Facebook will provide contractors with $15 hourly minimum wage, 15 paid days off

Facebook today said that it is instituting a $15 hourly minimum wage and guaranteeing at least 15 days of holidays, sick time, and vacation for contractors and vendors in the U.S. who do a “substantial” amount with the social networking giant.

And new parents who aren’t eligible for paid parental leave will receive a $4,000 new child benefit, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, wrote in a statement today.

“Effective May 1, we’ve already put these standards in place for some of our largest support teams at our Menlo Park headquarters,” Sandberg wrote. “We will be working to implement this program with a broader set of vendors within the year.”

Eligible vendors must be based in the U.S., with at least 25 employees working for Facebook, Sandberg wrote.

The minimum wage in California is $9 per hour, and on January 1, 2016, it will go up to $10 per hour, according to the state Department of Industrial Relations.

Facebook executives in the past have taken a stand on immigration reform — Facebook cofounder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and other industry figures launched the political advocacy group Fwd.us in 2013 — and now they’re taking a stand on employment as well.

Pay for contractors in the technology industry in Silicon Valley has been a hot topic over the years. Last year Google said it would make security guards into regular employees, rather than keep them as contractors. Facebook’s move today doesn’t go that far, but it’s a good start.