(A) To protect the public health and welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic, California Governor Gavin Newsom and the County of Los Angeles have issued "Safer at Home" declarations that have affected every sector of the economy. While many sectors were able to transition their workforce to working from home, millions of workers in face-to-face service industries were deemed essential to ensure that our communities continue to operate, and basic needs continue to be fulfilled.
(B) The City Council finds that frontline grocery retail and drug retail workers are essential workers who face potential exposure to COVID-19 through interactions with customers and coworkers. Because of their work on the frontlines, grocery retail and drug retail workers have been met with COVID-19 exposures and outbreaks in their workplaces. Their work has increased the workers' COVID-19 exposure risks and contributed to the psychological distress workers have felt during the pandemic.
(C) The City Council finds that frontline grocery retail and drug retail workers are among the heroes of this pandemic, putting their lives on the line - often for low wages and minimal benefits - to maintain the food supply and distribution system necessary for healthy communities. Despite their importance to our communities, their employers have not all provided sufficient wages during the COVID-19 pandemic to compensate frontline employees for their critical function to our society and the significant risk they face in the workplace. Working in an essential industry, grocery and drug retail employees have not had the luxury of working from home to help their children with distance-learning and, as a result, have incurred additional childcare expenses.
(D) The city has an interest in protecting the employment environment for frontline grocery retail and drug retail workers and in maintaining the supply and distribution-chain of food. Through this chapter, the city seeks to sustain the stability of the food supply chain by supporting the essential workers who continue to work during the pandemic, and thereby safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public.
(E) The City Council has reviewed the ordinances of the cities of Long Beach and the County of Los Angeles providing for temporary COVID-19 hazard pay to frontline positions in grocery and drug retail establishments, and adopts by reference the justifications and needs for hazard pay set forth in those ordinances. Further, the City Council has taken note of the arguments put forth in support of the need for such pay in the opposition, supplemental briefing and ruling in response to the application for preliminary injunction in the federal litigation challenging the City of Long Beach's ordinance and hereby further adopts the justifications and rationales set forth therein in support of Alhambra's adoption of temporary hazard pay requirements.
(Ord. 4784, passed 4-12-21)