Court: Grocery Worker Regulation Does Not Violate California Labor Law

Los Angeles, CA The California Supreme Court recently ruled that a city law that strives to protect grocery workers in the state is not a violation of California labor code, reports The Associated Press.

According to the news source, the California Grocers Association had sued the city of Los Angeles after it adopted a regulation that hindered the ability of companies to replace workers under new ownership.

The 2005 grocery "worker retention" regulation was allegedly conflicting with other employment laws in the state and the rest of the country, the association claimed in the lawsuit.

However, the state Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that the regulation was "fully consistent" with both federal and state legislation, according to the news source. The decision reportedly represented a reversal of two previous rulings that had been made in lower courts.

"This is an important victory for tens of thousands of grocery workers who now don't have to worry about losing their jobs simply because of a corporate ownership change," said Roxana Tynan, deputy director of Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, reports the news source.

The news source reported that a call and e-mail sent to the association was not immediately returned.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the law is one of a number of regulations in California requiring companies to maintain workforces for a certain period of time after ownership changes hands.

The law in Los Angeles reportedly covered grocery stores in the city of at least 15,000 square feet, with new owners needing to hire back most previous employees for at least 90 days after the facility became operational under the new ownership.

Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, in writing for the court, said that the law did not interfere with other regulations and that it "applies equally to unionized and nonunionized workplaces," according to the news source.

"It does not selectively preserve or favor unionization or unionized workers; it simply preserves, temporarily, the status quo, whatever that might be," Werdegar explained.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, similar laws are in effect in other California cities including San Jose, Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley, with some cities extending the regulations to hotel and airport workers.