California Governor Orders Paid Sick Leave for Food-Sector Workers

California food-sector workers affected by the new coronavirus are to have access to two weeks of supplemental paid sick leave under an Executive Order (N-51-20) signed April 16 by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and effective immediately.

Workers in grocery stores, fast-food chains, delivery drivers, as well as farm workers and agricultural workers, who are subject to a quarantine or isolation order or a medical directive because of the Covid-19 virus are to be given two weeks of supplemental paid sick leave under the order’s provisions, an April 16 news release said.

Workers who are employed full time or who worked, or were scheduled to work, at least 40 hours in each of the two weeks before the leave date are entitled to 80 hours of leave, according to the order’s text. Guidance addresses the leave calculation for other workers who have a normal weekly schedule or a variable schedule.

The supplemental paid sick leave is to be paid at the greater of the worker’s regular rate, the state minimum wage, or the local minimum wage, up to a maximum of $511 a day and $5,110 in the aggregate for the period that the Executive Order is in effect, according to the order’s text.

Employers, which is defined in the order to include delivery network companies, are not to require food-sector workers to use any other paid or unpaid leave, paid time-off, or vacation time before or in place of using the Covid-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, according to the order’s text.

Employers are not required to provide Covid-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave if they already provide food-sector workers with supplemental benefits, such as paid leave, that are payable for similar reasons and that would at least equal the supplemental paid sick leave compensation, according to the order’s text.

The labor commissioner is to make publicly available a model notice by April 23. For food-sector workers who do not frequent a workplace, the notice may be provided electronically.

In addition, food facility workers also are to be permitted sufficient time to wash their hands every 30 minutes, or as needed, to ensure proper sanitation, the news release said.