San Francisco Labor Laws: Wages, Sick Leave, and Scheduling

If you work in San Francisco, you’re covered by a stack of local labor ordinances that go beyond California state law — things like a higher minimum wage, paid sick leave starting on day one, employer-funded health care spending, a parental leave top-up, fair-chance hiring rules, scheduling protections at chain retailers, and lactation accommodation standards. San Francisco labor laws are enforced by the city’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE), which can investigate complaints, subpoena employer records, and order back pay.¹ These protections follow the work, not the employer: if your hours are performed inside the city, they apply even when your employer’s office sits across the bay or across the country.

Minimum Wage

San Francisco’s minimum wage is $19.61 per hour effective July 1, 2026. It covers every hour you work within city boundaries, and your employer must pay the higher of the local or state rate.² Each July 1, the city raises the rate based on the prior year’s increase in the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose metro area, and the rate does not drop even in deflationary years.

Part-time and full-time work are treated the same. If you split your week between offices and only some hours are in San Francisco, those in-city hours get the local rate.

Paid Sick Leave

You start earning paid sick leave from your first day on the job. The accrual rate is one hour for every 30 hours worked. How much you can bank depends on employer size: at employers with fewer than 10 workers, your balance caps at 40 hours. At larger employers, you can accrue up to 72 hours.³

You can use the time for far more than your own illness. It covers care for a child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, or registered domestic partner. If you don’t have a spouse or domestic partner, you can designate one person to use the leave for, limited to one designated person per 12-month period.³ Sick leave also covers absences tied to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and organ or bone marrow donation.

Retaliation for using accrued sick time is prohibited. That includes cutting your hours, changing your schedule as punishment, or threatening termination.

Health Care Spending Requirement

Under the Health Care Security Ordinance, covered employers must spend a set amount per hour on health care for every employee who works at least eight hours per week in the city. For 2026, that rate is $4.11 per hour for employers with 100 or more workers and $2.74 per hour for medium-sized employers (20 to 99 workers at for-profits, or 50 to 99 at nonprofits). For-profits with fewer than 20 workers and nonprofits with fewer than 50 are exempt.

Employers can satisfy the obligation by paying health insurance premiums, contributing to a health savings account, or paying into the city’s “City Option” program, which funds health services for uninsured residents. Spending is calculated on hours actually worked inside San Francisco. Employers who fall behind face penalties of up to $500 for each quarter the violation continues.⁴

Paid Parental Leave Top-Up

California’s Paid Family Leave program replaces roughly 60 to 70 percent of a new parent’s wages during bonding leave. San Francisco’s Paid Parental Leave Ordinance requires your employer to pay the difference so you receive 100 percent of your normal weekly gross pay, up to a cap of $2,522 per week in 2026.⁵ The top-up covers up to six weeks of bonding leave for a new baby, adopted child, or foster child.

To qualify, you need to meet all four of these conditions:

Your employer has 20 or more employees worldwide.
You have worked for the employer for at least 180 calendar days before your leave starts.
You work at least 8 hours per week within San Francisco.
At least 40 percent of your total work hours are performed within San Francisco.

The 180-day clock runs from your first day of employment to the first payable day of your California Paid Family Leave benefits, not to the date you submit your request.⁶ If you earn more than $2,522 per week, the employer’s supplemental payment is calculated against the cap, not your full salary.⁵

Fair Chance Hiring

San Francisco restricts when and how employers can look at criminal history. At the start of hiring (on application forms, in early interviews, or informally) employers cannot ask about convictions or unresolved arrests. That inquiry is off limits until after a live interview has been conducted or a conditional job offer has been made.

Even then, the existence of a record is not enough to reject you. The employer must evaluate whether the conviction actually relates to the job’s duties, considering the nature of the offense, how much time has passed, and any evidence of rehabilitation. Before taking adverse action, the employer must notify you in writing and give you at least seven days to respond with additional information or corrections. After receiving your response, the employer must reconsider before making a final decision.

Requesting a Flexible Schedule

If you have caregiving responsibilities for a child, an aging parent, or a family member with a serious health condition, you have the right to request a flexible or predictable work arrangement. That could mean adjusted start and end times, reduced hours, remote work, or a compressed schedule. You’re eligible once you have worked for the employer for at least six months and regularly work at least eight hours per week.⁷

Your employer must meet with you and respond in writing within 21 days. A denial has to cite a specific business reason, such as demonstrable cost, inability to redistribute work, or a measurable impact on operations.⁷ The ordinance doesn’t guarantee approval, but it forces the employer to engage seriously with your request.

Predictable Scheduling at Chain Retailers

The Formula Retail Employee Rights Ordinances, sometimes called the Retail Workers Bill of Rights, apply to “formula retail” businesses with 11 or more locations worldwide and at least 20 employees in San Francisco.⁸ National chains and franchises are covered; independent shops are not.

Covered employers must post work schedules at least two weeks in advance. Changes made with less than a week’s notice trigger one hour of predictability pay at the worker’s regular rate. Changes made with less than 24 hours’ notice, including shift cancellations, trigger two to four hours of additional pay. The same compensation applies when a worker is scheduled to be on call but the shift gets canceled at the last minute.

Military Leave Pay

San Francisco’s Military Leave Pay Protection Act requires private employers with 100 or more employees to supplement the pay of workers called to active military duty. The employer calculates the difference between the worker’s normal gross pay (including overtime the worker would have earned) and their gross military base pay, excluding military allowances for housing, combat, or clothing. The gap is paid as supplemental compensation.⁹

The supplemental pay is only required for hours the employee would have worked within San Francisco. For workers without a regular schedule, the employer looks back at recent pay periods to estimate what the worker would have earned. During the leave, the employer must also continue health insurance, retirement contributions, and profit sharing as though the employee were still on their normal schedule.

Lactation Accommodation

San Francisco’s Lactation in the Workplace Ordinance requires employers to provide a dedicated space, beyond a bathroom, for employees who need to express breast milk during the workday. The space must be shielded from view, clean, free of hazardous materials, and equipped with a chair, a flat surface for a breast pump, access to electricity, and a sink with running water nearby. Employees must also have access to a refrigerator close to their work area.¹⁰

A multi-purpose room can serve as the lactation space, but pumping takes priority over any other use. Being told to use a restroom or a storage closet without these amenities is not compliance.

Filing a Complaint With OLSE

If your employer violates any of these ordinances, you can file a complaint directly with OLSE through the city’s online portal at sf.gov. Separate complaint forms exist for different ordinances, including minimum wage, paid sick leave, health care expenditures, and prevailing wage.¹¹ Initial conversations with OLSE are confidential, and the office will not take action against your employer until you authorize it.

OLSE has authority to investigate, issue penalties, and order back pay. It can also subpoena payroll documents, schedules, and benefit records during an investigation.¹ If you aren’t sure whether what happened to you counts as a violation, OLSE can help you identify which ordinance applies.

1
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Administrative Code SEC. 2A.23 – Office of Labor Standards Enforcement
2
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Labor and Employment Code SEC. 1.4 – Minimum Wage
3
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance – Administrative Code Chapter 12W
4
SF.gov. Penalties – HCSO Administrative Guidance
5
SF.gov. Paid Parental Leave Ordinance
6
San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. San Francisco Paid Parental Leave Ordinance Rules
7
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Labor and Employment Code Article 32 – Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance
8
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Labor and Employment Code Article 42 – Predictable Scheduling and Fair Treatment
9
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Labor and Employment Code Article 15 – Private Sector Military Leave Pay
10
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Labor and Employment Code Article 31 – Lactation in the Workplace
11
SF.gov. File a Labor Law Complaint