Originally Posted by
RichardInSF
It's not the state of California that mandates health insurance, as far as I know it is only the city of San Francisco (although can Berkeley be far behind?). I've almost never seen the 4% charge anywhere else and even in SF, the charge is most common in places that are more heavily visitor/tourist oriented.
This is tricky.
1. California will have its own individual mandate beginning 2020, requiring everyone not exempted buying insurance.
2. Certain counties/cities passed their own ordinances mandating mandatory benefits and allow employers to impose voluntary surcharges.
Personally, even San Francisco allows this surcharge (surcharge in SFO is governed by another ordinance), I have only experienced not more than twice for years. Many restaurants don't add this surcharge.
Also - because the ordinance must be used on employees, to me, it is practically a tip, but in another name.