Effective January 1, 2019, the minimum wage in California will increase from $11.00 to $12.00 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees and from $10.50 to $11.00 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees. As authorized by the current State budget and Welfare & Institutions (W&I) Code sections 4681.6(b), 4691.6(f) and (g), and 4691.9(b), many vendors will either receive, or be eligible to request, a rate increase to adjust employees’ pay to comply with the new minimum wage. The letter from the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) about the minimum wage rate adjustments can be found below.
DDS 2019 Minimum Wage Increase Letter.
The following programs must submit rate adjustment requests directly to DDS related to the increase in minimum wage:
- Community-Based Day Programs:
- Activity Center, Service Code 505
- Adult Development Center , Service Code 510
- Behavior Management program, Service Code 515
- Independent Living Service, Service Code 520
- Social Recreation program, Service Code 525
- Infant Development program, Service Code 805
- In-Home Respite Agency, Service Code 862
- Work Activity Program, Service Code 954
General information about the increase in minimum wage, as well as detailed instructions for submitting rate adjustment requests to DDS can be found at the following website: www.dds.ca.gov/minwage/.
Providers must submit rate adjustment requests directly to the Regional Center for negotiated rates in order to pay employees no less than the minimum wage effective January 1, 2019. The rate adjustment must be specific to the unit of service that is affected by the new minimum wage and shall only include those costs necessary to increase an employee’s actual hourly wage to the new minimum wage rate and associated mandated employer costs (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, and workers’ compensation).
Far Northern Regional Center has developed the FNRC 2019 Minimum Wage Rate Adjustment (MWRA) workbook to assist in processing negotiated rate adjustment requests.
Other rates that are automatically adjusted for minimum wage are:
- Alternate Residential Model (ARM) Rates/respite facilities (Service Codes 904, 905, 910, 915 & 869):
Effective January 1, 2019, the rates for community care facilities are found at the DDS website here. - In-Home Respite Worker (Service Code 864):
Effective January 1, 2019, the rate is $15.74 per consumer hour. - Voucher and Participant-Directed Respite (Service Codes 420 & 465):
Effective January 1, 2019 the rate is $15.74 per consumer hour. - Non-Mobile Supplemental Staffing (Service Codes 505, 510, & 515):
Effective January 1, 2019 the new rate is $1.44 per consumer hour.
If you have any questions regarding the minimum wage rate adjustments or the worksheet used to calculate adjustments, please contact Diana Anderson, Director of Community Services at Far Northern Regional Center at danderson@farnorthernrc.org or at 530-221-9553.