Pasadena's Minimum Wage To Increase Thursday

PASADENA, CA — Employers with 25 or less workers in Pasadena will have to pay their employees a minimum wage of $15 per hour beginning Thursday, according to a report from Pasadena Now.

The increase is a result of an ordinance adopted by the Pasadena City Council in 2016 that saw businesses raise their minimum wage each year with the goal of reaching $15 per hour. Larger employers with 26 or more workers reached that goal last July, the magazine reported.

On a state level, businesses employing 26 or more people have until 2022 to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour while smaller companies have until 2023, according to the California Labor Commissioner’s Office.

Cities can enact their own ordinances to raise its minimum wage ahead of the state’s deadline, according to California officials. The city of Los Angeles passed its own ordinance in 2016 and Los Angeles County passed one that year as well for unincorporated areas.

Pasadena businesses urged city officials last year to defer the minimum wage increase after Pasadena’s economy to a hard hit during the pandemic, Pasadena Now reported.

Paul Little, CEO and president of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, told the magazine in an interview he hopes the increase will not force businesses still recovering from the pandemic to close.

“The increase comes as many small businesses continue to struggle in the wake of closures caused by state and city health orders designed to combat COVID-19,” he said. “By now businesses have resigned themselves to minimum wage increases imposed by the city.”