Proposed “Hero Pay” for Grocery Store Employees in Los Angeles and Long Beach

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Long Beach's City Council directed their attorneys to prepare ordinances requiring that certain grocery stores pay their employees an additional five and four dollars per hour, respectively, as “hero pay” in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Los Angeles ordinance is slated to apply only to businesses located in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, but the Board is examining its authority to expand the reach of emergency ordinances to incorporated areas as well. The Los Angeles ordinance is to be drafted ahead of the Board’s January 26, 2021, meeting, and the Long Beach ordinance is expected to be introduced shortly.

Proposed Los Angeles Ordinance

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors is proposing an ordinance requiring a $5/hour increase in grocery workers’ pay for 120 days.

To whom would the ordinance apply? The ordinance would apply to businesses in the unincorporated areas of the County that:

• are covered by Appendix B-1 of the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health Targeted Temporary Safer at Home Health Officer Order (i.e., retail food markets, grocery stores, convenience stores, liquor stores and other retail locations that sell food or beverage products and have a health permit issued by the Department of Public Health—Appendix B-1 may include retail drug stores, grocery stores and retail locations selling groceries covered by the California Retail Food Code);
• are publicly traded or have at least 300 employees nationwide; and
• have more than 10 employees per store site.

How long would the ordinance last?

The ordinance would last 120 days from the date it goes into effect. The Board of Supervisors will meet on January 26, 2021, and will consider the draft ordinance during that meeting.

Potential impact on incorporated areas

The Board of Supervisors will consider whether such an urgency ordinance can apply to both unincorporated and incorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Proposed Long Beach Ordinance

Along similar lines, the City of Long Beach directed its attorney to draft an urgency ordinance for consideration at the next City Council meeting to provide “hero pay” to front-line grocery workers at a rate of $4 per hour.  The ordinance is expected to sunset 120 days after it is approved. As of the time of publication, the ordinance has not yet appeared as an agenda item for an upcoming City Council meeting.