Anaheim Living Wage
Anaheim Living Wage
Anaheim Living Wage
Section 1: A new Chapter 6.99 is added to Title 6 of the Anaheim Municipal Code, as
follows:
.010 An Employer shall pay an Employee a wage of no less than the hourly rates set
under the authority of this article.
.020 On and after January 1, 2019, an Employer shall pay a wage of no less than
Fifteen Dollars per hour, which shall increase by One Dollar per hour on each January 1
thereafter through January 1, 2022.
.030 On January 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, the minimum wage will increase
annually to reflect increases in the cost of living. The cost of living increase shall be the
greater of (1) two percent (2%) or (2) the percentage increase as of September 30, 2022,
and as of September 30 in any subsequent year for further annual adjustments, over the
level as of September 30 of the preceding year of the Consumer Price Index for Urban
Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
(Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA), which is published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor or the successor index or federal agency. The City
Manager shall publish a bulletin by November 1 of each year announcing the adjusted
rates, which shall take effect the following January 1. Such bulletin will be made
available to all Employers and to any other person who has filed with the City Manager a
request to receive such notice, but lack of notice shall not excuse noncompliance with
this section. The City Manager shall prescribe a poster advising Employees of their rights
under this article and distribute it to all Employers. An Employer shall post the notice in a
prominent place where it will be seen by Employees. An Employer shall provide written
notification of the rate adjustments to each of its Employees and make the necessary
payroll adjustments by January 1 following the publication of the bulletin.
Each Employer shall preserve the employment records of each Employee for the three
years preceding the effective date of this section, or if the Employee has been employed
for less than three years, for the entire length of the Employee’s employment prior to the
effective date, and with respect to periods of employment after the effective date, each
Employer shall preserve the employment records of each Employee for three years from
the date of the creation of a record or any longer period of time required by other laws.
6.99.050. ENFORCEMENT.
.010 An Employee claiming violation of this article may report such claimed violation
to the City Manager which shall investigate such complaint. Whether based upon such a
complaint or otherwise, where the City Manager has determined that an Employer has
violated this article, the City Manager shall issue a written notice to the Employer that the
violation is to be corrected within ten (10) days. In the event that the Employer has not
demonstrated to the City Manager within such period that it has cured such violation, the
City Manager may then request the City Council to debar the Employer from any future
City Subsidy for three (3) years. Such debarment shall be to the extent permitted by, and
under whatever procedures may be required by, law.
.020 An Employee claiming violation of this section may bring an individual or class
action against his or her Employer in Superior Court to enforce the provisions of this
section and shall be entitled to all remedies available under the law or in equity
appropriate to remedy any violation of this section, including but not limited to lost
compensation, damages, reinstatement or injunctive relief. An Employee who prevails in
any action to enforce this section shall be awarded his or her reasonable attorney’s fees
and costs.
.030 Notwithstanding any provision of this Code or any other ordinance to the
contrary, no criminal penalties shall attach for violation of this article.
A Small Business which claims that compliance with this Chapter would cause it to
reduce its workforce by more than 20 percent, to curtail its Employees' total work hours
by more than 30 percent, to close its business or to seek protection from its creditors
under federal or state law may apply in writing to the City Manager for an exemption
from the provisions of this Chapter. The City Manager may grant such an exemption,
valid for no more than one year, upon a proper showing by the Small Business that it
meets one or more of the criteria of this section. A Small Business may appeal the City
Manager’s denial of its exemption application to the City Council within 14 days after the
date of the City Manager’s action.
6.99.070. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Chapter, the following words, terms and phrases shall have the following
ascribed meanings:
.010 “Business” means any for-profit enterprise operated by one or more persons.
.030 A “City Subsidy” is any agreement with the city pursuant to which a person other
than the city has a right to receive a rebate of transient occupancy tax, sales tax,
entertainment tax, property tax or other taxes, presently or in the future, matured or
unmatured.
.040 A business “benefits from a City Subsidy” if the person or an affiliate of the person
receives a City Subsidy directly or is an Employer which is a contractor or subcontractor,
lessee or sublessee, or tenant or subtenant, with respect to a person or an affiliate of a
person who receives a City Subsidy.
.050 "Compensation" includes any wages, tips, bonuses, and other payments reported as
taxable income paid by the Employer to the Employee.
.060 "Employer" means any business in the hospitality industry which benefits from a
City Subsidy and directly or indirectly or through an agent or any other person, including
through the services of a temporary service or staffing agency or similar entity, employs
or exercises control over the wages, hours or working conditions of 25 or more
employees.
0.70 "Employee" means any individual who is an employee of an Employer under the
common law.
.130 A “Small Business” is an Employer which employs fewer than 100 full-time
employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the
current or preceding calendar year.
6.99.080. NON-EXCLUSIVITY.
The rights and remedies created by this Chapter are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any
other contractual or statutory rights and remedies of Employees, and are not intended to
alter or affect such rights and remedies.
Nothing in this Chapter shall be interpreted or applied so as to create any power or duty
in conflict with any federal or State law.
6.99.110. SEVERABILITY.
If any subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this article is for any reason held to be
invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not
affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Chapter. The electors hereby declare
that they would have adopted this section, and each and every subsection, sentence,
clause and phrase thereof not declared invalid or unconstitutional, without regard to
whether any portion of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or
unconstitutional.
Consistent with California Elections Code § 9221, should another ordinance containing
provisions that conflict with this ordinance be adopted by voters at the same election as
this ordinance is adopted, the terms of the ordinance that receives the higher number of
affirmative votes shall control.
The proposed ordinance that is the subject of this initiative, once approved by the voters
at the November 6, 2018 election, or such other election as authorized by law, shall be
deemed adopted upon the date that the vote is declared by the City Council, and shall go
into effect 10 days after that date.