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The People's Business: Sept. 4, 2020
HELLO! How was your August? Eerily similar to your July? And your June? And your May and April? SAME!
Hey, listen. The City Council wasn't supposed to be back in session after its summer recess until Sept. 15, but Council President Georgette Gómez has decided to hold a special meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, to take action on a couple of proposals coming from Councilmember Chris Ward that relate to worker protections amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you'd like more detail on anything summarized here, click the agenda, then click on the item. Over on the right side of the page, you'll see links to a staff report and other pieces of supporting material.
City Council -- Tuesday, Sept. 8
There are just two items on the special meeting agenda:
Temporary Supplemental Paid Sick Leave: The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law on March 18. One of its two main components is the Employee Paid Leave Rights Act, which requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide workers with paid sick leave when they're unable to work due to COVID-19 -- 80 hours for full-time employees and the average number of hours an employee works over a two-week period for part-timers.
On Tuesday, Councilmember Ward will ask his colleagues to say yes to requiring employers in the City of San Diego with 500 or more workers to provide the same benefits. Exemptions are proposed for emergency responders, healthcare workers, parcel delivery workers, and companies that provide at least 160 hours of paid sick leave annually. Like the federal legislation, this proposed ordinance would expire on Dec. 31, 2020.
- Emergency Recall and Retention for Employees in the Service and Hospitality Industry: This proposal would require certain employers to take steps to rehire or retain employees when they reopen after pandemic-related closure or company ownership changes. This one has two components – recall and retention:
Recall: With some exceptions, employees laid off from large hotel businesses; janitorial, maintenance, and security service employees laid off from commercial properties; and employees laid off from privately-owned large event centers must be offered their former positions when their employer reopens after pandemic-related closure.
Retention: With some exceptions, when a large hotel changes ownership, or a company changes building service contractors, employees may only be dismissed for cause during a 90-day transition period, among other requirements.
This ordinance would remain in effect until six months after the Governor ends the state of emergency proclaimed on March 4, 2020.
This special meeting starts at 11 a.m. Only City staff and credentialed members of the press may attend in person. However, anyone can participate and make comments by dialing 619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861 followed by # when the item you're interested in comes up (full call-in instructions). Watch the meeting on cable TV channel 24 or AT&T channel 99, or stream it online.
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