California and Rhode Island Introduce Legislation Hitting Back at Delivery Providers
As the debate over third party deliverers and their relationships with their restaurant partners continues across the country, two states have introduced legislation taking aim at certain areas surrounding these relationships. Both California and Rhode Island have introduced bills that look to empower restaurants and give them more control in agreements with third party deliverers.
In California, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D- San Diego) has introduced AB – 2149 which would allow food delivery platforms to share customer information with the restaurants from which they order. That information includes the customer’s email address, phone number and delivery address. The Assemblywoman has said that this bill will try to level the playing field between restaurants and delivery apps. “Restaurants shouldn’t fear losing their customers when they don’t agree to the conditions of some multi-million-dollar food delivery app. This bill will put the power back in the hands of small business owners in California,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
While California is looking at information sharing, Rhode Island is concerning itself with misrepresentation. The Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Robert Craven, has proposed a law which would “prohibit third-party delivery services from using any likeness or intellectual property of a merchant without written consent.” This comes after many restaurants in the State have expressed frustration that they have found themselves listed on many of these delivery apps without ever agreeing to it.
The NYS Restaurant Association is reviewing both bills with the aim to have further conversations with state legislators in the coming weeks regarding this issue. Please reach out to our Government Affairs Director Kevin Dugan at
[email protected]
if you have thoughts you’d like to share regarding these bills
NYSRA Raises Concerns over “Just Cause” and Layoffs Proposals at NYC Council Hearing
Last Thursday, NYSRA participated in a hearing held by the New York City Council Committee on Civil Service and Labor. The hearing focused on two proposals that address terminations in the “fast food” – or quick service - restaurant industry. One would require employers to document and prove “just cause” for letting an employee go, and the other would require employers to p
rove a “bona fide economic reason” for conducting layoffs, and then conduct layoffs based on reverse seniority alone
.
NYSRA submitted detailed testimony and spoke about our many concerns with these proposals, especially that they will limit the viability of the quick service restaurant industry and their ability to hire New Yorkers. Our remarks were cited in several articles, including
Kings County Politics
,
Restaurant Business Online
, and
AM NY
. We are continuing to meet with City Council members and their staff individually, and we are collaborating with the National Restaurant Association and other industry representatives to oppose these proposals.
NYC Department of Sanitation Publishes Final Commercial Organics Rules and Implementation Dates
The Department of Sanitation in New York City has published their final rules for expanding commercial organics source separation requirements. The new rules will become effective August 15, 2020, and the Department will begin to issue violations on February 15, 2021. The rules require food service operators with at least 7,000 square feet, or chains with 2 or more locations and at least 8000 combined square feet, as well as those previously included under the old legislation, to source separate and recycle or compost their commercial organic waste. The complete rules can be found
here
and please let us know if you have any questions.
