Knowledge Center

The City of Los Angeles recently enacted two ordinances that provide unprecedented employment protections for workers and place heavy new burdens on employers in several industries hit most heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic: Hospitality, Commercial Property, and the Airport. On May 3, 2020, Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the “COVID-19 Right of Recall Ordinance” and the “COVID-19 Worker Retention Ordinance,” which become effective on June 14, 2020. Both Ordinances include “COVID-19” in their title, and the …

Since the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was signed into law on March 18, 2020, a number of cities in California have either: (1) clarified employees can use accrued paid sick leave for COVID-19-related reasons or (2) adopted their own ordinances requiring employers exempt from the FFCRA to provide supplemental or additional paid sick leave to employees to use for COVID-19-related reasons. Because many of these ordinances provide protections and leave even beyond that …

Many employers who are experiencing a downturn in business due to COVID-19 need to make difficult financial decisions, including whether to temporarily lay off employees. For example, if a business with 100 employees faces a temporary setback due to COVID-19 and must reduce its payroll by 20 percent, the employer may feel like it has to lay off 20 employees. As an alternative to lay-offs, employers may want to consider reducing employee hours. For example, …

Now that “stay at home” orders are in place in most states, and the federal and many state governments have recommended that employers permit or require employees to work from home whenever possible in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home has become the new temporary norm for many employees. Working remotely during a pandemic can be stressful for both employers, which have a need to continue operations, as well as for employees, who …

Effective March 19, 2020, Governor Newsome issued a “Stay-At-Home Order” for the entire state of California (Executive Order N-33-20), that directed all individuals living in California to stay home or at their place of residence, except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal “Critical Infrastructure Sectors” designated by Homeland Security. The Order indicated that Californians working in these Critical Infrastructure Sectors may continue their work because of the importance of these sectors …