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Employers should already be aware of the many changes to California's wage and hour laws made by last year's passage of AB 60, which restored daily overtime in California, and prompted a number of public hearings on other wage and hour law changes required by the legislation. The California Industrial Welfare Commission ( IWC ) is responsible for the 15 Wage Orders which regulate wages, hours and working conditions in specific California industries. Employers are required to include a current copy of the Wage Order or Orders applicable to them among the required items posted in the workplace. The IWC recently completed an update of all 15 existing Wage Orders in response to changes in the law. The revised Wage Orders became effective on October 1, 2000. The IWC has also created a new Wage Order 16, covering employees in the on-site construction, drilling, logging and mining industries. (Wage Order 16, however, will not take effect until January 1, 2001.) Now that the revised Wage Orders are available, employers need to assure that the correct Wage Orders are posted in their workplaces. The IWC has also added a requirement that employers post, in addition to the Wage Order itself, a summary of the revisions to the new Wage Orders. Employer Action Items: Take down and discard both the Interim Wage Order effective March 1, 2000 (except for employers in on-site construction—see below), and any old versions of the industry-specific Wage Orders 1 through 15 that may currently be posted. Any Wage Order that does not end in 2000 is out of date and should be discarded. Obtain copies of the new Wage Orders, which are available for downloading from the IWC website at http://www.dir.ca.gov/IWC/WageOrderIndustries.htm. Employers in the on-site construction, drilling, logging and mining industries should continue using the Interim Wage Order 2000 until January 1, 2001, when the new Wage Order 16 becomes effective and must be posted. The Interim Wage Order may be downloaded from the IWC website at http://www.dir.ca.gov/IWC/IWCInterimOrder.pdf. An unofficial copy of Wage Order 16 can also be viewed at http://www.dir.ca.gov/IWC/iwcarticle16.html. A final copy of Wage Order 16 for posting by employers in these industries should be available on the IWC website before year-end. Obtain a copy of the Summary of Revisions and post it along with the new Wage Order or Orders. The summary is also available on the IWC website, at http://www.dir.ca.gov/IWC/Summary2000.pdf. Take this opportunity to verify that you meet all of the other California and federal requirements for workplace posters at your facility. We can assist you with a complete list of current requirements if you have any questions.