction. A standard eight-hour shift earns two 10-minute rest periods. The rest must be in the middle of the work segment when practical and cannot be combined with meal periods to make a longer break.

Premium pay for missed breaks

When a meal or rest break is missed, the employer owes one additional hour of pay at the regular rate for each workday that a meal or rest violation occurred. Premium pay is owed at the worker's regular rate of pay including most non-discretionary bonuses, per the California Supreme Court's 2021 decision in Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel. That ruling applies in Long Beach and across California.

Meal and rest break waivers in healthcare

Healthcare workers may waive their second meal period under specific California Industrial Welfare Commission wage order provisions. The waiver must be in writing and may be revoked at any time. The healthcare industry continues to be one of the most active areas for meal period litigation in Los Angeles County courts.

Pay Transparency, Equal Pay, and Pay Data Reporting

Do Long Beach job postings need a pay range?

Yes. Senate Bill 1162 took effect on January 1, 2023 and requires employers with 15 or more employees to include the pay scale in any job posting. The rule applies to postings for jobs that may be performed in California, including remote jobs that touch the state.

The pay scale must be the salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position. A range that is not made in good faith is itself a violation. Compliance includes:

• Internal record of pay scales for every position, retained for the duration of employment plus three years after separation.
• Pay scale provided to a current employee in their position upon request.
• Penalties of $100 to $10,000 per violation under the Labor Commissioner's authority.

California Equal Pay Act

California Labor Code section 1197.5 prohibits paying workers of one sex, race, or ethnicity less than workers of another sex, race, or ethnicity for substantially similar work. Justification requires bona fide factors: seniority, merit, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or another bona fide factor other than sex, race, or ethnicity.

Prior salary history alone is not a defense and may not be requested or used. Salary history bans have been California law since 2018.

Pay data reporting (Senate Bill 1162)

Employers with 100 or more employees must file an annual pay data report with the California Civil Rights Department by the second Wednesday of May each year. Employers with 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors file a separate report covering those workers. The report breaks down median and mean hourly rates by establishment, job category, race, ethnicity, and sex.

Wage Statements and Pay Stub Requirements

What has to be on a California wage statement?

Labor Code section 226 requires nine specific items on every wage statement:

1. Gross wages earned
2. Total hours worked (for non-exempt employees)
3. Piece-rate units and applicable rates, when paid by piece
4. All deductions
5. Net wages earned
6. Pay period start and end dates
7. Employee name and the last four digits of their Social Security Number or an employee identification number
8. Name and address of the legal employer
9. All applicable hourly rates and the hours worked at each rate

What does a section 226 violation cost?

An employee can recover the greater of actual damages or $50 for the initial pay period and $100 for each subsequent period, up to $4,000, plus attorney's fees. PAGA penalties on top of that are now capped under the 2024 reforms but still meaningful.

Wage statement violations are the single most common driver of class and PAGA actions in Los Angeles County. A clean monthly pay stub audit pays for itself.

Final Paycheck Timing and Waiting Time Penalties

When is the final paycheck due in California?

• Termination: all wages, including accrued and unused vacation, are due immediately at the time of termination.
• Resignation with at least 72 hours notice: all wages due on the last day worked.
• Resignation without 72 hours notice: all wages due within 72 hours of the resignation.

Waiting time penalties

Labor Code section 203 imposes a penalty of one day's wages for each day the final paycheck is late, up to 30 days. The penalty applies whether the underpayment is large or small. A worker owed $50 in unpaid commission whose final check is 30 days late may recover the $50 plus 30 days of regular wages.

Vacation cash-out is mandatory because California treats accrued vacation as wages. PTO policies that purport to "use it or lose it" are unenforceable. Caps that prevent further accrual once a balance is reached are permitted.

California Paid Sick Leave in Long Beach

How much paid sick leave do California workers get in 2026?

Senate Bill 616 (effective January 1, 2024) raised the California floor to 40 hours or five days, whichever is more, per year of paid sick leave. That floor remains in effect in 2026.

Employers may either:

• Frontload 40 hours or five days at the start of each year, with no rollover required.
• Use accrual at one hour per 30 hours worked, with a use cap of 40 hours or five days per year and an accrual cap of 80 hours or ten days.

Long Beach hotel and concessionaire sick leave on top of state law

Hotel workers covered by Measure N and Measure RW receive five paid sick days under the local ordinance, which generally aligns with the state floor. Concessionaire workers under Chapter 16.60 receive paid sick days under that ordinance.

Where the state and local rules diverge, California's rule on what counts as a permitted use, on accrual schedules, and on retaliation protections still applies. The local ordinance sets the minimum total and adds the city posting and notice requirements.

Permitted uses under California paid sick leave

• Diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition for the worker or a family member.
• Preventive care for the worker or a family member.
• Medical care or services related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

California Paid Family Leave, SDI, and Disability Insurance

How does California PFL work in 2026?

California Paid Family Leave provides up to eight weeks of partial wage replacement when a worker takes time off to bond with a new child or to care for a seriously ill family member. The program is funded entirely by employee SDI contributions. There is no employer contribution.

Senate Bill 951 (effective January 1, 2025) raised the wage replacement rate to up to 90% for low-wage workers and up to 70% for higher-wage workers, with no benefit gap. AB 2123, in force since January 1, 2025, removed the prior employer right to require employees to use up to two weeks of vacation before PFL begins.

Pregnancy disability and SDI

California State Disability Insurance pays up to 52 weeks of partial wage replacement for any non-occupational disability, including pregnancy and recovery from childbirth. Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) under FEHA provides up to four months of job-protected leave for pregnancy-related disability and is in addition to PFL.

The interaction is what trips up new HR teams in Long Beach. A typical California maternity leave runs:

• PDL (job-protected) plus SDI (wage replacement) during the disability period for childbirth recovery.
• CFRA bonding leave (12 weeks job-protected) plus PFL (eight weeks wage replacement) after the disability ends.
• Total potential time off: roughly four months on PDL, plus 12 weeks on CFRA bonding, with overlapping wage replacement from SDI then PFL.

California Family Rights Act and Smaller Leave Categories

CFRA basics

The California Family Rights Act applies to employers with 5 or more employees and provides up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for serious health conditions, family caregiving, baby bonding, and qualifying military exigencies. CFRA runs concurrently with FMLA when the employer is covered by both.

Reproductive loss leave (Senate Bill 848)

Effective January 1, 2024, employers with 5 or more workers must provide up to five days of reproductive loss leave following a miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy, failed assisted reproduction, or unsuccessful IVF. Leave may be unpaid unless the employer's policy provides otherwise.

Crime victim and abuse leave (AB 2499)

AB 2499, effective January 1, 2025, restructured California's patchwork of crime victim, domestic violence, and sexual assault leave laws into a unified protected leave category covering victims and family members of victims. The leave is enforced by the Civil Rights Department rather than the Labor Commissioner. Employers must provide an annual notice describing the rights covered.

Bereavement leave

AB 1949 entitles employees to five days of bereavement leave per death of a family member, with up to three months to take the leave. The five days do not need to be consecutive. Employers with five or more employees are covered.

Other protected leaves

• Jury duty: unpaid leave required; no termination or disciplinary action permitted.
• Witness duty: protected for compelled court appearances.
• Voting time off: up to two paid hours, only if the worker does not have sufficient time outside work hours to vote.
• School activities leave: 40 hours per year of unpaid leave for school visits, including 8 hours per month maximum, for parents of K-12 children at employers with 25 or more workers.
• Military leave: protected under USERRA federally and California Military and Veterans Code.
• Organ and bone marrow donation: 30 days for organ donation, five days for bone marrow donation, paid leave at employers with 15 or more employees.
• Volunteer firefighter, reserve peace officer, and emergency rescue personnel: protected unpaid leave for emergency duties and training, at employers with 50 or more workers.

Workplace Violence Prevention Under SB 553

Who has to have a workplace violence prevention plan?

Senate Bill 553 took effect on July 1, 2024 and applies to nearly every California employer. The narrow exemptions cover certain healthcare facilities already regulated under Cal/OSHA's healthcare workplace violence rule, certain remote-only workforces, and locations not accessible to the public with fewer than ten employees.

What does the plan have to include?

• A written plan tailored to the workplace, with named responsible managers.
• Procedures for accepting and responding to reports of violence or threats with no retaliation.
• A violent incident log capturing the date, time, location, type of incident, and contributing factors.
• Training upon hire, when changes occur, and annually for all employees.
• Five-year retention of incident logs and training records, available to Cal/OSHA on request.

Long Beach hotel employers are subject to both SB 553 and Measure WW. Build the SB 553 plan to incorporate Measure WW's panic button, square footage, and right-to-refuse provisions, so a Cal/OSHA inspector and a city Office of Labor Compliance auditor see the same document.

Where SB 553 reports come from

Reports come from anywhere: a worker telling a supervisor, an anonymous note in a complaint box, a phone call to HR, an email, a text. SB 553 requires the employer to accept and respond. The five-year log requirement means each report needs to be captured with a timestamp the moment it arrives. Workplace violence intake with anonymity options preserves both the worker's confidentiality and the audit trail.

Discrimination, Harassment, and the California Civil Rights Department

What does FEHA cover?

California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on:

• Race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, primary language, immigration status
• Religion or creed
• Sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status
• Sexual orientation
• Pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, breastfeeding
• Disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information
• Age (40 and older)
• Marital status, military and veteran status
• Reproductive health decision-making

FEHA covers employers with five or more employees. Harassment provisions cover all employers regardless of size.

Mandatory harassment prevention training

California Government Code section 12950.1 requires:

• Two hours of training for all supervisors
• One hour for all non-supervisory employees
• Within six months of hire or promotion to a supervisory role
• Repeat training every two years
• Tailored content covering harassment, abusive conduct, and gender identity discrimination

Filing windows under FEHA

Workers have three years from the alleged unlawful act to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. After receiving a right-to-sue notice, they have one year to file a civil action. Federal Title VII complaints with the EEOC have a separate 300-day window in California (deferral state).

Reasonable accommodation

FEHA requires interactive process and reasonable accommodation for known disabilities, religious beliefs and practices, pregnancy, and victims of domestic violence. The interactive process is its own legal requirement: failure to engage in good faith is a separate violation, even if accommodation is ultimately not granted.

AB 692: California's 2026 Ban on Most Stay-or-Pay Agreements

What is AB 692?

Assembly Bill 692, signed in 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, prohibits most employment contracts from requiring a worker to repay an employer, training provider, or debt collector if the work relationship ends. The rule applies to agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2026.

What kinds of agreements are banned?

• Repayment of training costs upon early termination
• Repayment of relocation expenses upon early termination
• Repayment of sign-on bonuses upon early termination, in most circumstances
• Educational debt or tuition reimbursement clawbacks tied to remaining with the employer
• Provisions that resume or initiate collection of an employer-issued debt when employment ends
• Any added fees, penalties, or costs triggered by the end of employment

What are the penalties?

AB 692 creates a private right of action under the California Labor Code. Workers may recover actual damages or $5,000 per employee, whichever is greater, plus injunctive relief and reasonable attorney's fees and costs.

HR teams in Long Beach should pull every offer letter, sign-on bonus agreement, training agreement, and tuition reimbursement contract used in 2026 and audit them against AB 692. The lookback for existing agreements is narrower, but new hire paperwork is squarely covered.

Hiring Rules: Ban-the-Box, Salary History, and Background Checks

What is California's Fair Chance Act?

The California Fair Chance Act (in effect since January 1, 2018, with regulations strengthened in 2023) prohibits employers with five or more employees from:

• Asking about criminal history on a job application
• Considering criminal history before a conditional offer of employment
• Refusing to hire based on criminal history without an individualized assessment
• Failing to provide written notice of preliminary decision and an opportunity to respond, including a five-business-day window for the applicant to respond

Salary history ban

California Labor Code section 432.3 prohibits employers from asking about or relying on prior salary as a basis for setting compensation. An applicant who voluntarily and without prompting discloses past pay may have it considered, but the employer still may not use prior pay as the sole basis for a wage decision.

On request, the employer must provide the pay scale for the position. The pay scale rule combines with the SB 1162 posting requirement to make pay transparency the default in California.

Background checks

California's Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) and the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) both apply to background checks in Long Beach. Employers must:

• Provide a clear, standalone disclosure (not bundled into a job application)
• Obtain written authorization separately
• Provide a copy of the consumer report on request
• Follow the pre-adverse and adverse action process before denying employment based on a report
• Comply with the Fair Chance Act's individualized assessment for any criminal history finding

Driver's license and immigration status

California prohibits asking for a driver's license unless driving is an actual requirement of the job. Asking about immigration status is also restricted under FEHA and Labor Code section 1019.

Independent Contractor Classification in California

The ABC test under AB 5 and AB 2257

Assembly Bill 5 (effective January 1, 2020) codified the California Supreme Court's ABC test from Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court. To classify a worker as an independent contractor, the hiring entity must prove all three:

1. A: the worker is free from the control and direction of the hirer in connection with the performance of the work
2. B: the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business
3. C: the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed

AB 2257 exemptions

AB 2257 (effective September 4, 2020) added more than 100 industry- and role-specific carve-outs from the ABC test, returning those workers to the older Borello multifactor test. Common exemptions include:

• Bona fide business-to-business contracting relationships meeting twelve criteria
• Licensed occupations such as physicians, dentists, lawyers, architects, and accountants
• Direct sales workers compensated by sales
• Real estate licensees and repossession agents
• Specified creative professionals (writers, photographers, illustrators) under detailed conditions

Penalties for misclassification

Misclassification exposes employers to:

• Unpaid overtime, meal and rest premiums, and minimum wage shortfalls
• Civil penalties of $5,000 to $25,000 per willful violation under Labor Code section 226.8
• Unpaid payroll taxes and EDD contributions
• PAGA exposure layered on top of all of the above

Hotel staffing agencies, valet companies, janitorial subcontractors, and gig labor platforms operating in Long Beach are the most exposed industries.

PAGA After the 2024 Reforms

What is PAGA?

The Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (Labor Code sections 2698 et seq.) lets a worker file a representative action to recover civil penalties for Labor Code violations on behalf of themselves and other "aggrieved employees." 75% of penalties go to the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency; 25% go to the workers.

What changed in 2024?

AB 2288 and SB 92, signed July 1, 2024, restructured PAGA in important ways:

• A penalty cap of 15% of the otherwise applicable penalty for employers who took "all reasonable steps" to comply before notice.
• A penalty cap of 30% for employers who take all reasonable steps within 60 days of receiving notice.
• Stricter standing rules requiring the named plaintiff to have personally suffered each Labor Code violation alleged.
• A managed cure process for certain wage statement and minimum wage violations.
• Expanded judicial discretion to manage representative claims.

Why this matters in Long Beach

Long Beach is in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the busiest PAGA venue in California. The 2024 reforms reward proactive compliance: documented audits, prompt corrections, and a credible written compliance program. Employers without that paper trail get the full penalty.

Cannabis and Off-Duty Conduct Protections

Can California employers test for cannabis?

AB 2188 (effective January 1, 2024) prohibits employers from discriminating against workers or applicants based on:

• Off-duty cannabis use away from the workplace
• A non-psychoactive cannabis metabolite finding on a drug test

The rule does not protect on-duty impairment, possession, or use. It does not apply to building and construction trade workers or to positions requiring federal background clearance. Employers may use psychoactive impairment tests when they exist; non-psychoactive metabolite tests can no longer be used as a hiring or discipline trigger.

Other off-duty conduct protections

• Lawful conduct outside work: protected under Labor Code section 96(k) and 98.6.
• Political activity: protected under Labor Code section 1101 and 1102.
• Reproductive health decisions: protected under FEHA as of January 1, 2023.
• Use of legal products off-premises: generally protected unless the conduct affects the employer's legitimate business interests.

California WARN Act and Mass Layoffs

When does CalWARN apply?

California's WARN Act (Labor Code sections 1400 et seq.) requires 60 days advance notice for:

• A mass layoff of 50 or more employees in any 30-day period at a covered establishment
• A relocation of operations to a location 100 or more miles away
• A termination of operations at a covered establishment

Coverage starts at industrial or commercial facilities employing 75 or more persons within the prior 12 months. There is no headcount or percentage threshold like the federal WARN Act's 33% rule. The state rule is the more conservative.

Penalties for missed notice

Affected workers can recover up to 60 days of back pay and benefits for each day of insufficient notice. Civil penalties of $500 per day are also available to the state. Unpaid wages owed under CalWARN are subject to PAGA penalties.

Cal/OSHA, IIPP, and Heat Illness Prevention

The Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP)

Title 8, California Code of Regulations section 3203 requires every employer in California to maintain a written IIPP that:

• Identifies the persons responsible for the program
• Describes how unsafe conditions are identified and corrected
• Explains how employees are informed of and trained on safety practices
• Documents inspections and corrective actions

Heat illness prevention

Outdoor workers in Long Beach are subject to Title 8 section 3395, the heat illness prevention standard. Effective July 23, 2024, California also imposes an indoor heat illness rule (Title 8 section 3396) for workplaces where indoor temperatures reach 82 degrees or higher. Hotel laundry rooms, kitchens, warehouses, and back-of-house spaces are squarely covered.

Required elements include access to potable water, shade or cool-down areas, written procedures, training, and high-heat triggers (95 degrees indoor, 95 degrees outdoor) requiring observation of new and acclimating workers.

Reporting serious injuries

Cal/OSHA Title 8 section 342 requires employers to report any serious injury, illness, or death within eight hours by phone or online. The definition of "serious" includes inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye. Failure to report carries an automatic citation.

Long Beach Living Wage and Prevailing Wage on City Contracts

What is the Long Beach Living Wage Ordinance?

Long Beach Municipal Code Chapter 2.73 imposes a living wage on certain city contracts and concessionaire arrangements. The ordinance has expanded over time to cover workers at the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach Airport, and Long Beach Temporary Amphitheater. Coverage and rates are administered by the city's Office of Labor Compliance and adjust annually based on cost of living.

Employers bidding on Long Beach city contracts in covered categories must:

• Pay the published living wage to all covered employees
• Provide paid sick leave consistent with the ordinance
• Display the city's living wage notice at each covered worksite
• Submit certified payroll records as required by the contract

Prevailing wage on public works in Long Beach

Public works projects in Long Beach are subject to California prevailing wage law (Labor Code sections 1720 through 1815). Contractors and subcontractors on covered projects must:

• Pay each worker the published prevailing wage for their craft and locality
• Submit weekly certified payroll to the awarding body and the Department of Industrial Relations
• Register with the DIR's public works contractor registry
• Comply with apprenticeship utilization requirements where applicable

The Long Beach Labor Compliance Bureau monitors public works contracts within city projects. Penalties for prevailing wage violations include back wages, civil penalties of up to $200 per worker per day, debarment from public works for up to three years, and disgorgement of profits.

Required Workplace Postings in Long Beach

Long Beach employers must display a stack of required notices in a conspicuous location. The minimum set in 2026:

• California minimum wage notice (MW-2026) showing the $16.90 state rate
• California Industrial Welfare Commission wage order applicable to the industry
• California paid sick leave notice covering accrual and uses under SB 616
• California Family Rights Act and pregnancy disability leave notice
• California Civil Rights Department discrimination, harassment, and pregnancy disability leave poster
• California Workers' Compensation notice identifying the carrier and authorized treating physician
• California whistleblower protection notice under Labor Code 1102.5 with the state hotline number
• California voting time notice at least ten days before each statewide election
• Cal/OSHA Safety and Health Protection on the Job poster
• Long Beach hotel worker notice if covered by Measure N or RW
• Long Beach concessionaire worker notice if covered by Chapter 16.60
• Federal posters: FLSA, FMLA (50+ employees), EEO, Polygraph Protection, USERRA

Remote-only and hybrid workforces still need access to the same notices. Most California employers satisfy this with an internal portal that delivers the posters electronically along with the written acknowledgment.

Lactation Accommodation in California Workplaces

California Labor Code section 1031 requires employers to provide a private space for an employee to express breast milk. The space must:

• Be shielded from view and free from intrusion
• Not be a bathroom
• Be in close proximity to the employee's work area
• Have a surface to place a breast pump and personal items
• Have a place to sit
• Have access to electricity or charging devices
• Be near a sink with running water and a refrigerator suitable for storing milk

Employers with fewer than 50 employees may claim a hardship exemption if they show the requirements impose undue hardship, but the burden of proof is on the employer. Failure to provide a compliant lactation space is a Labor Code violation subject to a $100 per day penalty enforceable by the Labor Commissioner and through PAGA.

Recordkeeping Requirements for Long Beach Employers

California layered recordkeeping rules apply to every employer in Long Beach. Document retention failures show up as evidence-burden problems in litigation, as PAGA penalty multipliers, and as Labor Commissioner audit findings. The minimum retention schedule for 2026:

• Payroll records: at least three years under Labor Code section 1174, and four years under the FLSA. Practical rule: keep payroll for four years.
• Time records: three years under California rules, including punch records, time edits, and meal period attestations.
• Wage statements: three years under Labor Code section 226.
• Personnel files: at least three years post-termination under California, with longer retention recommended.
• Pay scales by position: for the duration of employment plus three years after separation, under SB 1162.
• Workplace violence incident logs (SB 553): five years.
• Harassment training records: two years.
• Hotel ordinance records: as required by Long Beach Municipal Code Chapter 5.48 and Measure WW.
• Concessionaire ordinance records: as required by LBMC Chapter 16.60.
• I-9 forms: three years after hire or one year after termination, whichever is later.

For HR teams running multi-state operations from Long Beach, retention is the area where a centralized case management platform repays the cost of adoption inside one or two audit cycles.

How AllVoices Helps Long Beach Employers Stay Compliant

Long Beach employers run on overlapping reporting obligations. The hotel ordinances, the workplace violence prevention rule, FEHA harassment law, the wage statement code, and PAGA each create their own intake, documentation, and retention requirements. AllVoices consolidates the intake and case management side of that stack.

• Anonymous and named reporting for harassment, retaliation, wage complaints, hotel safety incidents, and SB 553 workplace violence reports, with branded intake portals workers can reach by web or QR code.
• Case management with date, status, ownership, and resolution tracking that satisfies FEHA recordkeeping, SB 553 incident logs, and Measure WW reporting.
• Vera AI for case summaries, related-case detection, and pattern analysis across multiple Long Beach properties under common ownership.
• Investigations workflows with witness interviews, evidence storage, and timeline reconstruction in one record, protecting attorney work product where applicable.
• HRIS integrations with Workday, Rippling, Paylocity, ADP, BambooHR, and others, so case data ties back to the canonical employee record.

For HR leaders covering hotel operations across Long Beach, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and Anaheim, the same intake and case management surface works across every jurisdiction with location-specific routing and reporting.

See how HR case management for compliance teams handles the documentation requirements behind every California ordinance covered in this guide.

Frequently Asked Questions: Long Beach Labor Laws

What is the minimum wage in Long Beach in 2026?

For most employers, the California state minimum of $16.90 per hour applies as of January 1, 2026. Hotels with 100 or more guest rooms pay $25.00 per hour through June 30, 2026 and $26.50 per hour starting July 1, 2026 under Measure RW. Concessionaire workers at the Long Beach Airport and Convention Center are at $18.58 per hour as of July 1, 2025, with a published 2026 adjustment.

Does Long Beach have its own paid sick leave ordinance?

Long Beach does not have a citywide paid sick leave ordinance for general employers. Instead, two industry rules apply: Measure N and Measure RW for hotel workers (five paid sick days per calendar year) and Chapter 16.60 for airport and convention center concessionaire workers. Every other employer in the city follows the California state rule of 40 hours or five days per year under SB 616.

Do all hotels in Long Beach need panic buttons?

Yes, in practice. Measure WW requires personal panic buttons for hotel workers assigned to clean guest rooms alone in hotels with 50 or more guest rooms. The City Council also passed a separate ordinance applying panic button rules more broadly. Together they cover virtually every hotel and motel of meaningful size operating in the city.

What is the hotel housekeeper square footage cap in Long Beach?

Under Measure WW, a single housekeeper cannot be required to clean more than 4,000 square feet of guest room floor area in an eight-hour day. If the worker exceeds the cap or is required to work overtime to do so, the employer must give 30 days written notice or pay double time for the full workday.

What is the difference between Measure N, Measure RW, and Measure WW?

All three are Long Beach hotel ordinances. Measure N (2012) created the original local hotel worker minimum wage and paid sick leave. Measure WW (2018) added panic buttons, the housekeeper square footage cap, and the right to refuse service in unsafe rooms. Measure RW (2024) increased the hotel minimum wage on a five-year schedule reaching $29.50 per hour by July 1, 2028.

Does Long Beach have a higher minimum wage than Los Angeles?

Not for most workers. Both cities default to the California state minimum for general employers. Long Beach hotel workers, however, are at $25.00 per hour under Measure RW, while City of Los Angeles hotel workers are subject to a separate phased schedule that climbed past $25 in 2025 under the LA hotel ordinance. The two rules are similar in structure but on different escalators.

What happens if I lay off staff at a Long Beach hotel?

The 2020 Long Beach Worker Recall Ordinance applies if you have 25 or more hotel employees. Laid-off workers must be offered the position back when work returns, in seniority order within their classification. Skipping the recall list exposes the employer to civil penalties and a private right of action. The ordinance also covers commercial property janitorial employers with more than 25 employees.

Where do workers file complaints about Long Beach labor law violations?

It depends on the issue. Wage and hour violations under California state law go to the state Labor Commissioner. FEHA discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims go to the California Civil Rights Department. Cal/OSHA hears workplace safety and SB 553 claims. Local hotel and concessionaire ordinance complaints go to the Long Beach Office of Labor Compliance at (562) 570-WAGE or LaborCompliance@longbeach.gov.

The Bottom Line: Long Beach Employer Priorities for 2026

The 2026 priorities for Long Beach HR teams:

• By July 1, 2026: implement the $26.50 per hour Long Beach hotel worker minimum wage under Measure RW for all hotels with 100 or more guest rooms.
• By July 1, 2026: confirm the published 2026 concessionaire wage and healthcare differential for airport and convention center contracts.
• By January 1, 2026: remove stay-or-pay clauses from offer letters, training agreements, sign-on bonus contracts, and tuition reimbursement agreements (AB 692).
• Throughout 2026: run quarterly wage statement audits to catch section 226 errors before they trigger PAGA actions.
• Throughout 2026: verify the workplace violence prevention plan covers Measure WW for hotel housekeeping operations and produces a clean five-year incident log.
• Ongoing: document the recall list and preferential hire list under the 2020 Long Beach ordinances for any hotel or commercial property janitorial business.
• Ongoing: make sure pay scale postings are in place for every job opening; train supervisors and non-supervisors on harassment prevention every two years.

The Long Beach compliance environment is narrow but deep. The city does not regulate every employer. It regulates a few categories with unusual specificity. HR teams in those industries who treat the local rules as the operating standard, with state law as a backstop, build documentation that holds up against either side of the audit.

To see how a unified employee relations platform supports the documentation work behind every ordinance covered above, schedule a demo of AllVoices with our team.