South San Francisco, CA March 4, 2021 Press Release
Eligible employees to receive the extra pay retroactive to February 11th
The South San Francisco City Council unanimously passed a proposal to pay an additional $5.00 per hour for employees of large grocery store and pharmacy chains at a recent City Council meeting. As a result, this decision is retroactive to February 11, 2021, which is when officials first began discussing a hazard pay mandate but waited given ongoing litigation from the grocery industry.
“We wanted to lead by example in San Mateo County, and as such, the City of San Mateo just passed an emergency ordinance this week with the same hazard pay rate,” says South San Francisco Mayor Mark Addiego. “We are concerned for our essential workers facing extensive exposure to COVID-19 and felt as though this was the right thing to do.”
Workers at grocery and drug stores with more than 500 employees nationally will be eligible to receive the extra pay, which will be for the next 90 days, “but if the pandemic lingers, this deadline could be extended,” says Mayor Addiego. The ordinance applies to pharmacies and stores that not only sell household food, but also very large stores, including Costco. Companies that have voluntarily provided their employees with hazard pay during the pandemic, such as Trader Joes, will be credited for the additional pay provided under their own programs.
The City Council took the hazard pay ordinance one step further by mandating that the affected stores must also pay workers up to four hours of leave time to allow employees to attend their vaccination appointments.
Despite passing the emergency ordinance, the City Council also wanted to make sure that they didn’t harm small business owners in this process. “This is a hard time for all of us, but we have to do what is right, and that is by standing with the working people who have risked their well-being to keep our communities running during this pandemic,” said Councilmember James Coleman, who is the Councilmember who first brought this issue to the Council.
The City is currently preparing a notice to inform affected employers and employees of this change. These notices will be posted to the City’s website and sent out to the affected employers in English, Spanish, Tagalog, and Chinese by next week
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COMMENTS
**what? masks, ppe’s & gloves weren’t
enough? hope ssf is ready for store
closures & layoffs, this is what has
happened in every city that the politicans have gotten stupid in, and
passed this stupid llegislation, you
get greedy, someone worker pays the
price
enough? hope ssf is ready for store
closures & layoffs, this is what has
happened in every city that the politicans have gotten stupid in, and
passed this stupid llegislation, you
get greedy, someone worker pays the
price
-Mel Perry
**Where do we complain if we don’t receive our hazard pay
-Vilma
Where do we complain if we don’t receive our hazard pay
what? masks, ppe’s & gloves weren’t
enough? hope ssf is ready for store
closures & layoffs, this is what has
happened in every city that the politicans have gotten stupid in, and
passed this stupid llegislation, you
get greedy, someone worker pays the
price