LOS ANGELES — The general counsel for the California Employment Law Council believes the Los Angeles City Council's latest ordinance that forces employers to rehire laid-off workers due to COVID-19 will work the way the city council wants it to.
"It’s both likely to be overturned and it's not workable," Paul Grossman told the Southern California Record. "First of all, it conflicts with California state law, which provides that employment is at-will absolute contractual restriction."
Grossman said the ordinance would likely if challenged, be overturned on those grounds.
"The main problem is that it’s unworkable," Grossman said. "It’s just not that easy. If you are talking about a janitor at a concert hall and you lay off the janitor and hire another janitor maybe that’s easy, but it’s rarely that simple."
Grossman said an employer might be looking for different skills than before because it might be combining several jobs.
"There would be litigation about whether the job in which someone is hired in the same as the job in which someone is laid off," Grossman said. "It’s just another example of the government wanting to do the right thing to take care if someone is laid off because of the virus that they can come back when the problem is abated, but it’s not that simple."
Grossman said the bottom line is that it is a very bad idea.
"It’s badly thought out and makes no sense," Grossman said.
Grossman said in general, companies like to avoid litigation and that this ordinance is like an invitation to more litigation.
"Jobs change all the time, patricianly now with companies under tremendous stress," Grossman said. "They’re going to want to hire one person to do what three people used to do because they have a reduced operation. They’re going to want to look for a multiplicity of skills. It’s just not simplistic like you laid of a janitor and rehired a janitor."
Grossman said the last thing employers need is more stress.
"Employers are under tremendous stress and they’re losing a fortune," Grossman said. "The last thing they need are more restrictions and more litigation. It’s really a bad idea."
The City Council unanimously approved the ordinance earlier this month, giving workers a "right of recall" for those who work in stadiums, concert halls, hotels and airport-affiliated businesses, JDSupra reported. The ordinance still isn't in its final version and it'll have to be approved one more time before going to the mayor for final approval.