How much notice must an employer in California provide employees prior to making changes to a pay date or pay period?

Although no specific time frame is required under the law for making changes, it can be inferred from certain California wage payment laws that advance notice of at least one pay period should keep an employer compliant. The California Wage Theft Protection Act does require notice within seven days of making a change to a pay date or period, but it has no notice requirements prior to the change.

California Labor Codes 204-205 detail how pay periods and pay dates must be established, requiring wages be payable "on days designated in advance by the employer as the regular paydays." Therefore, because a pay period and a pay date must be established before work in that period has begun, a new pay period announced prior to the start of the current pay period should meet or exceed those requirements. Giving notice some time during the current pay period may meet requirements in some cases, but not all. For example, if an employer currently has a biweekly pay period and wants to switch to a weekly pay period in the middle of the current one (perhaps to start a new calendar year off with the new pay period), it would have to notify employees of the change before the current pay period begins—otherwise, the biweekly pay period would have already been established and would not be changeable.