The Long Beach City Attorney’s office will begin working on an ordinance to require additional staffing at certain retail establishments.
The City Council recently approved a motion asking for the ordinance — which will apply to certain grocery and drug stores — to be developed.
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With that initial approval, the city will begin drafting the ordinance, which will need to come back to the council for approval before it goes into effect.
The ordinance, requested jointly by Vice Mayor Roberto Uranga, Eighth District Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk and First District Councilmember Mary Zendejas, would create staffing standards for grocery and drug stores using self-checkout lanes.
If approved, the ordinance would require qualifying stores to assign at least one employee to supervise self-checkout lanes at all times, according to a June 17 memo authored by Uranga, Zendejas and Thrash-Ntuk. The ordinance would also require that “visual inspection and surveillance of the stations” be that staffers’ sole duty, the memo said.
“(I)f establishments have two or more self-checkout stations, the proposed ordinance shall develop a standardized staffing supervision ratio of one employee to supervise the operation of no more than two stations (1:2),” the memo said, “taking into consideration matters of operational and logistical feasibility in how the standard is ultimately operationalized.”
The rules, according to the memo, would apply to all drug stores and some grocery stores.
Applicable grocery stores, the memo said, would include retail stores with more than 15,000 square feet that primarily sell food — and retail stores with more than 85,000 square feet with 10% of their sales floor “dedicated to the sale of non-taxable merchandise,” the memo said, including produce, meats, dry food, baked foods and more.
The ordinance would also put in place a 15-item limit at self-checkout stands.
The purpose of the proposed ordinance is to reduce retail theft at Long Beach stores and reduce “chronic understaffing over self-checkout stands operations in stores,” the memo said.
The three councilmembers who brought the ordinance forward argued, in their June 17 memo, that the proposal is necessary to combat a “dramatic increase” in retail theft across California, citing visible incidents like “smash and grabs” and the abuse of self-checkout lanes at stores.
“Rampant and unchecked incidents of theft were shown to pose a threat to the public’s safety and undermine the community’s welfare and sense of security,” the memo said. “Specifically, based on public testimonials, incidents like these were shown to create hostile workplace conditions for retail employees, and unsafe shopping environments for customers that erode the customer service experience.”
Several retail workers and other supporters of the proposal spoke at Tuesday’s council session, arguing in favor of the ordinance.
Linda Molina, a Ralph’s employee for nearly 30 years, said that she is often assigned to the self-check out lane.
“Almost every day, I’m assigned to the self-checkout in my store, and it’s a tough job to do,” Molina said. “I feel like I have to be seven Lindas in one body — because I cannot help them all fast enough to make them happy.”
Through tears, Molina added that though she tries to maintain a strong face — it’s difficult to manage customers on her own for eight hours a day.
“It can be tough, and I get very frustrated with how the customers treat me and my workers,” Molina said. “Please support our ordinance and workers who do not deserve the abuse that we get at the self-check out.”
But as grocery stores and other retailers continue to announce store closures as they face increasing industry pressure, some are concerned that the proposed ordinance could further strain business in Long Beach.
Over the past several years, according to a June 6 city staff report, several grocery and drug stores have closed in Long Beach, including Ralph’s at Los Coyotes Diagonal, Food 4 Less on South Street and Vons on Atlantic Avenue.
But despite those closures, several new grocery stores have also opened in Long Beach recently, including Sprouts, 4600 E. Pacific Coast Highway, and Whole Food at the Long Beach Exchange, among others.
Celeste Wilson, the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s government affairs manager, said during the June 17 City Council meeting that the chamber and its 900 business members were concerned about the proposed ordinance’s potential business impacts.
“Our biggest two worries are the very industry-specific regulation that this ordinance will create — it doesn’t really kind of take into account any of the self-checkout stands at home improvement stores, clothing stores, hardware stores, anything like that,” Wilson said. “It is very specific in industry, which raises a lot of concerns in terms of legal challenge later on.”
The chamber’s other concern, Wilson added, is that there is a similar bill currently making its way through the state Legislature.
Senate Bill 442, which is currently under consideration, would implement similar self-checkout staffing mandates — though, notably, the state bill would simply require at least one staffer be on hand to manage self-checkouts, rather than an employee-to-self-checkout ratio as Long Beach’s proposal outlines.
“We are urging the City Council to take a pause, let the state do what it’s going to do and take a deep breath,” Wilson said. “Whatever the state ends up doing, if you want to match that (or) revisit it later and implement something a little bit stronger here in Long Beach, great — but just don’t let Long Beach be the pilot program for a state policy that’s already moving into the system.”
Third District Councilmember Kristina Duggan, who voted against the proposed ordinance, said that the proposal could also send the wrong message to businesses.
“This proposal tells potential investors that Long Beach is too unsafe for stores to operate without heavy regulation, and that’s the wrong message we should be sending,” Duggan said. “If we’re serious about public safety, we should focus on real solutions: hiring more officers, improving response times and holding repeat offenders accountable.”
Long Beach’s ordinance would create a “private right of action” enforcement mechanism, essentially meaning that private citizens would enforce the ordinance’s rules through civil action — as opposed to enforcement falling to the city.
It would have potentially cost the city anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million to pay for three to five additional staff members to oversee and conduct enforcement of the ordinance, according to the June 6 staff report.
Potential penalties under the proposed ordinance could include a $2,500 fine for businesses that fail to comply with the mandated staffing level at self-checkouts and civil action by any member of the public, who are able to recoup $100 per employee each day the violation isn’t addressed, up to $1,000 per employee each day, the memo said.
Sixth District Councilmember Suely Saro, during the June 17 council meeting, also offered up a friendly amendment to the proposal — which would require businesses to include signage informing customers of their new rights under the ordinance. The council approved that amendment.