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8.A. - Page 6 of 21 <br />File Number: 21-150 Enactment Number. ORD 1618-2021 <br />WHEREAS, the United States' largest grocery and drug store retail companies have earned <br />record profits during the pandemic, and this increase in profit has not transferred to workers, according <br />to a Brookings Institution analysis published in November 2020; and <br />WHEREAS, the City of South San Francisco has adopted ordinances to address <br />COVID-19-related impacts, including eviction protections for tenants; and <br />WHEREAS, the City of South San Francisco has in the past adopted ordinance affecting the <br />wages and conditions of employment locally; and <br />WHEREAS, premium pay, paid in addition to regular wages, is an established type of <br />compensation for employees performing hazardous duty or work involving physical hardship that can <br />cause extreme physical discomfort and distress; and <br />WHEREAS, there are several grocery and drug store chains operating in South San Francisco <br />that employ workers in South San Francisco, and have at least 500 employees nationwide, with workers <br />who are facing the hazards of COVID-19 in the workplace every day; and <br />WHEREAS, in December 2020 and January 2021, a growing list of cities across California, <br />including Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Jose, Berkeley, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, <br />Montebello, and San Leandro began announcing legislation for hazard pay for essential grocery and drug <br />store workers during the pandemic, including during the period where counties are in the Purple, Red, or <br />Orange level of Community Transmission for COVID-19 under State Health orders; and <br />WHEREAS, the City Council desires to amend Title 8 of the City of South San Francisco <br />Municipal Code to adopt Chapter 8.77 "COVID-19 Hazard Pay" to require grocery and drug stores in <br />the City to pay employees an additional five dollars ($5.00) per hour in hazard pay during the <br />coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; and <br />WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 36937 authorizes the City Council to <br />introduce and adopt an ordinance it declares to be necessary as an emergency measure to preserve the <br />public peace, health, and safety at one and the same meeting if passed by at least four-fifths affirmative <br />votes; and <br />WHEREAS, this Ordinance is a temporary pay ordinance intended to compensate certain <br />essential workers at high risk of COVID-19 infection within the workplace during the COVID-19 <br />pandemic outbreak, and thus to serve the public peace, health, safety, and public welfare; and <br />WHEREAS, the City Council expressly intends this hazard pay requirement to apply <br />retroactively to February 11, 2021, including all work performed on that date, in order to serve the public <br />health, safety, and welfare in recognition that the risks posed to grocery and drug store workers <br />continued during the time period when the City Council actively considered taking action to adopt an <br />urgency ordinance establishing this hazard pay; and <br />City of South San Francisco Page 3 <br />48 <br />