Know Your Rights text only version
Know Your Rights!
Congratulations on your new job. You are now a worker–that means you need to know your rights!
For more information and details about these laws visit laborcenter.berkeley.edu/rights.
Make sure your boss pays you correctly, on time, and doesn’t make you pay for extras, like uniforms. You should be paid for training time. You have the right to sick leave, breaks, a safe workplace, and more.
Don’t get paid in cash! You could get scammed! Your employer has to give you a pay stub showing your hourly wage, the hours you worked, your available paid sick leave, taxes, and other deductions.
Minimum wage!
- $16.50 in 2025; increases every January 1.
- Many cities have higher minimum wages.
- Some special rules or exceptions may apply, depending on your job.
- Special minimum wage for fast-food workers! $20 per hour
TIPS:
Workers earning tips have the same minimum wage as other workers. Tips do NOT count toward your minimum wage. Your employer cannot take your tips.
“Show up” (or “reporting time”) pay:
If you show up for your scheduled shift and your employer sends you home because there isn’t enough work or gives you less than half of your usual or scheduled hours, you may be entitled to partial payment for the cut hours.
Get your check on time:
If your check is late, you are entitled to an additional payment. If you are fired you should receive your final paycheck on your last day of work.
You are an employee, you have rights!
If your employer sets your wages and hours and tells you how your job should be done you are an EMPLOYEE, not a self-employed “independent contractor.” Some employers try to say their workers are independent contractors, not employees, because it saves them money on payroll taxes. It’s illegal to hire anyone under age 18 as an independent contractor.
Independent contractors do not have the labor protections like minimum wage, overtime pay, sick leave, and more.
Wage theft is illegal!
When an employer doesn’t pay you everything you are owed, that’s wage theft and it’s illegal. Some examples of wage theft:
- You are paid less than you were promised
- You are made to do any work before clocking in, after clocking out, or during your breaks
- Your employer makes paycheck deductions (besides those required by the government) without your permission. Common illegal deductions are for things like:
- Equipment
- Uniforms
- Things you accidentally break
- Cash register shortages caused by mistakes
- If you accidentally drop a tray of dishes, take a bad check, or have a customer walk out without paying a check, your employer cannot deduct the loss from your paycheck!
Hours you can work
Teens cannot legally work too late, too early, or too many hours per day or per week. There are rules for the school year and more flexible rules for the summer. Some school districts may have stricter rules than the general California law.
You have the right to breaks and sick leave
Breaks
All employees are entitled to:
- A 10-minute paid rest break for every 4 hours of work
- An unpaid, uninterrupted 30-minute break for every 5 hours of work
Paid sick leave
- Most workers are entitled to at least five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave (whichever is more) each year. After that, you can take unpaid leave if you are still sick.
- Your employer cannot punish or fire you for using paid sick leave, and cannot require you to find your own replacement while you are out.
Is your job dangerous?
Your employer is required to provide:
- A safe and healthy workplace
- Training on chemicals and other hazards
- Protective uniforms and equipment
- Workers’ compensation if you are hurt on the job
Report problems to Cal/OSHA, the government agency in charge of workplace safety. Your call to Cal/OSHA is confidential and you don’t even have to give them your name.
There are programs to help you if you get hurt on the job, if you become unemployed, disabled or sick and cannot work, or if you need to care for a family member or new baby.
You can refuse to do a task that could get you injured or even killed.
Some jobs are off-limits because they are too dangerous for teens.
Jobs teens are not allowed to do:
- Drive a motor vehicle on public streets as a main part of the job (with some exceptions)
- Drive heavy equipment
- Use powered equipment like a circular saw, box crusher, meat slicer, or bakery machine
- Work in wrecking, demolition, excavation, or roofing, logging or a sawmill
- Prepare, serve, or sell alcoholic drinks
- Work where exposed to radiation.
Also, 14 or 15 year old workers cannot:
- Do any baking
- Cook over an open flame
- Work in dry cleaning or a commercial laundry
- Do building, construction, or manufacturing work
- Load or unload a truck, railroad car, or moving belt.
Know your rights and get help!
You have the right to join a labor union!
Unions are organizations where workers join forces to improve their working conditions. Through their union, workers negotiate as one with their employer on wages, benefits, health and safety, and other workplace rights. Employees are entitled to work together on common issues, even if they don’t have a union.
It is illegal for employers to punish or fire you for joining or forming a union.
Employers CANNOT take your rights
Employers get to decide many things at work, but they cannot violate your rights or punish you for standing up for those rights!
It is illegal for an employer to fire you, cut your hours, give you a worse shift or bad assignment, or punish you in any other way for exercising any of your rights such as refusing to work off the clock, taking paid sick leave, reporting harassment, or insisting on a safe workplace. It is illegal for an employer to call ICE to get back at workers who report workplace violations; employers face high fines for this.
Where to go for help
It can be confusing to figure out how to report an employer for violating your rights. Try to find a trusted adult, like a parent, teacher, or school counselor, to help you exercise your rights.
Scan the QR code to find out where to make a complaint and to find organizations that can help you!
