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Report regarding an urgency ordinance requiring large grocery stores in South San Francisco to pay employees an additional four dollars ($4.00) per hour in "hazard pay" during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (Alex Greenwood, Director of Economic & Community Development, and Sky Woodruff, City Attorney)
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
At the request of City Council, staff drafted a proposed ordinance mandating "hazard pay" for grocery workers within the City. Should Council desire to adopt a hazard pay ordinance, staff recommends adopting the proposed ordinance as an urgency ordinance. Because the proposed ordinance is an urgency ordinance, a four-fifths vote of the City Council is required for adoption. Alternatively, staff recommends Council consider the proposed ordinance after a scheduled February 19, 2021 hearing in a pending lawsuit against a similar Long Beach ordinance, as the outcome of the hearing may alert staff to any legal issues that the courts see with this type of ordinance.
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BACKGROUND
A. Hazard Pay Ordinances in California
At least a dozen local jurisdictions in California are currently considering a version of a "hazard pay" ordinance that would provide extra hourly pay to certain types of retail workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in recognition of the heightened health risks associated with their work. The ordinances are prospective and would not apply retroactively. Jurisdictions considering these measures include Los Angeles County, Santa Clara County, San Francisco, the City of Los Angeles, San Jose, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Pomona, Santa Ana, Berkeley, and San Leandro.
The ordinances considered by these jurisdictions all take a similar approach. They require large stores to pay all non-managerial workers an additional hourly wage during the COVID-19 pandemic; smaller, mom-and-pop stores are excluded. Within this framework, however, the proposals being considered vary between cities in how they are ta...
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