As recently reported by the Los Angeles Times, People, and a slew of other national and local media outlets, famed Beverly Hills restaurant, La Scala, recently faced significant public backlash after sending out invitations to a Prohibition-themed, indoor New Year’s Eve celebration.  The invitation, which was distributed to select customers, read: “We are considering taking reservations for New Year’s Eve Dinner.  Inside.”  It went on to instruct recipients to “Please keep this discreet, but tell all your friends.”

Although the restaurant’s management has since apologized and the previously-announced fête is not going forward, the public backlash serves as a stark reminder to employers across all industries to carefully monitor state and local health officer orders and applicable industry-specific reopening protocols.  In addition, as businesses are permitted to reopen, they must ensure that they comply with the slew of newly-applicable COVID-19 workplace safety, reporting, and notification requirements, including Cal/OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standards (previously addressed in this blog, here) and Labor Code section 6409.6, which takes effect on January 1st (which we covered in the blog back in September 2020, here).  Cal/OSHA has been actively enforcing COVID-19 safety requirements, and publishing violations.