Richmond passes ‘hazard pay’ law

Large grocers will have to pay an extra $5 per hour to employees

RICHMOND >> Grocery store workers in Richmond will join those in dozens of other cities who are entitled to extra “hazard pay” for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Richmond City Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance to require large grocers to pay an extra $5 per hour in hazard pay for all part-time and fulltime employees until Richmond’s COVID-19 risk level drops to the “minimal” or yellow tier under the state’s health orders, or after 90

days from the adoption of the ordinance — whichever comes first.

Because it’s an emergency ordinance, it takes effect immediately after the council approved the proposal during its meeting Tuesday.

Not all grocers have to comply with the ordinance. It applies to large retail and wholesale stores that are at least 15,000 square feet in size, have at least 500 employees nationwide and dedicate at least 10% of their interior space to selling groceries.

The ordinance, which was introduced by Council members Gayle McLaughlin and Melvin Willis, earned praise from labor advocates and grocery workers, who spoke in support of it during the council meeting.

“Grocery workers like myself have continued to go into work risking our lives and health and the lives and health of our loved ones at home,” said John Gomez, a 13-year grocery worker in Richmond and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents grocery store employees. “We’ve gotten sick; some of us have died. Hazard pay would go a long way in giving us peace of mind, a cushion so we can pay our bills, pay our rent, afford a doctor’s bill.”

Richmond joins a list of other cities that have adopted similar hazard pay ordinances, including Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, San Leandro, Alameda, Los Angeles, Long Beach and others across California and the U.S.

The California Grocers Association has sued some of those cities, however. The lawsuits argue the pay ordinances are unconstitutional because they target grocery stores over other industries and interfere with federal labor law that protects the collective bargaining process.

Grocery industry representatives have complained that the ordinances are an overreach and an unfair burden on the retail stores. In the wake of some recent ordinance votes, California Grocers Association President Ron Fong said stores could be forced to pass along extra costs onto consumers by raising prices.

In California, it is illegal to increase the price of food items, consumer goods or medical and emergency supplies by more than 10% of what a seller charged for that item Feb. 4, 2020, when the pandemic was just beginning.

Many grocery stores bumped up workers’ pay in the early months of the pandemic, but many stopped doing so after that. Under Richmond’s ordinance — like others — stores that are offering some hazard pay could be credited with what they already pay, but they will have to boost the pay to meet the requirements of the ordinance. A store already paying an extra $2 in hazard pay, for instance, would have to pay Richmond employees $3 more while the ordinance is in effect.

Grocery workers and their advocates say such ordinances provide a way for corporate retailers to pass on some of the substantial profits they have garnered over the course of the pandemic.

According to a study by the Washington, D.C., think tank Brookings Institution, some of the top 13 retail companies in the country saw their profits soar 40% in 2020 over the previous year and together earned on average an extra $16.7 billion in profits. At Albertsons Co., which owns the Safeway grocery chain, profits in the first two quarters of 2020 rose 153% compared with the same period in 2019, according to the report.

Yet front-line workers saw little of that money. The companies studied by the Brookings Institution raised the wages of their front-line workers by an average of $1.11 per hour since the start of the pandemic.

“Workers are exposing themselves every day,” Council member Willis said of the risk that grocery employees take. “Our grocery workers and everyday working people deserve this.”

Mayor Tom Butt — although he voted in favor of the ordinance — expressed concern for the “inequity” of requiring only large grocery stores to pony up the hazard pay.

“I’m just troubled by the fact we’ve picked out grocery store workers who work for the largest businesses,” Butt said. “Anybody who works for a mom and pop store is not going to benefit from this. They’re doing the same work, same exposure — there’s a fundamental inequity there that bothers me.”

Many argue that the large stores are better equipped to afford the temporary pay increases. But the other council members told Butt that if he had ideas for legislation that would ensure hazard pay or similar ideas for other industries, they likely would support it.

“A lot of our community has been affected and impacted by COVID-19, especially the workers in these businesses,” said Council member Claudia Jimenez. “They have not stopped working and exposing themselves and their families.”