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Law360 (April 17, 2020, 11:35 AM EDT) -- Californians who work in the food sector are getting two weeks of paid time off for quarantine, isolation and other medical directives after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order he said is "filling a gap left by federal relief" for the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the governor's statement Thursday, the executive order will help large food-sector company employees who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those workers were left out of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed by Congress in March, the governor said.
The order — which covers farmworkers, agricultural workers, grocery and fast-food workers, and delivery drivers — also lets employees at food facilities wash their hands every 30 minutes, or as often as necessary, to protect both workers and consumers, the statement said.
"These workers on the front lines of this crisis are our unsung heroes for continuing to work to ensure that Californians have food on their tables during these challenging times, and we must do everything in our power to make sure they are taken care of at home and in the workplace," Newsom said.
"Making sure they have paid sick leave and added protections in their place of work is critical," he added.
The FFCRA requires employers with 500 or fewer employees to provide workers up to two weeks off at full pay — subject to certain caps — if they're directly affected by the virus, and at partial pay to care for affected family members.
The statute also gives workers up to 10 weeks off at partial pay to care for children whose schools or child care centers have closed due to the virus, after two unpaid weeks.
United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero praised the governor's actions in a statement Thursday, calling the order "an important step in controlling the spread of the coronavirus in California's farming communities."
"Farm worker families and the families of farmers work, play, shop and worship together. Protecting these small, tight-knit communities is vital to the protection of our food supply," Romero said. "The United Farm Workers will work with both state and agricultural leaders in making this executive order operational."
Newsom on Thursday also signed an executive order allowing the California State University system to make adjustments to its admissions criteria for the fall of 2021 and permitting the California Department of Justice to develop procedures for doing name-based background checks.
That order also lets federal stimulus checks go directly to parents who are owed back child support, and allows food trucks to temporarily operate at rest stops for 60 days to make sure essential infrastructure workers have food.
--Editing by Marygrace Murphy.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
