San Jose workers in one of the industries most devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic will receive extra protections and a chance to return to their jobs under an ordinance the City Council unanimously approved Tuesday.
Referred to as Return Together, the ordinance is meant to supplement a state law that went into effect last month mandating hospitality employers to first rehire approximately 700,000 laid-off workers such as housekeepers, waiters, event staff and stadium and airport employees, among others, when their businesses reopen.
“Bringing some amount of certainty that (employees) will get their job back hopefully will provide some peace of mind, as well as work, so that people can recover from COVID and the resulting worst economic downturn of our lifetime,” Councilmember Maya Esparza said during Tuesday’s council meeting.
In addition to the right-to-return, San Jose’s ordinance requires employers to accommodate a worker’s request for time off to take care of a sick family member. Employers can meet this requirement by modifying an employee’s schedule or work hours, delaying the start date of reemployment or permitting them to telework.
It also allows workers to file a lawsuit against their employers if they violate the state or city rules. Workers are first required to provide written notice of alleged violations to their employer and give them 15 days to correct them before suing.
The new city ordinance — first proposed by council members Raul Peralez, David Cohen and Sergio Jimenez in March — goes into effect immediately and will expire along with the state law at the end of 2024.
Sarah McDermott, political director for Unite Here Local 19, which represents thousands of California’s hospitality workers, said San Jose’s ordinance will play an integral role in holding employers accountable and protecting workers who have rearranged their lives around childcare needs.
“Senate Bill 93 set a great baseline,” she said. “But we can do more to ensure that San Jose’s hospitality workers get back to work and use their experience to get our industry up and running.”
Over the past year, spending by San Jose tourists dropped by more than $1 billion, according to data from the city’s tourism branch Team San Jose. Overnight visitor spending was slashed in half — from $1.03 billion in 2019 to $463 million in 2020 — and hundreds of employees who worked in San Jose’s hospitality sector lost their jobs.
Kay Groft Jr., 69, of San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood, has worked as a banquet bartender at San Jose’s Fairmont Hotel for the past 35 years. Groft and his colleagues were laid off as a result of the recent bankruptcy of the downtown hotel. Given his age, he said he was worried about getting hired for another job where he doesn’t have seniority.
“Return Together will give me the assurance that I will be able to do that when the hotel opens,” Groft said about hoping to keep his same position.
As the state targets June 15 for a full reopening, San Jose leaders hope this new law will allow workers like Groft to return to the city’s workforce.
“We know certainly that there have been bankruptcies, but above all else there have been lost jobs and lost livelihoods,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said Tuesday. “I am grateful for the many who have supported members of our community who have suffered job losses through this time and I appreciate their effort to continue to help them and their families stay afloat.”
Senate Bill 93, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in April, requires hospitality employers to offer new positions to qualified employees who were laid off during the pandemic within five days of creating the role. Employees then have an additional five days to accept or reject the offer. The law applies to employees who had worked for the same employer for at least six months in 2019.
Similar protections had been adopted prior to the state law in several cities across California, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Long Beach.
Last year, Newsom vetoed a right-to-return bill introduced by San Jose Assemblyman Ash Kalra that sought the same protections for hospitality workers laid off during the pandemic-related state of emergency.
In a letter to the city council, Kalra said it was “time for San Jose to join other cities in protecting our essential workers and our working families.”
“California’s economy cannot recover without its workers,” he said. “Without these important protections in place, we further risk the slowing of our economic recovery.”