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LA Health Care Workers Could Get A Minimum Wage Bump To $25
Certain health care facilities may be required to offer their workers $25 minimum wage, with annual cost-of-living increases.
(
Chava Sanchez
/
LAist
)
The L.A. City Council voted Tuesday to raise the minimum wage for workers at certain health care facilities to$25 an hour, along with annual cost-of-living increases.
Those covered include clinicians, janitors, housekeepers, guards, food service workers and many other workers at hospitals, clinics and nursing homes that are privately owned.
Councilmember Curren Price said he thinks the pay hikes will help keep people in the industry and attract health care workers amid staffing shortages.
“If Target can afford to pay workers $25 an hour, we can ensure that our health care workers can also make $25 an hour,” Price said at the council meeting. “Now is the time to show these workers that we see them and that we appreciate them.”
Around 2.1 million health care workers quit in the first four months of this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The new minimum wage is designed to "help address the burnout, retention challenges, and worker shortages affecting healthcare workers in Los Angeles," according to the ordinance.
The measure passed 10-2. Because it wasn’t unanimous, it will come back for a final vote next week. In the meantime, employers will be barred from laying off workers or cutting benefits or hours to make up for the wage increase.
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According to the measure:
“Covered Healthcare Facility'” means the following types of facilities, provided that they are privately owned and are located within the boundaries of the City:
The minimum wage for all workers in L.A. will jump by more than a dollar to $16.04 an hour in July.
Updated June 22, 2022 at 10:22 AM PDT
This story was updated to provide additional details on which facilities would be covered by the measure.
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