San Diego Labor Laws 2026: A Complete Guide for HR & Employer Compliance

Accurate as of May 5, 2026. This guide is informational and not legal advice. For specific situations, consult licensed California employment counsel familiar with San Diego city and county ordinances.

San Diego sits at the most active intersection of California state employment law and local enforcement in Southern California. Employers based here juggle the state Labor Code, the City of San Diego Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance, a brand-new hospitality minimum wage that pulls hotel and event-center pay into a separate phase-in schedule, the County of San Diego Fair Chance Ordinance for unincorporated areas, and a city Office of Labor Standards Enforcement that runs the wage, sick leave, and prevailing wage programs in tandem.

This guide pulls every layer that matters into one place: the 2026 city minimum wage, the hospitality phase-in that lands July 1, 2026, the city sick leave accrual rules that diverge from the state default, the county Fair Chance Ordinance penalties that started flowing in July 2025, the city Equal Pay Ordinance for contractors, the citywide Project Labor Agreement that began affecting most large public works in mid-2024, and the California state changes for 2026 that San Diego employers must layer on top — including AB 692's ban on stay-or-pay agreements, SB 642's expanded equal pay statute of limitations, and SB 294's February 2026 Know Your Rights notice.

If you handle complaints, retaliation claims, or investigations across San Diego operations, the underlying record-keeping is the difference between a clean defense and an OLSE administrative penalty. Many San Diego employers run their intake, triage, and case documentation through a dedicated employee relations platform so every report — sick leave retaliation, Fair Chance complaint, harassment, wage theft tip — sits in one auditable system rather than across managers’ inboxes.

The 2026 San Diego Employment Law Updates HR Teams Should Know First

San Diego’s 2026 picture combines a January city minimum wage bump, a brand-new July hospitality wage tier, sustained County Fair Chance enforcement, and a slate of California laws that took effect on January 1, 2026. The five changes that will reshape employer compliance work this year:

• City of San Diego minimum wage rose to $17.75/hour on January 1, 2026, up from $17.25, applying to anyone who performs at least two hours of work in a calendar week within city boundaries.
• Hospitality Minimum Wage Ordinance takes effect July 1, 2026, setting separate floors of $19.00/hour at covered hotels (150+ guest rooms) and amusement parks and $21.06/hour at covered event centers, with phased increases reaching $25.00/hour for all covered hospitality businesses by July 1, 2030.
• San Diego County Fair Chance Ordinance penalties became active July 1, 2025, exposing covered employers in unincorporated areas to administrative fines of up to $5,000 (first violation), $10,000 (second), and $20,000 (third or subsequent).
• California raised its statewide minimum wage to $16.90/hour and its exempt salary threshold to $70,304/year on January 1, 2026 — both are baselines San Diego employers must meet or exceed.
• Three new California statutes apply directly to San Diego employers in 2026: AB 692 (stay-or-pay agreements largely banned), SB 261 (treble penalties on unpaid wage judgments after 180 days), and SB 294 (annual Know Your Rights notice required from February 1, 2026).

Each change is unpacked in detail below, including how the city ordinances interact with state law and where San Diego diverges from California’s default rules.

San Diego City Minimum Wage in 2026

The City of San Diego’s minimum wage is $17.75 per hour as of January 1, 2026, set by the city’s Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance approved by voters in 2016. The rate adjusts annually based on the Consumer Price Index for the San Diego–Carlsbad metropolitan area.

Who is covered by the San Diego city minimum wage?

Coverage hinges on geography rather than employer headcount. An employee is covered if they perform at least two hours of work in one or more calendar weeks of the year within the geographic boundaries of the City of San Diego. The two-hour trigger is the most common compliance gap — employers based outside San Diego still owe the city rate to traveling employees, drivers, technicians, and any other staff who pass through and work in the city limits for that two-hour minimum.

How does the San Diego rate compare to the California state minimum?

California raised its statewide minimum wage to $16.90 per hour on January 1, 2026. San Diego employers must pay the higher local rate, $17.75. The County of San Diego does not have its own general minimum wage for unincorporated areas, so state law applies there, and other Southern California cities have their own ordinances at different levels. Multi-site employers should map every work location to the correct floor.

What posting and notice rules apply?

Employers must post the City of San Diego minimum wage notice at every San Diego workplace in a conspicuous location accessible to employees. The notice must be available in any language spoken by 5% or more of the workforce. Employees must also receive written notice at hire of the employer’s name, address, and telephone number, and payroll records must be retained for at least four years.

San Diego Hospitality Minimum Wage Ordinance: What Changes July 1, 2026

San Diego adopted a separate Hospitality Minimum Wage Ordinance in 2025 that creates a higher wage floor for tourism-sector workers, with the first rates taking effect July 1, 2026.

Which employers are covered by the hospitality minimum wage?

The ordinance covers three categories of San Diego employers:

• Hotels with 150 or more guest rooms or suites located within city limits
• Designated amusement parks operating in the city
• Covered event centers as defined in the ordinance

Smaller hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and other lodging facilities below the 150-room threshold remain on the standard city minimum wage of $17.75/hour.

What are the phased rates through 2030?

The hospitality wage rises in steps over five years:

• July 1, 2026: $19.00/hour at covered hotels and amusement parks; $21.06/hour at covered event centers
• July 1, 2027: $20.50 (hotels, amusement parks); $22.00 (event centers)
• July 1, 2028: $22.00 (hotels, amusement parks); $23.00 (event centers)
• July 1, 2029: $23.50 (hotels, amusement parks); $24.00 (event centers)
• July 1, 2030: $25.00/hour for all covered hospitality businesses

After July 2030, the ordinance directs further annual cost-of-living adjustments. [VERIFY: Some early reporting referenced a $30 endpoint; the staff report and final ordinance language land at $25 by July 2030 with CPI adjustments thereafter.]

What notice and posting obligations apply on the effective date?

Covered employers must post the official Hospitality Minimum Wage notice in a conspicuous location at each workplace or job site and provide written notice to all employees on the July 1, 2026 effective date and to new employees at the time of hire. Service charges, gratuities, and any tip pooling arrangements should be reviewed before the effective date — California Labor Code Section 351 still governs how tips and service charges are distributed.

San Diego Earned Sick Leave Ordinance: How It Diverges From California State Law

San Diego’s sick leave ordinance, in effect since July 11, 2016, sits on top of California’s state paid sick leave law (Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act). When the two differ, the rule that benefits the employee more controls.

How does San Diego earned sick leave accrue?

Employees earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked within the City of San Diego. Employers can use either:

• Accrual method: 1 hour per 30 hours worked, with carryover from year to year up to the cap
• Front-load method: at least 40 hours of sick leave awarded at the beginning of each benefit year, no carryover required

What are the use and accrual caps?

Employers may cap an employee’s use of earned sick leave at 40 hours in a benefit year. Total accrual can be capped at 80 hours. Both caps are higher than California’s previous default and now align more closely with the state’s post-2024 framework, but the city ordinance still has its own administrative requirements that San Diego employers must follow.

What can earned sick leave be used for?

San Diego sick leave covers medical care for the employee or a family member, including absences related to:

• The employee’s own physical or mental illness, injury, medical condition, or preventive care
• Care of a child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or the child or parent of a spouse or domestic partner
• Safe Time — leave related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, including time to seek medical attention, victim services, counseling, relocation, legal services, or court appearances

San Diego’s family definition is broader than the older state default and is one of the most common compliance gaps for multi-state employers using a one-size-fits-all sick leave policy.

What about employer policies that already provide more leave?

An existing PTO or paid leave policy can satisfy the ordinance only if it provides at least the same amount of leave for the same reasons under the same conditions. Generic vacation banks frequently fall short on the Safe Time uses or on the family-member coverage. Employers running unified leave plans across California cities should audit each policy against the San Diego accrual, use, carryover, and recordkeeping rules — and document the audit so an OLSE investigation can verify equivalence quickly.

The City of San Diego Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE)

The City’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement administers three core programs: Living Wage, Minimum Wage and Earned Sick Leave, and Prevailing Wage. OLSE has authority to investigate complaints, issue subpoenas, conduct payroll reviews, and impose administrative penalties.

How are complaints filed and investigated?

Workers can file complaints by phone at 619-235-5912 or through the city’s online portal. OLSE typically opens an investigation, requests payroll records covering the relevant period, and issues a determination. Retaliation against an employee for filing a complaint or cooperating with an OLSE investigation is independently actionable.

What recordkeeping does OLSE expect?

Employers must retain payroll records for at least four years showing each employee’s name, address, occupation, hours worked, wages paid, and sick leave accrual and use. Pay stub requirements layer on top of the California Labor Code Section 226 rules. Practical advice: store wage statement archives in the same employee record system where complaints, manager notes, and performance documents live so that an OLSE investigator can be answered in days, not weeks.

San Diego County OLSE and Wage Theft Enforcement

The County of San Diego created its own Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement in 2021. As of August 2024, County OLSE expanded its authority to investigate wage theft and assist workers in recovering unpaid wages, including minimum wage shortfalls, unpaid overtime, and stolen tips.

How does the County OLSE complement state enforcement?

The California Labor Commissioner’s Office (DLSE) remains the primary state-level enforcer of wage and hour laws, but County OLSE operates as a local resource that can move faster on smaller complaints, conduct outreach in unincorporated areas, and coordinate with the city OLSE on multi-jurisdictional cases.

What is the Workplace Justice Fund?

San Diego County’s Workplace Justice Fund pays workers up to $4,000 if their employer retaliates against them after filing a wage theft complaint with County OLSE, and up to $3,000 to any worker who has filed and won a wage theft judgment. The fund is one of the more concrete deterrent tools in California for retaliation enforcement and is one reason employer counsel typically advises clients in San Diego to handle complaint intake formally rather than letting front-line managers triage them.

San Diego County Fair Chance Ordinance: Hiring Restrictions Beyond California State Law

The San Diego County Fair Chance Ordinance (SDFCO) took effect October 10, 2024 for private employers in unincorporated areas of San Diego County. The ordinance is more restrictive than California’s statewide Fair Chance Act and applies to employers with five or more employees who do business in unincorporated areas, including positions that involve at least two hours of work on average each week within the unincorporated areas.

What is banned at the application stage?

Covered employers may not inquire about an applicant’s criminal history before making a conditional offer of employment. That mirrors California’s state Fair Chance Act, but the SDFCO adds local procedural requirements that go further.

What does San Diego require beyond California’s Fair Chance Act?

If an employer intends to take adverse action against an applicant for employment, transfer, or promotion based in whole or in part on the individual’s criminal history, the employer must:

• Conduct a written individualized assessment documenting whether the criminal history has a direct and adverse relationship with the specific duties of the job that justifies the adverse action — California state law requires individualized assessment but does not require the assessment to be in writing. The SDFCO requires it in writing.
• Provide the applicant a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the assessment, the criminal history report relied on, and information about how to respond
• Wait the prescribed period for the applicant to respond and consider any new information before issuing a final adverse decision

When did SDFCO penalties start, and how big are they?

Administrative penalty enforcement began July 1, 2025. The County Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement may impose:

• Up to $5,000 for a first violation
• Up to $10,000 for a second violation
• Up to $20,000 for a third or subsequent violation

At least half of the administrative penalties collected go to the aggrieved candidate. County OLSE also has subpoena power, can recommend suspension or revocation of business licenses for noncompliance, and can investigate retaliation independently.

Who has to comply if the employer is based in the City of San Diego?

SDFCO applies in unincorporated San Diego County — not in the City of San Diego itself. City employers still owe the California Fair Chance Act’s requirements but are not subject to the SDFCO’s local additions unless they have positions performing two or more hours of weekly work in unincorporated areas. Multi-site employers should map every job location against the unincorporated-area boundary and document which positions trigger SDFCO compliance.

San Diego Equal Pay Ordinance for City Contractors

San Diego became the largest U.S. city to require its contractors to certify compliance with state equal pay laws when the City Council passed the Equal Pay Ordinance in 2017. The ordinance applies to all contractors with city contracts awarded, entered into, or extended on or after January 1, 2018, including subcontracts for work performed on behalf of the city.

Who is exempt from the city Equal Pay Ordinance?

The ordinance carves out narrow exceptions:

• Small contractors with 12 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees for at least 20 weeks in the prior year
• Intellectual property licensing contracts
• Public works contracts totaling less than $500,000

What documentation is required?

Covered contractors must create and retain written records documenting wages paid, wage rates, and job classifications for each employee. Wages can include items beyond hourly rate or salary — travel, use of a company car, fringe benefits, and other forms of compensation are part of the documentation requirement. Contractors must certify in writing that they will comply with the California Equal Pay Act and Fair Pay Act for the duration of the contract.

What happens if the city finds a violation?

If the city determines a contractor has violated the ordinance, it issues a Notice to Cure with 30 days to remedy the violation. If the violation is not remedied, the city may cancel, terminate, or suspend the contract in whole or in part. Repeat violators face procurement-side consequences that can quickly outweigh the original underpayment.

San Diego Living Wage Ordinance for City Service Contractors

The Living Wage Ordinance (LWO), San Diego Municipal Code Chapter 2, Article 2, Division 42, was adopted by the City of San Diego in 2005. It requires covered employers to pay specific wage rates and provide health benefits to workers performing services on applicable city service contracts, financial assistance agreements, or facility agreements.

What is the current living wage rate?

For the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, the city living wage rate is $17.51 per hour plus $3.39 per hour in health benefits, totaling $20.91 per hour in compensable wages. The rate adjusts each fiscal year (July 1) based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the San Diego–Carlsbad metropolitan area for the twelve-month period ending December 31.

Who has to comply?

The LWO covers all cost-neutral or revenue-generating service contracts and any applicable subcontracts awarded by the city. Contractors and subcontractors may be required to submit certified payroll records online via the city’s web-based compliance program, PRISM.

How is enforcement handled?

OLSE’s Living Wage Program is responsible for monitoring and enforcing LWO requirements. Staff assists contractors in understanding their obligations, conducts compliance reviews, investigates complaints, and conducts outreach with workers and the contracting community. Investigation findings can include back wages, benefits make-up, and contract suspension.

San Diego Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for City Construction Projects

On January 30, 2024, the San Diego City Council approved an ordinance establishing a citywide Project Labor Agreement covering most city-funded construction projects. The PLA imposes employment conditions, minimum wage requirements, additional safety protocols, and other regulations on contractors and subcontractors performing covered work.

When does the PLA apply?

Beginning July 1, 2024, certain city-procured construction projects and specific professional services agreements were advertised subject to the PLA. The thresholds:

• July 2024 through June 2026 (initial ramp-up): covered projects with estimated construction contract values of at least $5 million
• July 1, 2026 and after: threshold drops to $1 million, expanding the number of city-funded projects subject to PLA requirements

What does the PLA require?

The PLA establishes minimum wage requirements (which interact with California prevailing wage rules under Labor Code Sections 1770–1781), additional safety protocols, and goals and incentives for hiring “Targeted Workers” — including individuals experiencing homelessness, the undereducated, and people with prior incarceration. Contractors and subcontractors should not assume that California prevailing wage compliance alone satisfies the PLA — the agreement layers additional requirements on top.

San Diego Equal Benefits Ordinance

San Diego’s Equal Benefits Ordinance (EBO) requires the city to contract only with entities that provide equal benefits to employees with spouses and employees with domestic partners. The EBO applies for the duration of any covered contract.

What does “equal benefits” mean in practice?

Contractors are not required to offer any specific benefit. They are required to offer benefits equally. If a contractor offers health insurance, retirement, family leave, bereavement leave, or any other benefit to employees with spouses, the same benefit must be available to employees with domestic partners on the same terms.

What does scope look like?

When the EBO applies, contractors must offer equal benefits to all employees at the contractor’s operations within city limits, regardless of whether those specific employees perform work on the city contract. Notice to employees at the time of hire and during open enrollment is required, along with conspicuous workplace posting.

California State Laws San Diego Employers Must Layer On Top in 2026

San Diego employers comply with the California Labor Code, Fair Employment and Housing Act, and a slate of new statutes that took effect on January 1, 2026. The key 2026 changes:

SB 642 — Equal pay statute of limitations and broader wage definition

SB 642 changes the comparator test in California’s Equal Pay Act from “opposite sex” to “another sex,” extends the statute of limitations for an equal pay claim to three years (with relief recoverable for up to six years), and expands the definition of “wages” and “wage rates” to include salary, overtime pay, bonuses, stock and stock options, profit sharing and bonus plans, life insurance, vacation and holiday pay, cleaning or gasoline allowances, hotel accommodations, reimbursement for travel expenses, and other benefits.

San Diego employers should treat SB 642 as a record-keeping mandate. The longer look-back means a claim filed in 2026 can pull in pay decisions made in 2020. Compensation memos, market analyses, and any back-and-forth around individual offers should be archived through every reorganization, not just the current year.

SB 261 — Triple penalties for unsatisfied wage judgments

SB 261 increases liability for California employers with unpaid wage judgments. If a final wage judgment remains unsatisfied after 180 days, civil penalties can be assessed at up to three times the outstanding judgment amount. Employers carrying open Labor Commissioner judgments — even disputed ones — should track the 180-day clock carefully and pursue resolution before the multiplier engages.

SB 294 — Annual Know Your Rights notice

Beginning February 1, 2026, SB 294 requires employers to deliver a standalone Know Your Rights notice to current employees on an annual basis and to new employees upon hire, using the Labor Commissioner’s template. The notice must be standalone — bundling it with the wage theft notice or onboarding packet without a clear separator can run afoul of the rule.

AB 692 — Stay-or-pay and repayment agreements largely banned

AB 692 applies to all California employers for employment contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026. The statute prohibits most types of repayment or “stay-or-pay” agreements as a condition of employment. Tuition reimbursement, sign-on bonus clawbacks, training costs, relocation, and immigration sponsorship clauses should be reviewed against the new restrictions before being included in any 2026 offer letter or employment agreement. Existing agreements signed before January 1, 2026 are generally not affected, but new hires and renewed contracts must comply.

Other 2026 California changes worth flagging

• State minimum wage: $16.90/hour effective January 1, 2026 — superseded in San Diego by the higher city rate of $17.75/hour
• Exempt salary threshold: $70,304/year — required for white-collar exemptions across San Diego workforces
• Computer software professional exemption: $122,573.13/year minimum
• Fast food workers (FAST Recovery Act): $20/hour minimum at covered chain restaurants
• Health care workers: $18.63 to $24/hour depending on facility type

Pay Transparency, Equal Pay, and Pay Data Reporting

California’s pay transparency rule (Labor Code Section 432.3) applies to San Diego employers with 15 or more employees. Job postings must include a pay scale — the salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position. The rule also requires employers to provide a pay scale upon request to applicants and current employees.

What does the California pay scale rule require in job postings?

Postings must include the pay scale. “Pay scale” means the salary or hourly wage range. Bonuses, commissions, and equity may be included but are not required. Employers operating across multiple states should not use a generic posting that strips the pay scale for California — postings visible to California-based applicants must include the range.

What about pay data reporting?

Employers with 100 or more employees (with at least one in California) must file an annual pay data report with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD). The report breaks down employees by job category, pay band, race/ethnicity, and sex, and includes a separate filing for labor contractor data when applicable.

Meal and Rest Break Rules in San Diego

San Diego does not have its own city ordinance on meal and rest breaks. California state law governs — California Labor Code Sections 226.7 and 512, plus Wage Order rules — and is one of the most-litigated areas of California employment law.

What does California require?

• 30-minute unpaid meal period for any shift longer than five hours, with a second meal period for shifts longer than ten hours
• 10-minute paid rest break for every four hours worked or major fraction thereof
• Premium pay (one hour at the regular rate) for each missed, late, or interrupted meal or rest period

What are the most common compliance gaps?

The recurring sources of meal-and-rest litigation in San Diego employment cases:

• On-duty meal period agreements that don’t meet the strict California requirements
• Auto-deducted meal periods on time-tracking systems with no employee acknowledgment
• Manager pressure to cut breaks short during peak periods
• Failure to pay the premium when breaks are skipped
• Wage statement (Section 226) errors that compound the violation

The premium pay is wages, not penalties — so unpaid premiums can cascade into waiting time penalties under Labor Code Section 203 when employees separate.

Final Paychecks and Waiting Time Penalties

Final pay timing in San Diego follows California state rules:

• Termination: all wages, including accrued unused vacation, are due immediately at the time of termination
• Resignation with 72+ hours’ notice: wages due on the last day of work
• Resignation without notice: wages due within 72 hours

What are waiting time penalties?

If wages are not paid in full and on time, California Labor Code Section 203 imposes a waiting time penalty equal to the employee’s daily wage for each day the wages are late, up to 30 days. The penalty applies even if the wage shortfall is small. SB 261’s new triple-damages mechanism for unsatisfied judgments amplifies the cost of letting an unpaid wage claim drift past 180 days post-judgment.

Independent Contractor Classification (ABC Test)

California uses the ABC test under Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) and Labor Code Section 2775 et seq. to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee for most wage and hour purposes. To classify a worker as an independent contractor, the hiring entity must show:

• A. The worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact
• B. The worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business
• C. The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed

What about the AB 5 exemptions?

California has carved out a long list of exempted occupations and business-to-business contracting relationships, each with its own multi-factor test. Common exemptions used in San Diego workforces:

• Licensed professionals (attorneys, architects, engineers, accountants, private investigators)
• Specified creative occupations (graphic designers, fine artists, certain photographers, certain freelance writers)
• Real estate brokers and licensed insurance brokers
• Bona fide business-to-business contracting relationships meeting the 12-factor test
• Referral agencies in specified industries

Misclassification exposure is severe — back wages, overtime, meal-and-rest premiums, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation premiums, and PAGA penalties can all stack on a single misclassified worker. San Diego employers using contractor-heavy models should run periodic classification audits and document the basis for each classification.

Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation in San Diego

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation across a longer list of protected characteristics than federal law. FEHA covers employers with five or more employees (one or more for harassment claims) and is enforced by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).

What characteristics are protected under California state law?

• Race, color, ancestry, national origin (including language and immigration status restrictions)
• Religion, religious creed, religious dress, and grooming practices
• Sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation
• Pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, related medical conditions, and reproductive health decision-making
• Marital status
• Disability (physical and mental) and genetic information
• Age (40 and over)
• Military and veteran status
• Cannabis use off duty and away from the workplace (with limited exceptions)

What harassment training is required?

California employers with five or more employees must provide:

• Two hours of supervisor training within six months of hire or promotion and every two years thereafter
• One hour of training for non-supervisory employees within six months of hire and every two years thereafter

Training must include practical examples, the legal definitions of harassment and retaliation, and procedures for reporting. Employers using a third-party LMS should document each cycle and keep completion records for the FEHA-required period.

How does retaliation enforcement work?

Retaliation against an employee for filing a complaint, participating in an investigation, opposing discrimination, or exercising any other protected right is independently actionable under FEHA, the California Labor Code, OSHA, and a long list of more specific statutes. Maintaining a clean, documented investigation process — with intake, triage, manager interviews, complainant follow-ups, and a documented outcome — is the single most useful defense against retaliation claims. Investigations are handled most defensibly when the entire workflow lives in one tool rather than scattered across email, Word documents, and notes.

Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (SB 553)

California Senate Bill 553, in effect since July 1, 2024, requires nearly all California employers to maintain a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP) and a violent incident log, train employees, and respond to threats and violent incidents.

Who has to comply?

SB 553 applies to most California employers with limited exceptions (some healthcare facilities already covered by Cal/OSHA’s healthcare workplace violence standard, certain remote workers, certain places not accessible to the public with fewer than 10 employees, and law enforcement).

What must the plan include?

• Names and titles of the people responsible for plan implementation
• Procedures for accepting and responding to reports of workplace violence
• Procedures to communicate with employees about workplace violence
• Procedures to coordinate with other employers (for staffing agencies, contractors, joint employers)
• Procedures for emergency response, post-incident response, and threat investigations
• Procedures for hazard identification, assessment, and correction
• Training requirements and annual review

What about the violent incident log?

Employers must keep a log of every violent incident, including specific data points required by Cal/OSHA — date, time, location, type, factors, consequences, and corrective actions. The log must be available to employees and Cal/OSHA on request and retained for at least five years. The administrative tracking burden is the part that catches San Diego employers off guard — many discover only during a Cal/OSHA inspection that the log is missing or incomplete.

Leaves of Absence: Pregnancy, Family, Bereavement, and Reproductive Loss

California has the most expansive non-federal leave landscape in the country. San Diego employers must layer state leave on top of federal FMLA and any city-level leave — for sick leave, the City of San Diego ordinance is the relevant local layer.

California Family Rights Act (CFRA)

CFRA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for a qualifying employee’s own serious health condition, to bond with a new child, to care for a family member with a serious health condition, or for qualifying military exigencies. CFRA covers employers with five or more employees and uses a broader definition of family member than federal FMLA.

Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL)

PDL provides up to four months of leave for pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions and runs separately from CFRA in most cases — meaning a covered employee can take up to four months of PDL plus 12 weeks of CFRA bonding leave.

Reproductive loss leave (AB 1949)

Effective January 1, 2024, employers with five or more employees must provide up to five days of reproductive loss leave following a failed adoption, failed surrogacy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or unsuccessful assisted reproduction. The leave does not need to be taken consecutively but must be used within three months of the qualifying event.

Bereavement leave (AB 1949)

Employers with five or more employees must provide up to five days of unpaid bereavement leave on the death of a family member, with leave to be taken within three months of the death. The five days do not need to be consecutive.

Paid Family Leave and SDI

California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) and State Disability Insurance (SDI) programs provide partial wage replacement during qualifying absences. Both are funded through employee payroll deductions. PFL provides up to 8 weeks of partial wage replacement within a 12-month period, and SDI provides partial wage replacement during disability and pregnancy. SB 590 will expand PFL to cover leave for “designated persons” effective July 1, 2028.

Smaller California Leave Categories Worth Tracking

Beyond the major leave statutes, California requires San Diego employers to provide protected time for several smaller categories. Tracking each is the difference between handling a request smoothly and triggering a retaliation claim:

• Jury and witness duty leave — protected absence for jury duty and crime-victim or witness appearances
• Voting leave — up to two hours paid time off for voting if employees do not have sufficient time outside work hours
• School activities leave — up to 40 hours per year for parents to attend school or daycare events for children, with restrictions for employers under 25 employees
• Crime victim leave — protected leave for victims of specified crimes and their family members
• Domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking leave — protected time for medical care, victim services, court appearances, and safety-related activities
• Organ and bone marrow donor leave — up to 30 business days of paid leave for organ donation and 5 business days for bone marrow donation per year
• Military and veteran leave — leave for spouses of deployed service members and protected leave for service members under USERRA and California state law

Hiring, Background Checks, and Pre-Employment Practices

California layers state Fair Chance Act, Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA), and salary-history-ban rules on top of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). San Diego employers in unincorporated county areas add the SDFCO on top.

What does the California Fair Chance Act require?

California Government Code Section 12952 (the Fair Chance Act) prohibits employers with five or more employees from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal history before a conditional offer of employment. After the offer, an employer may consider criminal history only after conducting an individualized assessment of:

• The nature and gravity of the offense
• The time that has passed since the offense or the completion of the sentence
• The nature of the job sought

The employer must follow a pre-adverse action and final adverse action notice procedure if it intends to rescind the offer based on criminal history.

What about the SDFCO’s additional requirements?

As covered earlier, the SDFCO mandates that the individualized assessment be in writing for unincorporated-area employers. Multi-site San Diego employers should default to a written assessment for every Fair Chance situation, even outside unincorporated areas — the additional documentation work is small compared with the litigation cost of an underdocumented adverse action.

What is California’s salary history ban?

Labor Code Section 432.3 prohibits California employers from asking applicants about their salary history, including compensation and benefits. Employers must, on reasonable request, provide the pay scale for the position to applicants. The salary history ban applies regardless of employer size.

What about background check disclosures under ICRAA and FCRA?

San Diego employers running consumer reports for employment purposes must follow both ICRAA and FCRA — that means a standalone disclosure, signed authorization, pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report and the FTC summary of rights, time to dispute, and a final adverse action notice. The two statutes overlap but are not identical, and California courts have struck down disclosures that include extraneous content. The intake process for background checks is one of the most common audit findings in San Diego compliance reviews.

Off-Duty Conduct Protections and Cannabis

California Labor Code Sections 96(k) and 98.6 protect employees from discharge or discipline for lawful off-duty conduct away from the employer’s premises. AB 2188 and SB 700, in effect since January 1, 2024, add specific cannabis-related protections.

What do AB 2188 and SB 700 protect?

Employers may not discriminate against an applicant or employee based on:

• Off-duty cannabis use away from the workplace
• Drug-screening tests that detect non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites (the inactive byproducts that linger long after impairment fades)

Employers may still test for impairment-relevant compounds (active THC) and may discipline for on-the-job impairment, possession, or use. Federally regulated positions, certain construction, and certain government roles are exempt.

What about other off-duty activities?

Off-duty social media activity, political expression, and lawful conduct away from work are broadly protected by Labor Code Section 96(k) and Section 1101–1102 (political activity). Employers should rewrite any “lifestyle” or off-duty conduct policy that hasn’t been reviewed since the cannabis amendments took effect.

Non-Competes in California: A Reminder for Multi-State Employers

California prohibits non-compete agreements with limited exceptions (sale of a business, dissolution of a partnership, dissolution of an LLC, sale of substantially all assets). Business and Professions Code Section 16600 and SB 699 (effective January 1, 2024) extend the prohibition further:

• Non-competes signed in another state are unenforceable in California
• Employers may not enter into or attempt to enforce a non-compete with a California-resident employee, regardless of where the employee originally signed
• Employers were required to notify any employees and former employees employed after January 1, 2022 who had signed non-compete clauses that those clauses were void, by February 14, 2024

San Diego employers acquiring out-of-state businesses or hiring out-of-state employees who relocate should audit existing non-competes against SB 699. Confidentiality, trade secret, and customer non-solicitation provisions are still enforceable in California within reasonable limits, but employee non-solicitation provisions have been narrowed by case law and should be redrafted to focus on protecting confidential information rather than restricting hiring.

Workplace Safety, Cal/OSHA, and Heat Illness Standards

San Diego employers fall under Cal/OSHA, which is generally more stringent than federal OSHA. Recordkeeping, reporting, and program requirements differ from the federal default.

Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP)

Every California employer must maintain a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program identifying responsible persons, hazard identification and correction procedures, communication, training, recordkeeping, and incident investigation procedures. The IIPP is the foundation that Cal/OSHA inspectors check first.

Heat Illness Prevention

California’s outdoor heat illness standard requires shade access at 80 degrees Fahrenheit, water access, cool-down rest periods, training, and high-heat procedures at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The indoor heat illness standard (effective July 23, 2024) extends similar requirements to indoor workplaces where the temperature reaches 82 or 87 degrees Fahrenheit depending on the type of work and clothing involved. Warehouse, manufacturing, kitchen, and other indoor operations in San Diego should have an indoor heat plan in place if they did not already.

Reporting requirements

• Serious injury or illness or death — reportable to Cal/OSHA within 8 hours of the employer learning of it
• Annual Form 300A summary — must be electronically submitted to Cal/OSHA for covered employers
• Cal/OSHA Form 300/301 — must be maintained for five years

California WARN Act and Mass Layoffs

The California WARN Act applies to “covered establishments” with 75 or more employees and requires 60 days’ advance written notice for mass layoffs (50+ employees), plant closures, or relocations of 100+ miles. The state law is broader than the federal WARN Act in several respects:

• Lower threshold (75 employees vs. 100 under federal WARN)
• Mass layoff trigger of 50 employees in 30 days, regardless of percentage
• Notice required to employees, the local Workforce Development Board, the chief elected official of the city or county, and the Employment Development Department (EDD)
• Penalties of up to 60 days of back pay plus benefits for each affected employee on noncompliance

San Diego employers planning a reduction in force should run the WARN analysis early, identify the right notice recipients, and coordinate with HR, legal, and communications well before the 60-day window.

PAGA in California: What San Diego Employers Should Know

The Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), Labor Code Section 2698 et seq., authorizes aggrieved employees to bring representative actions for Labor Code violations on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the state. The 2024 PAGA reforms changed the calculus significantly:

• A capped 15% reduction is available for employers who take reasonable proactive steps, such as conducting a written PAGA-readiness audit, before notice
• A capped 30% reduction is available for employers who take corrective action within 60 days after PAGA notice
• Standing has been narrowed — plaintiffs must personally have suffered each Labor Code violation alleged
• Manageability requirements give trial courts more authority to limit unwieldy claims

For San Diego employers, the post-reform path is clear: a documented compliance audit, with date-stamped corrective actions, is the single most useful step to take before a PAGA notice arrives. The audit also pulls double duty if the city or county OLSE opens a separate investigation.

Wage Statements and Recordkeeping in San Diego

Wage statement compliance is the single most cited area in California PAGA litigation, and San Diego is no exception. California Labor Code Section 226 requires every itemized wage statement to include nine specific items. Missing or inaccurate items can trigger statutory penalties of $50 for the first violation and $100 per pay period for each subsequent violation, capped at $4,000 per employee.

What must appear on a California wage statement?

• Gross wages earned
• Total hours worked (for non-exempt employees)
• Number of piece-rate units earned and applicable piece rate (for piece-rate workers)
• All deductions
• Net wages earned
• The pay-period start and end dates
• Employee name and the last four digits of Social Security number or an employee identification number
• Employer name and address
• All applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding hours worked at each rate

What additional items can trip up San Diego employers?

For employees who accrue paid sick leave under the City of San Diego ordinance, the wage statement (or a separate writing provided on each pay date) must show the amount of available paid sick leave. Employers paying piece rates, commission, or non-discretionary bonuses must also retroactively recompute regular rate of pay and reflect that on wage statements — a frequent error in San Diego sales and hospitality operations.

Recordkeeping for the wage statements themselves: California requires retention for at least three years (Labor Code Section 226(a)). The City of San Diego ESLMW ordinance pushes payroll record retention to four years. Cal/OSHA Form 300 logs run five years. The most defensible policy is a unified five-year retention rule covering payroll, time records, sick leave records, and safety logs, with a documented record of any deletion.

California Wage Theft Notice and New Hire Documentation

California Labor Code Section 2810.5 requires employers to provide every non-exempt employee at hire (and within seven days of any change to specified information) a written notice that includes:

• The rate or rates of pay and the basis of pay (hourly, salary, piece rate, commission, etc.)
• Allowances claimed as part of the minimum wage (meals, lodging)
• The regular pay day designated by the employer
• The name of the employer (including any “doing business as” names)
• The employer’s physical and mailing address and telephone number
• The name, address, and phone number of the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier
• Information about emergency or disaster declarations affecting the workplace
• Information about paid sick leave entitlements

San Diego employers should treat the SB 294 Know Your Rights notice (effective February 1, 2026) as a separate document from the 2810.5 notice. Combining them risks invalidating both.

What about new hire reporting and I-9?

California employers must report new hires to the Employment Development Department within 20 days of hire. Federal Form I-9 must be completed within three business days of the employee’s first day of work for pay. E-Verify is voluntary in California for most private employers but mandatory for federal contractors with E-Verify clauses. San Diego employers in defense, biotech, and federal contracting should confirm whether an active contract requires E-Verify before assuming voluntary status.

California Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Orders

San Diego employers also need to identify the correct IWC Wage Order for each operation. The 17 active wage orders cover specific industries and occupations and add detail on top of the Labor Code: meal-and-rest specifics, reporting time pay, split shift premiums, uniform requirements, and tools. The most common San Diego wage orders:

• Wage Order 4: professional, technical, clerical, mechanical, and similar occupations (most office workforces)
• Wage Order 5: public housekeeping (hotels, restaurants, hospitals, schools)
• Wage Order 7: mercantile (retail)
• Wage Order 9: transportation
• Wage Order 16: on-site occupations in the construction, drilling, logging, and mining industries

Posting the correct wage order at every San Diego workplace is required. Misidentifying the order can cascade into incorrect overtime, premium, and reporting time pay calculations.

How AllVoices Helps San Diego HR Teams Stay Compliant

San Diego employers face an unusually layered compliance load: city sick leave and minimum wage rules, county Fair Chance and wage theft enforcement, California state Labor Code, FEHA, Cal/OSHA, the new SB 553 workplace violence plan, and the 2026 wave of statutes. The common thread is that every program — from sick leave retaliation defense to SDFCO individualized assessments to PAGA-readiness audits — depends on tight, defensible documentation.

AllVoices is an employee relations platform that gives San Diego HR teams one place to:

• Capture intake of employee concerns through anonymous and identified channels, including hotline, web, and Slack/Teams integrations, so a sick leave or Fair Chance complaint never gets buried in a manager’s inbox
• Triage and assign reports with consistent severity ratings, due-date timers, and audit-ready handoff trails
• Document investigations end to end — interview notes, evidence, decisions, and outcomes — in a unified HR case management workflow tied to the underlying employee record
• Use Vera AI to draft summaries, identify policy gaps, and flag patterns across reports without exposing confidential identities
• Generate reports for the City of San Diego OLSE, County OLSE, the Cal/OSHA Form 300 log, or internal board updates without rebuilding the data each cycle
• Integrate with HRIS systems like Workday, Rippling, and Paylocity, so terminations, transfers, and other lifecycle events stay in sync with the case record

For San Diego employers running multi-jurisdictional workforces, the platform also handles policy variance — case workflows can vary by jurisdiction, so an SDFCO individualized assessment can be required only when the position is in unincorporated county territory, while a city-level retaliation flag can be required for any city employee.

If you are evaluating compliance tooling for a San Diego workforce, you can schedule a walkthrough of the AllVoices platform with the team.

Frequently Asked Questions About San Diego Labor Laws

What is the San Diego minimum wage in 2026?

The City of San Diego minimum wage is $17.75 per hour as of January 1, 2026. The rate covers any employee who works at least two hours in any calendar week within city limits, regardless of where the employer is based. Hospitality workers at covered hotels (150+ rooms), amusement parks, and event centers move to a higher floor on July 1, 2026.

When does the San Diego hospitality minimum wage take effect?

Phase one starts July 1, 2026 — $19.00/hour at covered hotels and amusement parks and $21.06/hour at covered event centers. The wage rises in scheduled steps, reaching $25.00/hour for all covered hospitality businesses by July 1, 2030, with cost-of-living adjustments thereafter.

Does the San Diego County Fair Chance Ordinance apply to all county employers?

No. The SDFCO applies to private employers with five or more employees doing business in unincorporated areas of San Diego County, including for positions performing at least two hours of work on average each week within unincorporated areas. Employers fully inside the City of San Diego or other incorporated cities are still subject to California’s state Fair Chance Act, but not the SDFCO’s additional written-assessment requirement.

What are the SDFCO penalties?

As of July 1, 2025, County OLSE may impose administrative penalties of up to $5,000 (first violation), $10,000 (second), and $20,000 (third or subsequent), with at least half of penalties collected awarded to the aggrieved candidate.

How much paid sick leave does San Diego require?

Employees accrue at least one hour of paid sick leave per 30 hours worked in the City of San Diego. Annual use can be capped at 40 hours, and total accrual at 80 hours. Employers can also front-load 40 hours at the beginning of each benefit year. The ordinance covers a broader family-member definition than the older state default and includes Safe Time uses.

Does San Diego have a separate wage theft enforcement agency?

Yes. The City Office of Labor Standards Enforcement runs the Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance, the Living Wage Ordinance, and the Prevailing Wage Ordinance for city work. The County of San Diego OLSE enforces the SDFCO and, since August 2024, can investigate wage theft and assist workers in recovering unpaid wages. The California Labor Commissioner remains the primary state-level enforcer.

Are non-compete agreements enforceable in San Diego?

Generally no. California prohibits non-competes with limited exceptions, and SB 699 (effective January 1, 2024) extends that prohibition to non-competes signed in other states for California-resident employees. Confidentiality, trade-secret, and narrowly drafted customer non-solicitation provisions remain enforceable.

What changed in California state law for 2026 that affects San Diego employers?

The state minimum wage rose to $16.90/hour, the exempt salary threshold rose to $70,304/year, AB 692 banned most stay-or-pay agreements for employment contracts entered after January 1, 2026, SB 261 introduced triple penalties for unpaid wage judgments after 180 days, SB 294 requires an annual Know Your Rights notice from February 1, 2026, and SB 642 expanded the equal pay statute of limitations and the definition of wages.

The Bottom Line

San Diego compliance in 2026 is a multi-layer exercise: city, county, and state requirements all stack on the same employer, and several of them — Fair Chance penalty enforcement, the hospitality wage, SB 294 notices, AB 692 contract rewrites — have specific calendar deadlines.

The 2026 priorities for San Diego HR teams:

• By February 1, 2026: roll out the SB 294 standalone Know Your Rights notice using the Labor Commissioner template
• By July 1, 2026: implement Hospitality Minimum Wage compliance — posting, written notice, payroll updates, and tip / service charge review for covered hotels, amusement parks, and event centers
• By July 1, 2026 (or earlier): review every active employment agreement and offer letter against AB 692 and rewrite tuition reimbursement, sign-on bonus clawback, training, and relocation provisions
• Throughout 2026: conduct a documented PAGA-readiness audit covering wage statement accuracy, meal-and-rest premiums, sick leave accrual records, and final pay timing
• Throughout 2026: update Fair Chance hiring practices to default to a written individualized assessment for every adverse action based on criminal history, regardless of whether the position is in unincorporated county territory
• Ongoing: maintain the SB 553 Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, violent incident log, and annual training; update the IIPP and indoor heat plans for any changes in operations
• Ongoing: keep pay scale data current in every public job posting and provide it on request
• Ongoing: document every employee relations matter — sick leave retaliation, Fair Chance adverse action, harassment, wage complaint — in a single auditable system

San Diego compliance rewards employers that invest in clean intake, defensible investigations, and consistent records — the same infrastructure that pays off when an OLSE investigator, CRD investigator, or PAGA notice arrives. To see how a centralized employee relations workflow can carry that documentation load, see the AllVoices employee relations platform in action.