Skip to main content

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

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...

Breaking: Labor Secretary Rumored to Be Leaving Administration

A few hours ago, word leaked out that Labor Secretary Marty Walsh (“Walsh”) is in the midst of negotiations to head up the NHL Players Union and leave his position at the Labor Department. Walsh, who has served as the sole Labor Secretary under President Biden, has taken part in a labor renaissance of sorts as support for organized labor has increased during his term as Labor Secretary (although the number of workers that have joined a union over the past two years has not grown as mush as some expected.)  He has also overseen the ongoing negotiations with rail workers over a new contract, although that matter is still on shaky ground and playing out as we speak. As for who might step into the vacant Labor Secretary role, there are already rumblings that President Biden should nominate Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su (a strong labor advocate) or even a progressive like Senator Bernie Sanders.  Until Walsh officially gives his notice, however, I would expect some/many potential...

San Diego Rolls Back Vaccine Mandate For City Workers

Last Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to do away with the vaccine mandate for city employees. The city’s vaccine mandate that was in place required city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  Perhaps to this surprise of no one, the city’s policy came under fire with 14 employees being terminated and over 100 other employees resigning.  With the coronavirus subsiding, including in Southern California, the San Diego City Council took action. Now, bear in mind, the repeal of the vaccine mandate does not take place immediately. With that being said, the mandate will be repealed March 8th.  I suppose the question now is, what other cities or regions follow San Diego’s lead? For additional information:   https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-01-24/san-diego-repeals-controversial-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-citing-drop-in-cases-hospitalizations