Calif. Grocers Association Sues City Over COVID-19 “Hero Pay” Ordinance

LOS ANGELES — The California Grocers Association has sued the City of Long Beach, Calif., in federal court, challenging a recently passed ordinance requiring payment of an additional $4 an hour to supermarket workers who face a greater risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

In a Jan. 20 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the association complains that “the ordinance unreasonably singles out specific employee classes in specific grocers, while ignoring employers or essential frontline workers outside the grocery industry.”

The association has asked the court to declare the law invalid and …