By Justin HAGER

The City of Glendale joined Los Angeles, Long Beach and more than 20 other California cities that require grocery and drug retailers to pay hourly employees an additional $5 per hour in “hero pay” for their essential service during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To help create compliance, the ordinance also creates significant penalties for employers who fail to notify their employees of their right to receive the additional pay, provide the pay in a timely manner, or keep proper records of compensation.

The new law will apply exclusively to large publicly traded corporations and retailers with 300 or more national employees. City staff estimates that only 24 retail stores would be subject to the new requirements, but those affected employ thousands of Glendale residents. Of the more than 1,900 employees in Glendale who would receive hero pay, about a dozen called in during Tuesday night’s virtual meeting to comment on the ordinance, including a particularly powerful comment from Aidan Salas, a Montrose resident and pharmacy employee. Salas described assisting individuals whom he knew had COVID and said he was aware of at least seven local-pharmacy employees who had contracted the virus at work.

“Essential workers don’t just need praise, they need your help,” he said.

Qualifying employees should expect to see the pay increase for all shifts beginning at midnight on Friday, April 2 with the requirement lasting until 11:59 p.m. on July 31.

The five-hour marathon meeting began with two proclamations. The first was presented to Armine Perian, vice-chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, and recognized April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Perian and Mayor Vrej Agajanian each encouraged residents to participate in Denim Day on Wednesday, April 28 by showing support for survivors of sexual assault by wearing jeans or other denim clothing. The second proclamation was presented to Dr. Gary Shaffer, director of Glendale Library, Arts, & Culture, and recognized the week of April 4-10 as National Library Week.

Other items considered during the meeting included changes to the mayoral selection process, a discussion of a polystyrene ban at city-hosted and city-sponsored events, a presentation by GWP on its 100% Clean Energy by 2030 study, the acceptance of $60,000 in state-grant funds to install electric bus charging stations, and the establishment of a pension review committee.

The pension review committee was a particularly contentious topic, especially as it related to whether city employee bargaining units should serve on the committee. Responding to public comment, Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian gave an impassioned speech about the importance and excellence of city staff and the need for transparency and representation of the people who would be most affected by any changes to the CalPERS contract. Councilmembers eventually settled on a 15-person commission with each councilmember having two nominations and the additional five seats being filled by representatives of the collective bargaining units.