The California Grocers Association (CGA) filed new federal lawsuits last week against two more southern California cities that are mandating an additional $4 an hour in "hero" pay for grocery store workers, resulting in a total of 10 lawsuits statewide.
The cities of Santa Ana and Irvine approved extra pay mandates, which the CGA alleges violate the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution’s equal protection clause by targeting only certain grocery store employees while ignoring other essential frontline workers, such as nurses and physicians.
“It's frustrating because there is really no reason for the hazard pay,” said Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA), which counts 3 members who are grocery store owners. “The grocery stores and the grocery unions are working diligently to get their members vaccinated right now and a worker who's vaccinated doesn't necessarily need hero pay. It's meant to just punish the grocery stores.”
Waldman
As previously reported, hero pay, also known as hazard pay, is a temporary boost in pay provided to employees who have worked on the front lines since COVID-19 emerged as a health hazard in March 2020.
“There is a fear that this hike in pay is going to be something that ends up being long-term, which will just increase costs,” Waldman told Southern California Record. “The profit margins are so low to begin with that this extra pay is just hugely problematic.”
A $4 an hour mandate amounts to a 28% average increase in labor costs for grocery stores, according to CGA data, which doesn’t include significant operational costs to cover face masks, plexiglass, gloves, and paid time off.
“When somebody has exposure to COVID and they don’t come to work for a while, it means the person got paid, they weren't charged for time off, and the store pays a second person to take their spot,” Waldman said.
Other hero pay lawsuits have been filed by the CGA against the cities of San Leandro, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Jose, Daly City, Montebello, and Oakland.
“Most of these stores are union so for their next union contracts, if this ever happens again, grocery stores should get a credit for implementing hazard pay,” Waldman said.
Kroger, Inc. announced earlier this month that as a direct result of the extra hourly pay grocery mandate, it was closing three more stores in Los Angeles County on West Pico Blvd, West Slauson Ave, and West Sunset Blvd.
Previously, Kroger announced the closure of a Ralphs and Food 4 Less in Long Beach after the Long Beach City Council passed an ordinance there.
“There are a lot of stores that just aren't working and it’s cheaper to close down,” Waldman said. “In many cases, they were losing money before hazard pay, they were losing money during COVID and then you add hazard pay, which a lot of people think is going to get extended more than 120 days, and they're having to close more stores.”
The worst-case scenario if the trend continues across the state, according to Waldman, includes shoppers having fewer stores from which to buy their groceries.
“You'll have empty grocery stores,” he said. “Food prices will go up and then you have workers who will lose their jobs. The worst-case on all of these scenarios is that people lose their livelihoods.”