Recall rights for hospitality workers expanded and extended until 2025.
During the pandemic, Senate Bill 93 was passed, creating Labor Code section 2810.8. That new law requires that certain hospitality and building services employers offer their laid-off employees specified information about job positions that become available for which the laid-off employees are qualified, and to offer positions to those laid-off employees based on a preference system, in accordance with specified timelines and procedures. “Laid-off employees” are defined as “any employee who was employed by the employer for six months or more in the 12 months preceding January 1, 2020, and whose most recent separation from active service was due to a reason related to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Employers covered by the statute include hotels with 50 or more guest rooms, event centers of a certain size, airport hospitality operations, airport service providers, and employers that provide “janitorial, building maintenance, or security services” to office, retail, or other commercial buildings. Labor Code section 2810.8 was set to sunset on December 31, 2024.
Senate Bill 723, however, extends Labor Code section 2810.8 until December 31, 2025. It also expands the definition of “laid-off employees’ to include any employee who was employed for six months or more and whose most recent separation from active employment by the employer occurred on or after March 4, 2020, and was due to a reason related to the COVID-19 pandemic.” It also creates a presumption that a separation due to a lack of business, reduction in force, or other economic, nondisciplinary reason is due to a reason related to the COVID-19 pandemic, unless the employer establishes otherwise by a preponderance of the evidence.
Takeaway: Hospitality and building services employers covered by SB 723 need to ensure that they carefully determine who would now be considered a “laid-off employee” under the revised definition, and ensure that such employees receive the required information about other job positions as necessary.