What does the Berkeley Fair Workweek Ordinance require?
Berkeley's Fair Workweek Ordinance covers employers with 10 or more employees in Berkeley that are primarily engaged in building services, health care, hotel, manufacturing, retail or warehouse services and employ 56 or more globally2. Restaurants, nonprofits in those industries, and retail or restaurant franchisees whose franchise network employs 100 or more are covered from 100 globally, and building services include security services24.
Schedules go out at least two weeks ahead5. A change with less than 14 days' notice costs 1 hour of predictability pay, and a cut or cancellation with less than 24 hours' notice up to 4 hours6.
The city minimum wage is $19.61 an hour3.
This text does not constitute legal advice. Obligations vary by establishment and change over time. Confirm yours with the City of Berkeley's Labor Standards Enforcement, the California Labor Commissioner's Office or a qualified advisor.
Which dates matter in Berkeley?
- The Fair Workweek Ordinance becomes operational
For all covered employers and employees7.
- City minimum wage: $19.61
On July 1 of each year the minimum wage rises by the prior calendar year's CPI-W for the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward area38.
- State minimum wage: $17.40
Berkeley's $19.61 is higher, and where a local rate is higher it is the one paid9310.
Past or upcoming as of November 12, 2026.
What changes in the week in Berkeley?
When you hire
The employer gives each employee a written good faith estimate of their work schedule5.
When you build the schedule
The schedule is posted at the workplace or sent electronically, with access at the workplace, at least two weeks ahead5.
An employee may decline work hours that start less than 11 hours after the end of the previous shift. If they agree in writing, those hours are paid at 1.5 times the regular rate11.
When the schedule changes
The employer gives written notice of a change within 24 hours of making it, and the employee may decline previously unscheduled hours added with less than 14 days' notice12.
Predictability pay per shift: 1 hour with less than 14 days' but 24 hours or more notice. With less than 24 hours, 4 hours or the hours cut, whichever is less, for a cut or cancellation, and 1 hour for additions and other changes6. It is in addition to regular pay6.
When you need more hours
When someone calls in sick
Under Berkeley's Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, each employee earns 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, and employers allow accrual of at least 72 hours a year; the city lets small businesses with fewer than 25 employees cap accrual at 48 hours a year14.
State law also applies: an employer must allow use of at least five days or 40 hours a year, whichever is more15, and may cap accrual at 10 days or 80 hours, whichever is more16. Where both apply, the Labor Commissioner says the employer provides “the provision or benefit that is most generous to the employee”17.
In payroll
The city minimum wage is $19.61 an hour from July 1, 20263.
Covered health care facilities have their own state minimum wage, set by type of facility. Since July 1, 2026 it is $25 an hour at hospitals or health systems with 10,000 or more full-time employees, and $23 at covered facilities that are in none of the other categories and not run by a county1819. Other types of facility have their own rates, in the table on the California page. Fast food workers covered by the state law “must be paid at least $20.00 per hour”20. When requirements conflict, the Labor Commissioner says the employer follows “the stricter standard”21.
California's daily overtime also applies: past 8 hours in a workday at 1.5 times the regular rate, and past 12 at twice the regular rate22.
With a union agreement
All or part of the ordinance can be waived in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, but only if the waiver is explicit and in clear and unambiguous terms23.
Watch for
- No predictability pay for mutually agreed shift swaps or coverage, for changes the employee initiates, or when operations cannot begin or continue because of threats, utility failures, acts of nature or other causes outside the employer's control24.
- Small transitions. Nor when an employee works no more than thirty minutes past the shift to finish serving a customer, or starts or ends no more than ten minutes early or late, paid at the regular rate24.
- Manufacturing and health care. Nor when outside events cut a manufacturer's need for staff, or in health care disasters, specialized procedures and unexpected surges in demand24.
- Who counts. All employees, full-time, part-time or temporary, at any location, including those supplied by a temporary or staffing agency2.
- Who is not a covered employee. Employees exempt from overtime under Labor Code § 510, and those paid a monthly salary equivalent to at least 40 hours a week at twice the Berkeley minimum wage25.
- Asking for a different schedule. Under the city's Family Friendly and Environment Friendly Workplace Ordinance, employees may request a flexible or predictable schedule. Employers with ten or more employees respond in writing within 21 days, with a business reason for any denial; it covers employees with at least three months of service who work at least eight hours a week2627.
What does California add in Berkeley?
State law applies in the city as everywhere in California. Daily overtime starts after 8 hours in a workday, and double time after 12 hours22.
California daily overtime: 8 hours, 12 hours and the seventh day22
The state minimum wage goes to $17.40 on January 1, 2027; where a city's rate is higher, employees are paid the city's910.
California labor laws: what changes the schedule and the pay
What does an employer have to be able to show?
For at least three years, for each employee, the employer keeps28:
What does the ordinance leave open?
Whether a contractor is "primarily engaged" in building services. Coverage turns on the industry the employer is primarily engaged in2, and building services include janitorial and security services4. The chapter does not define primarily engaged. For a company with several lines of business, confirm it with your counsel.
The right-to-rest premium and overtime on the same hours. § 13.102.080 pays 1.5 times for hours worked less than 11 hours after a shift11, and § 510 pays its own premium past 8 hours in a day22. Neither text says how the two combine. Confirm it with your counsel.
What does the ordinance say exactly?
a. This chapter shall apply to: the City of Berkeley as an employer, and any employer in the City of Berkeley with 10 or more employees in the City of Berkeley that is: 1. primarily engaged in the building services, healthcare, hotel, manufacturing, retail, or warehouse services industries, and employs 56 or more employees globally; or 2. primarily engaged in the restaurant industry, and employs 100 or more employees globally; or 3. a franchisee primarily engaged in the retail or restaurant industries and is associated with a network of franchises with franchisees employing in the aggregate 100 or more employees globally; or 4. a not-for-profit corporation organized under Section 501 of the United States Internal Revenue Code in the industries specified under subsection (a)(1), (2), and (3) and employs 100 or more employees globally. […] b. In determining the number of employees performing work for a covered employer during a given week, all employees performing work for the covered employer for compensation on a full-time, part-time, or temporary basis, at any location, shall be counted, including employees made available to work through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity.
Berkeley Mun. Code § 13.102.020(a) building services
a. "Building services" means the care and maintenance of property, including, but not limited to, janitorial services, building and grounds maintenance services, and security services.
Berkeley Mun. Code § 13.102.050 two weeks' notice
a. Initial Estimate of Minimum Hours. An employer shall provide each employee with a good faith estimate in writing of the employee’s work schedule. […] b. Two Weeks’ Advance Notice of Work Schedule. A covered employer shall provide its employees with at least two weeks’ notice of their work schedules by doing one of the following: 1. posting the work schedule in a conspicuous place at the workplace that is readily accessible and visible to all employees; or 2. transmitting the work schedule by electronic means, so long as all employees are given access to the electronic schedule at the workplace.
Berkeley Mun. Code § 13.102.060(c) predictability pay
c. Predictability Pay for Schedule Changes. Subject to the exceptions in subsections (d) and (e) of this section, a covered employer shall provide an employee with the following compensation per shift for each previously scheduled shift that the covered employer adds or subtracts hours, moves to another date or time, cancels, or each previously unscheduled shift that the covered employer adds to the employee’s schedule: 1. with less than 14 days notice, but 24 hours or more notice to the employee: one hour of predictability pay; 2. with less than 24 hours notice to the employee, (i) When hours are cancelled or reduced, four hours or the number of cancelled or reduced hours in the employee’s scheduled shift, whichever is less; (ii) For additions and all other changes, one hour of predictability pay. The compensation required by this subsection shall be in addition to the employee’s regular pay for working such shift.
Berkeley Mun. Code § 13.102.060(d)-(e) the exceptions
d. Scheduling Exceptions. The requirements of this section shall not apply under any of the following circumstances: 1. Mutually agreed-upon work shift swaps or coverage arrangements among employees; 2. Employee initiated voluntary shift modifications, such as voluntary requests to leave a scheduled shift prior to the end of the shift or to use sick leave, vacation leave, or other policies offered by the Employer. […] 3. To accommodate the following transitions in shifts: (i) If an employee works no more than thirty minutes past the end of a scheduled shift to complete service to a customer, provided the employee is compensated at their regular rate of pay for the additional work performed by the employee. […] (ii) An employee begins or ends their scheduled shift no more than ten minutes prior to or after the scheduled shift, provided the employee is compensated at their regular rate of pay for the additional work performed by the employee. […] e. Operational Exceptions. The requirements of this section shall not apply under any of the following circumstances: 1. Operations cannot begin or continue due to threats to covered employers, employees or property, or when civil authorities recommend that work not begin or continue; 2. Operations cannot begin or continue because public utilities fail to supply electricity, water, or gas, or there is a failure in the public utilities or sewer system; 3. Operations cannot begin or continue due to acts of nature (including but not limited to flood, fire, explosion, earthquake, tidal wave, drought), pandemic, war, civil unrest, strikes, or other cause not within the covered employer’s control; […] 4. When, in manufacturing, events outside of the control of the manufacturer result in a reduction in the need for covered employees, including, but not limited to, when a customer requests the manufacturer to delay production or there is a delay in the receipt of raw materials or component parts needed for production; or […] 5. With regard to healthcare employers, in (i) any declared national, State, or municipal disaster or other catastrophic event, or any implementation of an Employer’s disaster plan, or incident causing a hospital to activate its Emergency Operations Plan that is reasonably expected to substantially affect or increase the need for healthcare services; (ii) any circumstance in which patient care needs require specialized skills through the completion of a procedure; or (iii) any unexpected substantial increase in demand for healthcare due to large public events, severe weather, violence, or other circumstances beyond the healthcare employer’s control.
Berkeley Mun. Code § 13.102.070 offering hours to part-time staff
a. Subject to the limitations in this chapter, before hiring new employees, including hiring through the use of temporary services or staffing agencies, a covered employer shall first offer additional hours of work to existing part-time employee(s) who have worked on behalf of the employer for more than two weeks, if the part-time employee(s) are qualified to do the additional work, as reasonably and in good faith determined by the covered employer, and if the additional hours needed are not the same hours the part-time employee is scheduled to work. […] 1. Part-time employees shall have 24 hours to accept an offer of additional hours of work under this section, after which time the covered employer may hire new employees to work the additional hours. 2. The 24-hour period referred to in this subsection begins either when the employee receives the written offer of additional hours, or when the covered employer posts the offer of additional hours as described in subsection (d) of this section, whichever is sooner. A part-time employee who wishes to accept the additional hours must do so in writing.
Berkeley Mun. Code § 13.102.080 the right to rest
a. An employee has the right to decline work hours that occur less than 11 hours after the end of the previous shift. b. An employee who agrees in writing to work hours described in this section shall be compensated at one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for any hours worked less than 11 hours following the end of a previous shift.
Berkeley Mun. Code § 13.102.040 union waiver
the requirements of all or of specific portions of this chapter may be waived in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, but only if the waiver is set forth explicitly in such agreement in clear and unambiguous terms.
City of Berkeley, official notice paid sick leave
Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (BMC 13.100): Each employee shall earn one hour of Paid Sick Leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers must allow employees to accrue at least 72 hours of Paid Sick Leave each year. Small businesses with fewer than 25 employees may cap the accrual at 48 hours per year.
How does a system hold the hour and rest rules?
In Berkeley, state hour limits and the city's right to rest land on the same schedule and the same timecard. This is how WorkAxle holds them:
- Daily and weekly hours, consecutive days and rest between shifts are set up as rules, each with its start date.
- While the schedule is built, the platform flags each shift that breaks one of those rules and names the rule. The supervisor decides.
- Each clock-in and clock-out is recorded with its time, and at the close of the period hours come out classified by your rules, ready for your payroll system.
The supervisor keeps the last word.
What can you check this week?
- Count your employees in Berkeley and globally, temporary and agency staff included, the way § 13.102.030 counts them2.
- If you provide security or janitorial services in Berkeley, read § 13.102.020(a) and § 13.102.030 side by side42.
- Find shifts that started less than 11 hours after the employee's previous shift, and the written agreement for them11.
- Check that each change to a posted schedule was sent in writing within 24 hours12.
Sending it to finance, operations or your counsel? The link opens this page, and the printed brief carries the rules, the dates and the sources.
This text does not constitute legal advice. Obligations vary by establishment and change over time. Confirm yours with the City of Berkeley's Labor Standards Enforcement, the California Labor Commissioner's Office or a qualified advisor.
Frequently asked questions
Who is covered by the Berkeley Fair Workweek Ordinance?
Employers with 10 or more employees in Berkeley that are primarily engaged in building services, health care, hotel, manufacturing, retail or warehouse services and employ 56 or more globally, restaurants with 100 or more globally, and some franchisees and nonprofits2.
Does Berkeley's Fair Workweek Ordinance cover security guards?
The ordinance covers employers primarily engaged in building services that meet its size thresholds2, and it defines building services to include security services4.
How much notice of the schedule does Berkeley require?
At least two weeks, posted at the workplace or sent electronically with access at the workplace5.
How much is predictability pay in Berkeley?
1 hour with less than 14 days' but 24 hours or more notice. With less than 24 hours, 4 hours or the hours cut, whichever is less, for a cut or cancellation, and 1 hour for other changes6.
What is Berkeley's right to rest?
An employee may decline hours less than 11 hours after the previous shift; hours worked there with written agreement are paid at 1.5 times the regular rate11.
What is the minimum wage in Berkeley?
$19.61 an hour from July 1, 2026, raised each July 1 by the prior year's CPI-W for the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward area38. Covered health care facilities have their own state minimum wage, set by type of facility: since July 1, 2026, $25 an hour at hospitals or health systems with 10,000 or more full-time employees and $23 at covered facilities that are in none of the other categories and not run by a county; other types of facility have their own rates1819. Fast food workers covered by the state law “must be paid at least $20.00 per hour”20. Where requirements conflict, the employer follows the stricter standard21.
How much paid sick leave does Berkeley require?
1 hour for every 30 hours worked, with accrual of at least 72 hours a year; the city lets businesses with fewer than 25 employees cap accrual at 48 hours a year14. State law also requires use of at least five days or 40 hours a year, whichever is more15, and lets an employer cap accrual at 10 days or 80 hours, whichever is more16; the most generous provision applies17.
https://www.workaxle.com/compliance-center/united-states/california/berkeley