Reminder: Fast Food Employee $20/Hour Minimum Wage Starts April 1

Beginning April 1, 2024, the minimum wage for fast food restaurant employees will increase to $20 per hour. Fast food restaurant employers must ensure they’re not only paying all employees accurately but also posting the required notices in each business location and job site where employees can easily see and read them.

Last year, when Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1228, it established a Fast Food Council, which will work to establish minimum wages, working hours and other working conditions for fast food restaurants. The new law also created an initial 2024 minimum wage increase for fast food restaurant employees to $20 per hour — with the next rate increase possibly occurring January 1, 2025.

In addition to the minimum wage increase, the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) requires all California fast food restaurant employers to post information related to the minimum wage for fast food restaurant employees in an area frequented by applicants and employees where it may be easily read during the workday. This is in addition to both the California and federal minimum wage posters — which must continue to be posted.

The DIR has created a Minimum Wage Order Supplement for Fast Food Restaurant Employees (MW-2024-Supplement) for those employers to post. As of March 25, the DIR has not posted a Spanish version, but CalChamber has released versions in Spanish and Simplified Chinese.

It’s important to note that although California law allows electronic distribution of required California required notices via email, it doesn’t change an employer’s obligation to physically display posters in the workplace, including where employees work remotely 100 percent of the time.

Fast food restaurant employers can utilize the California Labor Commissioner’s Frequently Asked Questions to identify who is covered under the law, along with additional criteria and exemptions for fast food restaurants.

Katie Culliton, Editor, CalChamber

CalChamber members can read more about Wage and Hour Requirements for Fast Food Restaurants in the HR Library. Not a member? Learn more about how HRCalifornia can help you.