City of Los Angeles Adopts COVID-19 Related Paid Sick Leave for Large Employers
On April 7, 2020, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti signed into law an emergency public order providing supplemental paid sick leave for employees of large employers in response to the circumstances created by the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”). Key elements of this public order (the “LA Order”), which replaces and supersedes an emergency ordinance passed by the Los Angeles City Council on March 27, 2020, are summarized below. The requirements of the LA Order are similar to those of the federal Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (“FFCRA”), with some significant differences. Notably, the LA Order is applicable to only large employers with 500 or more employees in the City of Los Angeles or 2,000 or more employees nationally, whereas the FFCRA only applies to employers with fewer than 500 employees in the U.S. Also, unlike the FFCRA, the LA Order does not provide employers with any tax credits to offset payments to employees. For more information about the FFCRA, see our memorandum here.