Three Peninsula Cities Signal Openness To Hazard Pay Ordinances

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — Three Peninsula cities signaled an openness this week to considering mandating that grocery store employees receive hazard pay for working on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Daly City implemented an ordinance.

The city councils of Redwood City, San Carlos and Belmont discussed the matter during their meetings earlier this week. None of them voted on an ordinance, but the councils moved the item along in the process to discuss in future meetings.

South San Francisco and San Mateo have already passed hazard pay ordinances requiring large grocery stores to pay an additional $5 an hour to workers and give them four hours of paid leave to get their vaccines.

Daly City councilmembers voted unanimously to adopt the urgency ordinance, which would apply to grocery and drug stores in the city that are at least 10,000 square feet and which employ at least 500 employees nationwide. Grocery stores are defined as stores that devote at least 10 percent of interior space to selling food products.

Employees who work at least two hours in a week and are paid hourly qualify for the hazard pay, which does not apply to managers or supervisors. Under the ordinance, covered employees are also allowed four hours of paid leave to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The ordinance went into effect immediately after passage Monday and expires 120 days after adoption in order to give workers enough time to get vaccinated.

At least one councilmember in each of the three cities expressed concern over the unintended consequences of an ordinance considering local businesses that are struggling.

Redwood City’s council asked staff to bring back more research in the next meeting along with a possible urgency ordinance. The San Carlos council said it would hold a study session on the matter. And in Belmont, which has a subcommittee looking into hazard pay, the council also decided to bring back more research.

“I would request we have some expediency in this,” said San Carlos Mayor Laura Parmer-Lohan. “This is somewhat of a bridge. We know the vaccines, there’s a bottleneck there. … My concern was around community safety and exposure and this is an extension of that conversation.”

Bay City News contributed to this report.