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West Hollywood City Council Approves Premium Pay Ordinance For Large Grocery Store Employees

 

A week ago, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the West Hollywood City Council approved a premium pay ordinance for large grocery store employees that will see these employees earn an additional $5/hour effective immediately and will expire 120 days from the effective date of the ordinance.

Of note, the ordinance applies to grocery store employers that employ more than 300 workers nationwide and more than 15 employees per grocery store in West Hollywood.  (“Grocery stores” are defined in the ordinance as any business that devotes 70% or more of their business to selling fresh and/or prepackaged food.)

As for who qualifies for this $5/hour premium pay, the ordinance applies to any employees who are “employed directly by a hiring entity at a grocery store.”  However, managers and supervisors are not eligible for this $5/hour premium pay.

One thing for grocery store employers in West Hollywood to keep in mind here, while they can attempt to limit an employee’s hours (to make up for having to pay this additional $5/hour), the ordinance prohibits that unless the employer can show they would have taken the same steps even if the West Hollywood City Council had never passed the ordinance.


For a copy of the West Hollywood City Council ordinance:  https://weho.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=&event_id=1244&meta_id=199448

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