California to Provide Food Industry Employees with Paid Sick Leave

California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that the state will provide workers in the food sector—including farmworkers and employees at grocery stores and fast food restaurants—with two weeks of paid sick leave. The order aims to “fill[] a gap left by federal relief that had provided similar paid leave benefits for employers with fewer than 500 workers,” according to the announcement. The Executive Order also “provides health and safety standards to increase worker and customer protection by permitting workers at food facilities to wash their hands every 30 minutes, or as needed, to increase proper sanitation measures.”