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The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has had, and will continue to have, a substantial impact on the U.S. workplace. We have prepared a series of FAQs compiled based on some of the more common questions that clients with California-based employees have posed to us over roughly the past six weeks.

These FAQs are general and high-level

As we have previously reported, several states, including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, now require employees, customers and/or the public to wear face coverings.  As we have also written about, in other states, like California, local governments are leading the way.  For example, Bay Area counties Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa all require face coverings to some degree.  Since then, additional California municipalities have also joined, including San Bernardino, Riverside, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Carson, Inglewood, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Pasadena.  Links to our prior publications on these location-specific mandates can be found below.

Other states and municipalities continue to follow suit.  As of April 17, employees of essential businesses in Hawaii must wear face coverings.  On April 18, Maryland established a similar requirement for employees, as well as customers over nine years of age. Like California, in states that are not currently requiring face coverings, some local governments have taken the initiative to establish their own requirements.  For example, in Illinois, Cicero, Glenview, Highland Park, Morton Grove, Niles, Skokie and Wilmette have each implemented some type of face covering requirement.  Municipalities in other states that have joined the movement include Laredo, Texas; Miami, Florida; Northampton, Massachusetts; and Chickasaw, Oklahoma.
Continue Reading Employers must face it: Face covering requirements growing across states and municipalities

Health officials in six Bay Area counties – Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa – have issued orders mandating the use of face coverings in public areas like essential businesses, common spaces, and on public transit. The San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, and Sonoma county orders went into effect on April 17; however, enforcement of the San Francisco, Alameda, and San Mateo county orders will not begin until 8 a.m. on April 22, 2020.  The Contra Costa and Marin county orders went into effect at 8 a.m. on April 20, 2020.

Acceptable face coverings

Under these orders, individuals should not purchase N95 or other factory-made masks in order to meet the requirements.  Those masks should be reserved for health care workers.  Instead, individuals should use any cloth, fabric, or other soft or permeable material, without holes, that covers only the nose and mouth and surrounding areas of the lower face – even if homemade.    Examples of acceptable face coverings include a scarf or bandanna; a neck gaiter; a homemade covering made from a t-shirt, sweatshirt, or towel, held on with rubber bands or otherwise; or a mask, which need not be medical-grade.
Continue Reading Bay Area counties mandate face coverings for essential businesses and other public areas

On April 16, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order requiring employers to provide up to 80 hours of COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave for food sector workers.  The executive order is effective immediately and extends paid sick leave requirements to cover not only employees, but also independent contractors working in the food sector.

Covered employers

The executive order applies to “hiring entities,” defined as private companies that have 500 or more employees in the United States.  It specifically includes any “Delivery Network Company” (a business entity that maintains an internet website or mobile application used to facilitate delivery services for the sale of local products) and “Transportation Network Company” (an organization operating in California that provides prearranged transportation services for compensation using an online-enabled application or platform to connect passengers with drivers using a personal vehicle).
Continue Reading California requires expanded COVID-19 paid sick leave for food sector workers

On April 7, 2020, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the Public Health Emergency Leave Ordinance (PHELO) to expand paid sick leave and emergency family medical leave benefits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  That ordinance was not signed and enacted by Mayor Breed, and the Board of Supervisors has now passed an amended version of the ordinance (Amended PHELO), on April 14, 2020, which is awaiting the mayor’s signature.  Although the Amended PHELO is substantially similar to the previous version, it includes three key changes in that it (1) expands the definition of covered employees; (2) clarifies the calculation and availability of leave; and (3) modifies leave guaranteed to health care providers and emergency responders.
Continue Reading San Francisco Board of Supervisors approves amended paid sick leave ordinance in response to COVID-19 pandemic

On April 7, 2020, San Francisco, California and San Jose, California passed emergency ordinances to expand paid sick leave and emergency family medical leave benefits.  The ordinances cover gaps under federal law by expanding leave benefits under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the Act), which is limited to employers with fewer than 500 employees, to employers with more than 500 employees.  Under the ordinances, employers must provide to each employee paid sick time to the extent that the employee is unable to work or telework because:

  1. The employee is subject to quarantine or isolation by federal, state, or local order due to COVID-19, or is caring for someone who is quarantined or isolated due to COVID-19.
  2. The employee is advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 or is caring for someone who is so advised by a health care provider.
  3. The employee is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and is seeking medical diagnosis.
  4. The employee is caring for a minor child because a school or daycare is closed due to COVID-19.

Continue Reading San Francisco and San Jose expand paid sick leave in response to COVID-19 outbreak

California law does not require employers to provide paid vacation. But if a California employer does choose to give paid vacation time, state legal requirements apply regarding accrual and compensation. For example, vacation may not be on a “use it or lose it” basis, and all vested but unused vacation is considered earned compensation that must be paid to the employee when their employment ends. Cal. Labor Code section 227.3. These rules apply to any unrestricted paid time off (PTO), including floating holidays and PTO plans that combine vacation and sick time into a single policy.

To avoid these restrictions and increase employee flexibility, many California employers have implemented what are colloquially referred to as “unlimited” vacation plans. In such plans, employees receive vacation time that does not accrue and is not subject to specified limits. Instead, an employee’s use of vacation is conditioned on management approval and business- or performance-related factors (for example, not interfering with business operations, completion of job duties, etc.). However, a recent decision from a California Court of Appeal, McPherson v. EF Intercultural Foundation, Inc. (April 1, 2020), calls into question the legal and practical viability of these “unlimited” vacation plans.
Continue Reading California Court of Appeal addresses “unlimited” vacation policies

On April 7, 2020, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti suspended a paid sick leave ordinance by the Los Angeles City Council and signed an emergency order providing for mandatory paid sick leave for many large employers with essential employees working in the City of Los Angeles (L.A. Supplemental PSL), effective immediately.

Existing Los Angeles City paid sick leave laws already surpassed California state law mandates by providing twice the minimum allotment under state law. Under the existing Los Angeles City paid sick leave ordinance, employers were already required to provide employees with at least 48 hours (six days) of paid sick leave or one hour for every 30 hours worked.

The recent enactment of the federal paid sick leave provision of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) applies only to companies with fewer than 500 employees. The L.A. Supplemental PSL now seeks to “bridge the gap” by creating mandatory paid sick leave for the Los Angeles employees of many larger employers who are not bound by the FFCRA.
Continue Reading Los Angeles emergency order mandates supplemental paid sick leave for large employers

On March 27, 2020, the Los Angeles City Council approved a new paid sick leave ordinance (L.A. Ordinance), to remain in effect until December 31, 2020, which supplements federal bill H.R. 6201, known as the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The FFCRA provides for paid sick leave and paid family leave entitlements to companies with fewer than 500 employees.

Existing Los Angeles City paid sick leave laws already surpassed California state law mandates by providing twice the minimum allotment under state law. Under the existing Los Angeles City paid sick leave ordinance, employers were already required to provide employees with at least 48 hours (six days) of paid sick leave or one hour for every 30 hours worked.

The L.A. Ordinance now seeks to “bridge the gap” in the FFCRA, requiring employers in Los Angeles with 500 or more employees nationally to provide two weeks of additional paid sick leave to their employees who perform any work within the geographic boundaries of the city of Los Angeles. Employees who have been employed with the same employer from February 3, 2020, through March 4, 2020, are entitled to supplemental paid sick leave as follows.
Continue Reading Los Angeles implements additional paid sick leave for employers with 500 or more employees nationwide

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reduced both domestic and international air travel. As of March 23, 2020, the Transportation Security Agency (“TSA”) screened just 13% of the number of passengers it screened on March 23, 2019. This sharp decline in air travel has devastated the U.S. airline industry, which employs approximately 750,000 workers.

On Friday, March 27, 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) that provides an estimated $2 trillion in economic aid, including financial relief for the airline industry. President Trump signed the bill into law the same day. The CARES Act will not only help air carriers avoid near term involuntary furloughs and bankruptcies, but it will also reshape the airline industry through the various restrictions imposed in exchange for economic aid.

In total, the CARES Act provides $50 billion in economic aid to passenger air carriers that is split into two buckets – grants and loans. Any loans or grants made to air carriers under the Act will be publicly disclosed on the Treasury Department’s website and reported to Congress.Continue Reading CARES Act enacted just in time to give the airline industry much needed lift