The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday moved forward with a motion to give workers who have been infected with COVID-19 up to two weeks of pay to stay home.
The legislation is intended to ensure that workers can quarantine regardless of their employment or immigration status, according to Councilman David Ryu’s office. It’s targeted toward low-wage and undocumented workers who have no access or limited access to benefits, the motion says.
“When a low-wage worker tests positive for COVID-19, they are faced with the possibility of losing their job, housing and ability to provide for their family,” the motion reads.
The City Council would allocate up to $50 million from the federal relief fund for paycheck assistance and right-to-recover programs that will be created following a report from the city’s administrative officer and Economic and Workforce Development Department.
Ryu and Council President Nury Martinez put forth the idea after San Francisco created a similar initiative.
Martinez has said that the motion would particularly help housekeepers, gardeners, nannies and others who don’t qualify for available aid.
“While Latinos are dying at twice the rate of White Angelenos in LA County from COVID-19, many of the safeguards meant to assist, including Federal Relief, are not reaching poor, immigrant Latinos and others, who often work as essential workers or simply do not have medical insurance or Paid Leave and cannot afford to stay home,” Martinez previously said.
About half of the more than 5,500 L.A. County residents who have died of COVID-19 are Latinos, according to the Department of Public Health.
