SAN FRANCISCO─The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office indicated in a press release on Wednesday, April 15, that San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin released an advisory aimed at protecting the health and safety of non-essential workers by warning employers to comply with the updated City Shelter-in-Place orders. The advisory reminds non-essential employers to immediately cease business and to instruct their employees to stay home and shelter in place.
“We are in the midst of a global public health crisis, and the last thing we want our community members to worry about is having to risk their safety because their employer is unnecessarily requiring them to come to work,” said Boudin. “Employers at non-essential businesses who tell their employees to come to work endanger the health and safety of their workers as well as the public.”
The advisory is aimed to ensure compliance with the expanded City and County of San Francisco’s orders. On March 31, the city of San Francisco issued the updated Health Order C19-07b that aimed for the safety protections for employees in the region to halt the spread of COVID-19. The updated order added additional restrictions to the previous health order and extended the Shelter-in-Place requirements through May 3.
With the new order, essential businesses have to decrease the number of staff who come to work and arrange for as many employees as possible to work from home. Only employees of essential businesses who cannot perform their job duties at home are allowed to be physically present at work. Essential businesses should create viable social distancing policies to protect employees and community members.
The updated order requires all non-essential businesses with a facility in San Francisco to immediately cease all city activities other than designated minimum basic operations. Businesses uncertain rather they are an essential business can review language in Health Order C19-07b.
Businesses performing any form of construction should review the order to determine if the projects are permissible. The District Attorney’s Office is calling on employees who believe their employers may be violating the updated health order to contact 311 and report the incident.
