California Issues Model Notice of Food Sector Worker Paid Sick Leave That Eligible Employers Must Post

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Stephen Franz

On April 16, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-51-20 (the ”Order”), which requires “hiring entities” with at least 500 employees in the United States to provide “food sector workers” who are unable to work for COVID-19-related reasons with up to 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave.  We previously reported on the Order, which is one of several recent California laws providing paid sick leave to workers who are not covered by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).

One of the Order’s requirements is that hiring entities must display a poster in a conspicuous place that contains information about COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave available to food sector workers.  While no model notice was available when the Order was issued, the Order specified that the California Labor Commissioner would later publish a model notice.  In turn, the Labor Commissioner published the model notice late last week, available here.  The model notice specifies that if a hiring entity’s food sector workers do not frequent a workplace, the hiring entity may satisfy the notice requirement by disseminating notice through electronic means.

Employers should consult the Order, or their trusted employment counsel, for further guidance.