On June 3, 2020, the Los Angeles City Council adopted an ordinance capping third-party food delivery services fees at 15% for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The ordinance will become part of the City’s Municipal Code.

The new ordinance makes it unlawful for a third-party food delivery service to charge a restaurant a fee per online order of more than 15% of the purchase price of the order. The ordinance is designed to protect the restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, when dine-in was prohibited. The ordinance is set to expire 90 days after the ...

On Friday, May 29^th, both the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles announced that dine-in restaurants are permitted to reopen. Both the city and county have also issued guidelines for restaurants to follow in the reopening of their dine-in operations.

The County of Los Angeles’ protocols for the reopening of on-site dining for restaurants and other permanent retail food operations are found here.

At this time, bars are not permitted to reopen except for food take-out orders, but they are covered in the city’s guidelines for planning purposes. Further, the State of ...

Today, May 29, 2020, the County of Los Angeles announced that it will move further into Phase 2 reopening by permitting dine-in restaurants, hair salons and barber shops to reopen.  This decision came after the County learned it received a variance from the State of California to allow this action. Los Angeles County has moved at a much slower pace than most California counties due to its higher number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

 Los Angeles County also announced it will be posting new restaurant guidelines later today.  Restaurants may open for in-house dining when the County posts ...

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has followed the lead of the Los Angeles City Council by passing COVID-19 right of recall and worker retention ordinances that are similar to the City of Los Angeles COVID-19 recall and retention ordinances passed on April 29, 2020. The county right of recall ordinance requires certain janitorial, maintenance, security service and hospitality employers, when rehiring, to offer jobs based on seniority to certain workers laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both ordinances are intended to assist workers in unincorporated areas of Los ...

Our previous articles summarized the new Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) created under the Federal CARES Act: CARES Act: Loan Applications and CARES Act: Paycheck Protection Program Loans

This client alert provides new information regarding a key aspect of the PPP program, namely the criteria which must be met to have repayment of all or part of a PPP loan forgiven. This is simply a summary of some key points, so check with your attorney at ECJ for the critical details governing PPP loan forgiveness.

The Treasury Department has published an application form for loan ...

On Monday, May 18, 2020, Governor Gavin Newson announced relaxed state guidelines for Phase 2 reopening of dine-in restaurants, offices, outdoor museums, shopping centers and malls. The relaxed guidelines would permit 53 of California’s 58 counties to move into Phase 2 reopening. However, with its higher infection and death rate, it is not expected that Los Angeles County will be ready for Phase 2 in the immediate future. 

Instead of the prior guideline of having no deaths within the last 14 days, under the new state guidelines, COVID-19 hospitalizations cannot increase more than ...

This week Governor Newsom announced new guidelines for the Phase 2 reopening of dine-in restaurants, offices, outdoor museums, shopping centers and malls. The date for reopening of these establishments will be determined by the COVID-19-related circumstances of the county in which the business is located. To reopen dine-in restaurants, offices and malls, a county must receive a variance from the state, through self-certification and state approval. 

Specifically, a California county seeking to start Phase 2 must prove to the state: that it has no new COVID-19 case per 10,000 ...

On Wednesday, May 13, 2020, Los Angeles County issued an updated “Safer at Home” order that amends and supersedes prior Los Angeles County Health Officer orders. The new order is intended to partially move Los Angeles County into the second stage of reopening businesses.

The businesses now permitted to reopen can do so only for curbside, door side, or other outdoor or outside pick-up, or delivery.  Members of the public cannot be permitted inside these businesses.  Businesses permitted to open on this basis are retailers not located in indoor malls or shopping centers, and ...

On May 4, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) jointly issued a new final rule that temporarily extends time frames in which eligible employees can elect COBRA health insurance coverage and begin making COBRA premium payments. The final rule extends COBRA deadlines to 60 days after the end of the declared COVID-19 national emergency, or a different date if the DOL and IRS provide a different date in future guidance.

To help participants and beneficiaries understand the new rule, the DOL also posted a new set of FAQs.     

This blog is presented under protest by ...

Earlier today, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order extending workers’ compensation insurance coverage to essential workers who test positive for coronavirus or are diagnosed with COVID-19 by a physician. The order establishes a rebuttable presumption that any essential worker contracted the virus on the job and is, therefore, eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. This presumption effectively places the burden of proof on companies or insurers to prove that the essential worker did not get sick at work in order to permissibly deny coverage. The order applies ...