Along with health care workers and first responders, grocery store employees and delivery drivers are among the people shouldering the most risk during the coronavirus pandemic. On Friday, the city of Los Angeles gave these essential workers new job protections.
The rules apply to grocery store employees, drug stores employees and people who work for "food delivery platforms" such as Instacart, Amazon Fresh, Postmates, Uber Eats, Grub Hub and Doordash.
The new rules require employers to let employees reschedule their shifts if they need to care for their children or for sick or elderly members of their immediate family. Employers must also approve time-off requests by employees who feel ill or exhibit symptoms of COVID-19.
In addition, employers must offer additional hours to current employees — unless it would put them into overtime — before hiring a new employee, contract worker or temporary worker.
Food delivery apps must allow their drivers a “no-contact' method of delivering food and provide written guidelines on how to do this safely.
Finally, when employees opt to use these provisions, employers can't retaliate against them by firing them, reducing their pay, cutting their work hours or discriminating against them in any other way.
These provisions will remain in effect until both California's governor, Gavin Newsom, and L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti lift their emergency orders.
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