Emergency Orders by Los Angeles’ Mayor Impose New Employer Obligations, Including Paid Sick Leave

Two weeks ago, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance that would have imposed an additional paid sick leave mandate on employers with 500 or more employees. While Mayor Gil Garcetti opted not to sign that ordinance, he signed a Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Order yesterday that is very similar to the City Council ordinance, but slightly more business friendly.  Here is a brief summary of the Order:

  • Applies to all Employer that have either: (i) 500 or more employees within the City of Los Angeles; or (ii) 2,000 or more employees within the United States.
  • Exempts employers that provide at least 160 hours of paid leave to employees annually (those employees that receive that “generous leave” are not eligible).
  • Covered employees are entitled to up to 80 hours of paid leave.
  • The amount paid to an employee who takes the supplemental paid sick leave cannot exceed $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate.
  • This Supplemental Sick Leave is in addition to the up to 48 hours of paid sick leave that is already available to Los Angeles employees annually.
  • An employer may not require a doctor’s note or other documentation for the use of Supplemental Paid Sick Leave.

In addition, Mayor Garcetti also signed a Worker Protection Order that requires essential workers to wear face masks. Employers are responsible for providing face coverings and ensure that employees have access to clean, sanitary restrooms, stocked with all necessary cleansing products. Among other things, employees must be permitted to wash hands every 30 minutes. The Mayor also signed the Grocery, Drug Retail and Food Delivery Worker Protection Order that modifies the city’s existing ordinance related to predictive scheduling.