Today, March 19, 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-33-20 requiring all individuals living in California to “stay home or at their place of residence except as necessary to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors.”  Individuals are permitted to leave their homes for necessities such as obtaining food, prescriptions and health care, but are required to practice social distancing during any such excursions.  Essential services will remain open, including, but not limited to:  gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, food banks, convenience stores, take-out and delivery restaurants, banks, hospitals, and laundromats.  California’s order will remain in effect until further notice.

Around the same time as Gov. Newsom’s Order, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a “Safer at Home” emergency order requiring all residents of the City of Los Angeles to stay inside their residences and immediately limit all movement outside of their homes beyond what is absolutely necessary to take care of essential needs.  Of particular importance to employers, the new order prohibits individuals from going to their workplace unless they provide certain essential services.  Los Angeles’ Safer at Home order goes into effect immediately after midnight tonight (March 19, 2020) and will remain in effect until March 31, 2020, unless it is extended.