T-OCM-220077/88410
Council Agenda: 10/6/2026
Item No.: 1
ORDINANCE NO. _______
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SUNNYVALE ADDING CHAPTER 5.50 (FOOD AND
BUILDING SERVICE WORKER RETENTION) TO TITLE 5
(BUSINESS LICENSES AND REGULATIONS) OF THE
SUNNYVALE MUNICIPAL CODE TO REQUIRE THE
RETENTION OF FOOD AND BUILDING SERVICE
WORKERS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.
WHEREAS, the City has a substantial interest in promoting the economic security of workers, the stability of the local workforce, the continuity and quality of services provided within the City, and the economic well-being of the community; and WHEREAS, service workers perform essential functions that contribute to the safe, sanitary, efficient, and orderly operation of businesses and properties within the City; and WHEREAS, employment stability benefits the City and the community by reducing the economic and social costs associated with unemployment and by supporting household income, consumer spending, and economic activity within the City; and WHEREAS, Labor Code Section 1064 allows local jurisdictions to enact greater standards than, or establish additional enforcement provisions to the standards and provisions of the Displaced Janitor Opportunity Act;
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SUNNYVALE DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 5.50 (entitled “Food and Building Service Worker Retention”) is hereby added to Title 5 (Business Licenses and Regulations) of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code to read as follows:
Chapter 5.5
FOOD AND BUILDING SERVICE WORKER RETENTION
Sections:
5.50.010 Definitions
5.50.020 Notification and retention
5.50.030 Remedies
5.50.040 Exemptions
5.50.010. Definitions.
For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
DRAFT 09/22/2026 ________
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(a) "Building service" means work performed in connection with the care or maintenance of an existing building and includes, but is not limited to, work performed by guards and janitors.
(b) "Building service contract" means a contract let by any covered entity for the furnishing of regularly scheduled building services, and includes any subcontracts for such services in excess of $50,000 and for a term of three months or longer. (c) "Building service contractor" means any person who enters into a building service contract, including any subcontractor.
(d) "Building service employee" means any person employed as a building service employee by a building services contractor or covered entity whose regular place of work is a business facility in the city of Sunnyvale on a full or part-time basis (eight (8) hours or more a week) during the ninety (90) days immediately preceding any transition in employment subject to this section except for persons who are managerial, supervisory or confidential employees, and persons regularly scheduled to work fewer than eight hours per week at the business facility.
(e) "Business" means any commercial, industrial, institutional, hotel, or mixed-use facility owned or managed by a covered entity in the City in a single building or in contiguous buildings under common ownership or management.
(f) “Cause” means a fair and honest reason for termination of a worker that is supported by facts reasonably believed to be true, that is made in good faith and is not arbitrary, capricious, discriminatory, retaliatory, pretextual, or unrelated to legitimate business needs or objectives.
(g) "Covered entity" means any person who hires or retains a food service contractor for the provision of food services at a business facility within the City, or any person who hires or retains a building service contractor for the provision of building services at a business facility within the City.
(h) "Food service" means the on-site preparation, serving and clean-up of food or beverages to persons.
(i) "Food service contract" means a contract for the furnishing of food services, and includes any subcontracts for such services in excess of $50,000 and for a term of three months or longer.
(j) "Food service contractor" means any person who hires or retains food service employees in order to provide food services to a covered entity pursuant to a food service contract, including any subcontractor.
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(k) "Food service employee" means any person whose regular place of work is a covered entity within the City of Sunnyvale on a full or part-time basis (eight hours or more a week) during the 90 days immediately preceding any transition in employment subject to this section, except for persons who are managerial, supervisory, or confidential employees, and persons regularly scheduled to work fewer than eight hours per week. (l) "Person" means any individual, proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, limited liability company, trust, association, or other entity, with more than 50 employees in the State of California that may employ persons or enter into service contracts, but it does not include a county, school district, community college district, the State of California, and the federal government or any other governmental entity except the City of Sunnyvale.
(m)"Regularly scheduled" with respect to services means of an on-going nature and not for a specific event or to accomplish a single repair or up-grade. (n) "Subcontractor" means any person who is not an employee who enters into a contract with a food service or building service contractor to assist the contractor in performing a food service or building service contract.
(o) "Successor contractor" means (1) any person that has entered into a food service contract or building service contract to provide services to a covered entity that are substantially similar to those provided by such covered entity prior to contracting out the services or those provided to such covered entity under a terminated food service or building service contract, or (2) a covered entity, if the covered entity provides such services following the termination of a food service or building service contract.
5.50.020. Notification and retention.
(a) No less than fifteen (15) calendar days before terminating any food service or building service contract, or contracting out services previously performed by the covered entity, a covered entity shall request, and the current food service or building service contractor or the covered entity if it provides the services, shall provide to the successor contractor, if one has been named, and the covered entity if different, a full and accurate list containing the name, home address and telephone number, date of hire, and job category of each food service worker or building service employee employed by the current food service or building service contractor or by covered entity at the site or sites covered by the food service or building service contract that will be te1minated or let, as applicable. (b) The successor contractor shall retain for a 90-day transition employment period all food service or building service employees that were employed by the terminated food service or building service contractor, or by the covered entity if the covered entity has contracted out the services. During the 90-day transition period, the successor contractor shall not substantially change a food service or building service employee's work shift or work location.
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Item No.: 4
(c) The successor contractor shall ensure that a notice to food service or building service employees is posted setting forth the rights provided under this section and which includes a copy of any list provided pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision with the home addresses and phone numbers redacted, and that such notice is also provided to the food service or building service employees' collective bargaining representative, if any. The notice and list shall be posted in the same location and manner that other statutorily required notices to employees are posted at the affected sites. (d) If at any time the successor contractor determines that fewer food service or building service employees are required to perform services than had been performing such services under the terminated food service or building services contract, the successor contractor shall retain the food service or building service employees by seniority within job classification; provided, that during such 90-day transition period, the successor contractor shall maintain a preferential hiring list of those food service or building service employees not retained at the sites who shall be given a right of first refusal to any jobs within their classifications that become available during that period. (e) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, during such 90-day period, the successor contractor shall not discharge without cause a food service or building service employee retained pursuant to this section.
(f) At the end of the 90-day transition period, the successor contractor shall complete a written performance evaluation for each food service or building service employee retained pursuant to this section. If a food service or building service employee's performance during such 90-day period is satisfactory, the successor contractor shall offer such food service or building service employee continued employment under the terms and conditions established by the successor contractor.
5.50.030. Remedies.
(a) A food service or building service employee who has been discharged or not retained in violation of this section, or the collective bargaining agent of the employee, may bring an action in any superior court of the State of California having jurisdiction over the successor contractor. Upon finding a violation of this chapter, the court shall award back pay, including the value of benefits, for each day during which the violation occurred and continues to occur. If the court determines that the successor contractor's violations were willful, it shall order treble back pay and reinstatement. The amount of back pay shall be calculated as the greater of either of the following:
1. The average regular rate of pay received by the employee during the last three years of the employee's employment in the same occupation classification multiplied by the average hours worked during the last three years of the employee's employment.
2. The final regular rate of pay received by the employee at the time of te1mination of the predecessor food service or building service contract multiplied by the number of hours usually worked by the employee.
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Item No.: 5
3. The court may order a preliminary or permanent injunction to stop the continued violation of this chapter.
4. If the employee is the prevailing party in the legal action, the court shall award the employee or collective bargaining agent reasonable attorney's fees and costs as part of the costs recoverable.
5.50.040 Exemptions.
(a) The provisions of this chapter may be waived in whole or in part in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, provided that such waiver is set forth in writing in clear and unmistakable terms.
(b) In any legal action brought under this chapter, a covered entity may be relieved from compliance with this chapter in whole or in part if the covered entity establishes that such compliance would conflict with federal law that regulates or otherwise governs the covered entity’s contracts.
SECTION 2. CEQA - EXEMPTION. The City Council finds, pursuant to Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 15061(b)(3), that this ordinance is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in that it is not a Project which has the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment.
SECTION 3. CONSTITUTIONALITY; SEVERABILITY. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid, such decision or decisions shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance, and each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid.
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect thirty (30) days from and after the date of its adoption.
SECTION 5. POSTING AND PUBLICATION. The City Clerk is directed to cause copies of this ordinance to be posted in three (3) prominent places in the City of Sunnyvale and to cause publication once in The Sun, the official publication of legal notices of the City of Sunnyvale, of a notice setting forth the date of adoption, the title of this ordinance, and a list of places where copies of this ordinance are posted, within fifteen (15) days after adoption of this ordinance.
Attachment 1
T-OCM-220077/88410
Council Agenda: 10/6/2026
Item No.: 6
Introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held on _________, and adopted as an ordinance of the City of Sunnyvale at a regular meeting of the City Council held on ____________, by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
RECUSAL:
ATTEST: APPROVED:
DAVID CARNAHAN
City Clerk
Date of Attestation: _______________________
LARRY KLEIN
Mayor
(SEAL)
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
________________________________________
REBECCA L. MOON
City Attorney
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