By Dana Peterson

Many know SFO as the code for the San Francisco airport. But to businesses employing workers in the City by the Bay, SFO has come to mean “San Francisco Ordinance.”

In this first of a three-part series on recent action by San Francisco’s labor friendly Board of Supervisors, we review two ordinances (here and here) that together have come to be known as the “Retail Workers’ Bill of Rights.”

Last August, we blogged about the initially proposed version of this legislation. The final version, as amended, was passed on November 25, 2014. Though some troubling provisions (such as giving employees and applicants the right to sue employers for violations) were removed prior to passage, the ordinances still impose burdensome new requirements on Formula Retail Employers.

But wait: I own some martial arts studios. So surely this new law doesn’t apply to me, right? 

Well, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but yes, it absolutely could affect your business.

The ordinances cover employers with 20 or more employees in San Francisco who operate “Formula Retail Establishments.” These are businesses that engage in retail sales or services regulated as “Formula Retail Uses” under the San Francisco Planning Code, with one change: the ordinances apply only to establishments with at least 20 retail sales locations worldwide (the Planning Code definition requires fewer locations).

A “Formula Retail Use” is one that is, basically, standardized in terms of two or more of the following indicators: array of merchandise, façade, décor and color scheme, uniforms, signage, and trademark or service mark.

As outlined in greater detail here, the foregoing definition includes businesses that some may not consider to be “retail,” such as bars, health spas, dry cleaners, massage parlors, movie theatres, banks, credit unions, art studios, pet grooming establishments, and, yes, even martial arts studios. The Planning Code specifically identifies each such entity as a type of businesses considered to be engaging in “Formula Retail Use.”

Yikes, so what do I have to do to comply with these new laws?

We would need more space than we have here to fully explain each new requirement (hence the link to the more fulsome Management Alert). Suffice it here to say that covered employers:
Continue Reading San Francisco “Retail Workers’ Bill of Rights” Enacted—What Now?