L.A. County OKs Grocery, Pharmacy Worker âHero Payâ By Ralph Ellis
Feb. 26, 2021 The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has passed an ordinance requiring grocery stores and pharmacies to pay an extra $5 per hour in âhero payâ to front-line employees working during the coronavirus pandemic.
The order will be in effect for at least 120 days and will cover about 2,000 employees in the unincorporated part of the county, according to a news release from Board Chair Hilda L. Solis.
âThese workers, many of whom include older adults and single mothers, have put their lives on the line since the beginning of the pandemic to keep our food supply chain running and provide access to medicine our families need,â Solis said. âMany are working in fear and without adequate financial support, while their employers continue to see profits grow and top executives receive steep pay bonuses.â
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Grocery chains are coming under pressure to boost hourly employees pay again, as municipalities push continued aid for frontline workers nearly a year into the Covid-19 pandemic.
Seattle, Long Beach, Calif., and other cities have passed new rules requiring supermarkets to provide employees temporary bonus pay. Others, including Los Angeles, are considering similar mandates designed to help employees who have to show up for work in public-facing jobs like cashiers or baggers and risk exposure to the coronavirus.
Some grocers are pushing back, saying that shoppers will bear the costs. Grocery executives say rules to raise wages in some cases by as much as $5 an hour will increase expenses by about 30% in stores and squeeze already thin profit margins. Some chains including Kroger Co. say they will close some stores in areas with new wage mandates, while others say they are boosting food prices or may cut back on services like checkouts.