The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance on Tuesday that aims to better protect workers from unlawful layoffs. The ordinance comes after 48 Twitter custodians were abruptly fired in December after the social media company cut ties with Flagship, a janitorial company.
Under current city police code, security, janitorial and maintenance services contracting with a building must retain employees who were working with the building prior contractor for the first 90 days, otherwise called a"transition employment period." Under the new amendment of the police code, the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement is permitted to investigate violations, order relief like backpay and penalties, and create pathways for companies to appeal violations.
"Our law is set up to be very clear to say if you displace workers, they have a just transition period. You have to notify them," said Supervisor Ahsha Safai during Tuesday's meeting."With this legislation today, we essentially say the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement now can come in and enforce this law."