California Governor Issues Statewide Lockdown

On March 19, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an Executive Order ordering all California residents to stay at home due to the current public health crisis caused by COVID-19.  This Order exempts from its scope employees working in the following federally identified critical infrastructure sectors:

• Communications
• Chemical
• Critical Manufacturing
• Commercial Facilities
• Dams
• Defense Industrial Base
• Emergency Services
• Energy
• Financial
• Food & Agriculture
• Government Facilities
• Nuclear Reactors, Materials & Waste
• Information Technology
• Water
• Transportation Systems
• Healthcare & Public Health

To the extent your business does not operate in one of these 16 categories, you will likely be required to at least temporarily shut down.  In addition to administrative concerns related to an unplanned shut down, California employers must also be aware of their continued, albeit modified, obligations under the California WARN Act and the newly passed national Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

More information on the Critical Infrastructure Sectors can be found at: https://www.cisa.gov/identifying-critical-infrastructure-during-covid-19.