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Committee adopts amendments to COVID-era reemployment ordinance, continues item for final action
Summary
The Public Safety & Neighborhood Services Committee adopted industry-specific amendments to a proposed right-to-reemployment ordinance for workers laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic and voted to continue the item to the call of the chair. The committee clarified notification methods and said enforcement will rely primarily on private legal action rather than city fines.
Chair Supervisor Gordon Marr said the committee had refined a proposed ordinance to extend a right to reemployment for workers laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic and moved to adopt a final set of amendments before continuing the item for final action. The changes aim to balance worker protections and business flexibility, Marr said.
The amendments set industry-specific employer thresholds by incorporating definitions used in the city's existing worker-retention laws. Under the revisions, covered industries explicitly include restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, custodial contractors, event concessions and retail; employers outside those sectors remain subject to the city's 100-plus-employee threshold, preserving an exemption for most small businesses.
The package also narrows the rehiring obligation. Under the edits, employers must offer reemployment only for positions with comparable duties, pay, benefits and working conditions or for jobs the worker previously held within the 12 months preceding a layoff. The change removes a broader requirement to offer any role an eligible worker could be trained to perform, a point Marr said gives employers needed flexibility while retaining core protections.
During committee questioning, Supervisor Matt Haney asked what counts as adequate notification when an employer rehires. Marr said the ordinance, as amended, permits phone calls, text messages and email in lieu of a formal written letter after stakeholder feedback; the goal is to avoid unnecessary rehire delays while ensuring laid-off employees are notified. Haney also asked about penalties. Marr and the clerk said enforcement would be primarily through a private right of action rather than city enforcement by the Office of Labor Standards; the city would not be imposing administrative fines under the current draft.
No members of the public spoke on the item during the committee's public-comment period. Vice Chair Katherine Stephani and Member Matt Haney joined Marr in a roll-call vote to adopt the amendments and to continue the ordinance to the call of the chair; the motion passed on a 3-0 vote.
The committee did not adopt final ordinance text or take a final adoption vote at this meeting; the item will return for final action at a later date, at the chair's discretion.
