California employment laws by company size work in tiers: every employer faces a baseline set of wage, leave, and safety rules from the first hire, and new obligations attach each time your headcount crosses 5, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 employees. The two biggest jumps are at 5 workers, when the Fair Employment and Housing Act and several state leave laws kick in, and at 100 workers, when annual pay data and demographic reporting begin. Knowing which tier you sit in is the only reliable way to tell which laws apply to you right now.
Quick reference for where each major obligation starts:
- 1+ employees: paid sick leave, minimum wage, overtime, itemized wage statements, workers’ compensation, IIPP
- 5+ employees: FEHA anti-discrimination, harassment prevention training, CFRA leave, bereavement leave, reproductive loss leave
- 15+ employees: pay scale in job postings, Title VII, ADA
- 20+ employees: federal COBRA
- 25+ employees: school activities leave, drug and alcohol rehabilitation accommodation
- 50+ employees: FMLA, ACA employer coverage mandate
- 75+ employees: California WARN Act
- 100+ employees: California pay data report, federal WARN Act, EEO-1 report
One or More Employees
From your first hire, California holds you to a baseline no business can opt out of.
The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act requires paid sick leave for every employee. Workers earn at least one hour of sick time per 30 hours worked, with required use of at least 40 hours (five days) per year. Accrual can be capped at 80 hours, and unused time carries over. You can skip the accrual tracking by front-loading the full five days at the start of each year.1California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 246
Minimum wage is $16.90 per hour as of January 1, 2026, for every employer regardless of size.2California Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage Overtime kicks in after eight hours in a day or 40 in a week at time and a half, and anything past 12 hours in a day triggers double time.3California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 510
Every pay period, each employee must receive a written statement showing gross wages, total hours, deductions, pay period dates, and applicable hourly rates. Violations carry penalties of $50 per employee for the first offending pay period and $100 per employee for each additional pay period, up to $4,000 per worker.4California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 226
Workers’ compensation insurance is mandatory for every California employer. Operating without coverage is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail, a fine of at least $10,000 (or double the premium owed), or both.5California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 3700.5 You must also maintain a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program covering hazard assessments, employee training, incident investigations, and corrective procedures.6California Department of Industrial Relations. Injury and Illness Prevention Model Program for Non-High Hazard Employers
Five or More Employees
This is the single biggest compliance jump in California. Reaching five workers pulls you into the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the state’s primary leave framework.
FEHA Anti-Discrimination and Harassment
FEHA makes it illegal to discriminate or harass based on protected characteristics including race, sex, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity.7California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 12940 You need anti-harassment policies in place, and you must investigate complaints promptly.
FEHA also triggers mandatory sexual harassment prevention training. Supervisors complete two hours; other employees complete one hour. Refresher training is required every two years. New hires and newly promoted supervisors must complete the training within six months.8California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 12950.1
California Family Rights Act
CFRA provides up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 12-month period for bonding with a new child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, managing a serious health condition, or handling a qualifying military exigency. Eligible employees must have worked for you at least 12 months and logged at least 1,250 hours in the prior year. When leave ends, you must return the employee to the same or a comparable position.9California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 12945.2
Bereavement Leave
You must grant up to five days of bereavement leave when an employee loses a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law. The employee must have worked for you at least 30 days, and leave must be completed within three months of the death. It can be unpaid, but the employee may use accrued vacation, sick, or personal time. Documentation can be requested within 30 days of the first day of leave.10California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code 12945.7
Reproductive Loss Leave
Employees are entitled to five days of leave following a miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy, or unsuccessful assisted reproduction. The leave must be completed within three months and can be taken on nonconsecutive days. It is unpaid unless the employee uses accrued paid leave, and the reason must be kept confidential.11California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code 12945.6
Fifteen or More Employees
Pay Scale in Job Postings
Employers at this size must include the expected salary or hourly wage range in every job posting. If you use a third-party recruiter or job board, you must give them the pay range, and they must include it in the listing.12California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 432.3 The requirement extends to postings for internal transfers and promotions. Omissions expose you to Labor Commissioner complaints.
Title VII and the ADA
At 15 workers, federal law layers on top of FEHA. Title VII bars discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin for employers with 15 or more workers employed for at least 20 calendar weeks in the current or prior year.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000e The Americans with Disabilities Act uses the same threshold. FEHA already covers most of this ground at five employees, but federal jurisdiction adds EEOC enforcement and the possibility of federal court claims.
Twenty or More Employees
Federal COBRA requires employers with group health plans and 20 or more workers to offer continued health coverage to employees and dependents who lose coverage because of a qualifying event like termination or reduced hours.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4980B If you have fewer than 20 employees, California’s Cal-COBRA fills the gap for group health plans with as few as two workers.15California Department of Managed Health Care. Keep Your Health Coverage (COBRA)
Twenty-Five or More Employees
School Activities Leave
Parents of children in kindergarten through 12th grade or in licensed child care can take up to 40 hours of unpaid leave per year for school-related activities, including enrollment, parent-teacher conferences, and child care emergencies. The monthly cap is eight hours, and employees must give reasonable notice before planned time off. You cannot fire or discipline anyone for using this leave.16California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 230.8
Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Accommodation
Private employers at this size must reasonably accommodate an employee who voluntarily enters a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program, unless doing so causes undue hardship.17California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 1025 In practice, this usually means unpaid time off for treatment, during which the employee can use accrued sick leave or vacation. Participation must be kept confidential.
Fifty or More Employees
Federal FMLA
The FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for reasons similar to CFRA. The eligibility rule is different: FMLA only applies when 50 or more employees work within a 75-mile radius of the employee’s worksite.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2611 A remote team scattered across the state might meet the total headcount but not the geographic test. Because CFRA starts at five employees and has no radius requirement, most California workers eligible for FMLA are also eligible for CFRA, but the two laws define covered family members differently and treat leave stacking differently, so both have to be tracked.
ACA Employer Coverage Mandate
Under the Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalents) are applicable large employers and must offer affordable health coverage meeting minimum value standards to full-time workers and dependents.19Internal Revenue Service. Determining if an Employer Is an Applicable Large Employer
Failing to offer coverage at all triggers a penalty under Section 4980H(a) if even one full-time employee receives a marketplace premium subsidy. A separate penalty under 4980H(b) applies when coverage is unaffordable or inadequate and an employee receives a subsidy instead.20Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4980H For 2026, the no-coverage penalty is approximately $3,340 per full-time employee (after subtracting the first 30), and the inadequate-coverage penalty is approximately $5,010 per affected employee.
Seventy-Five or More Employees
California’s WARN Act applies to businesses that have employed 75 or more full-time and part-time workers at any point in the preceding 12 months. You must give 60 days’ written advance notice before a plant closure, a mass layoff affecting 50 or more employees within a 30-day period, or a relocation of 100 miles or more.21California Employment Development Department. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN)
Notice must go to affected employees, the Employment Development Department, the local workforce development board, and the chief elected official of each affected city and county. Skipping or shortening notice can bring civil penalties of up to $500 per day of violation, back pay at the employee’s final or three-year average rate (whichever is higher), and reimbursement of medical expenses that would have been covered during the notice period. Exceptions exist for natural disasters, the completion of seasonal or project-based work in certain industries, and physical calamities.21California Employment Development Department. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN)
One Hundred or More Employees
California Pay Data Report
Private employers at this size must submit an annual pay data report to the Civil Rights Department by the second Wednesday of May each year, covering the prior calendar year. The report breaks down your workforce by race, ethnicity, and sex across ten job categories, along with pay band data and total hours worked. If you have 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors or staffing agencies, you must file a separate report for them, and your staffing agency must give you the data you need.22California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code 12999
Failing to file can lead to court-imposed penalties of up to $100 per employee for a first violation and $200 per employee for each subsequent failure.22California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code 12999
Federal WARN Act
The federal WARN Act applies to employers with 100 or more full-time employees (excluding workers with fewer than six months of tenure or those averaging under 20 hours per week). It requires 60 days’ advance notice of plant closings or mass layoffs affecting 50 or more workers at a single site.23U.S. Department of Labor. Plant Closings and Layoffs Because California’s version starts at 75 employees and counts part-time workers, most employers hit the state requirement first. When both laws apply, follow whichever imposes the stricter obligation on any given point.
EEO-1 Reporting
Private employers at this size must also file an annual EEO-1 Component 1 report with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, collecting workforce demographic data by job category, race, ethnicity, and sex.24U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO Data Collections Federal contractors face a lower threshold of 50 employees. The filing runs separately from California’s pay data report, so employers at this size prepare two overlapping workforce snapshots each year.