Below is a summary of Friday's Los Angeles City Council meeting, which included the passage of several business measures that will take effect once they are published, which we believe will be within the next few days. The Right to Recall Measure, which CRA submitted formal opposition, was deferred to a later date. Read
the opposition letter
here
, also available on CRA's
member portal
and
COVID-19 Resources and Updates
page.
We will continue to monitor developments in the City of Los Angeles and work closely with local partners, including LA BizFed, to push back on local ordinances that will make it more difficult for retailers to re-open their doors, or keep them open, once this pandemic subsides.
LA City Council Meeting Summary
In a teleconferenced hearing on Friday, the Los Angeles City Council approved a series of urgency measures, many of which had been in-print less than 48 hours, that will impact business operations during and after the COVID-19 shutdowns. They include:
Paid Sick Leave.
Requires companies with 500 or more employees nationwide to provide paid sick leave of up to 80 hours for full-time/40 hours for part-time. This measure is designed to “fill the gap” in federal legislation (HR 6201), which required paid sick leave for companies with less than 500 employees (the federal bill also provided those companies with tax credits to cover the cost of mandated paid sick leave).
Right to Schedule Changes: Grocery, Drug Retail, and Food Delivery Workers.
This ordinance grants employees in the above sectors a right to change their schedules 1) to address childcare needs; 2) if they feel ill or believe they may have been exposed to Covid-19; or 3) to care for a loved one who becomes sick. It further requires open shifts to be offered first to current employees and includes a private right of action for employee grievances.
Mandatory Senior Hours.
Requires “retail food stores” including grocery and pharmacies that sell food to restrict the first hour of business each day exclusively to elderly (60+), disabled, and operators of congregate living homes.
The City Council
deferred
action
on the following item:
Right of Recall.
Creates a “Right of Recall” for laid-off workers, requiring employers that are re-hiring to make initial offers to employees who were laid off from the same or “similar” positions before, or who could qualify with the same re-training as a new hire. As drafted, the proposal would require employers to wait up to 10 days for a reply from the employee before offering the position to another candidate. It also includes a private right of action that entitles the aggrieved to actual and punitive damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees, and a right of reinstatement. The measure would be effective for two years. CRA opposed this measure in a letter to the Council.
After a discussion of possible amendments, including a reduction in the 10-day requirement, removal of punitive damages, and excluding restaurants, the Right of Recall measure was put off for the evening and no vote was taken.
