Brian Hand, principal founder of tasting room Hand-Brewed Beer in Chatsworth, supports COVID-19 vaccinations to end the pandemic. However, following a Los Angeles City Council vote to create a vaccine requirement for indoor spaces, Hand and other business owners are concerned about the possibility that their staff may have to police customers.
On Aug. 11, the Los Angeles City Council voted 13-0 for city attorneys to prepare legislation that would require individuals to provide proof of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to enter indoor spaces. The regulation would cover restaurants, bars, retail stores, gyms, entertainment centers and more. Further details of the potential ordinance have not been finalized and once they are, the ordinance would require a final vote from the City Council.
Addressing the potential vaccine requirement, the Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce wrote in a statement to the Business Journal that it “supports the right of individual organizations and businesses to make these decisions on their own.” The chamber added that while government officials are trying their best to ensure public safety, it believes government agencies should be championing vaccines as the path forward. “‘Vaccine passports’ puts restaurants, bars, gyms, stores, spas, movie theaters, concert venues, sporting events and any other venue included in the proposal in the unenviable situation of having to police their patrons,” the chamber wrote. Hand said that as a whole, he believes people should get vaccinated as a means of maintaining public health and that if a vaccine requirement were to arrive, his brewery would do its part to follow the rules. However, Hand’s primary concern about a potential vaccine requirement is whether or not the guidance and enforcement details behind it will be clear, concise and timely. Hand, whose business includes a tasting room, outdoor beer garden and food trucks, recalled having customers that seemed confused about the changing of mask mandates throughout the year. “It wasn’t as clear for everyone else as much as it was for our staff,” he said. “If there were ways to streamline (public health) communications so everybody understands, that would be great.” Hand added that it would be of benefit to have a program that keeps people aware and informed of mandate details and public health resources, such as the digital COVID-19 vaccine record that can be stored on an individual’s phone. “I wish as a society, everyone came to the agreement that it’s real and we’ve got to get past it,” said Hand. “We all want to get back to wherever the new normal is. Let’s just do all our parts.” Not a mandate L.A. City Council District 13 Councilman Mitch O’Farrell has said that the potential new rule is “not a vaccine mandate.” O’Farrell, who first proposed the measure alongside Council President Nury Martinez from the Valley, told the Los Angeles Times that the rule wouldn’t tell anyone they absolutely had to get vaccinated.He added that nobody would be denied access to essentials such as food and medicine, regardless of their vaccination status. “That wouldn’t be legal, that wouldn’t be moral. But what is immoral is choosing not to get vaccinated, choosing to listen to some delusional rant on Twitter,” O’Farrell told the Los Angeles Times. “This is real life. Vaccines work.” Jennifer Febre is a founding member of MacLeod Ale Brewing Co. in Van Nuys. She, like Hand, is for people getting vaccinated, but worries about how MacLeod will have to adjust should a vaccine requirement come to fruition. “I do feel like if people need incentives to get vaccinated, such as not being allowed to participate in their favorite things, I understand that” Febre said. “But on the other hand, for our business particularly, I think it’s going to be quite difficult to implement.” Febre wonders whether MacLeod will need to hire someone as a vaccine card checker or pass the responsibility to bartenders in an establishment where customers walk into the tasting room and go directly to the bar to order drinks and food.
On one hand, Febre worries about the cost of hiring another employee as MacLeod heads toward a slower season due to the Delta variant and start of the school year. On the other, she expressed concern over staff having to navigate the political weight that has been latched onto vaccine status. “This puts our staff right in the crosshairs of a real political hotbed and potentially puts us in an adversarial position with our patrons, which we don’t want to be in,” Febre said. “I’m fully in favor of people vaccinating and I’m in favor of doing whatever my part is. I just feel like these mandates don’t really take into consideration the reality of business.” Norms Restaurants, a diner style chain with locations in Van Nuys and Encino, is another business formulating strategies in case a vaccine requirement is voted in. Norms Chief Executive Mike Colonna said that while Norms is educating workers so that it can move its own vaccination rates up, the chain is concerned about the variables that may arise from a vaccine requirement. “Do you have to hire extra staff? What is the caliber of the staff that’s going to be facing the guest? What is the verification ability to monitor (a vaccine card) that’s accurate versus fraudulent? What are the liabilities if there’s a mistake made versus being negligent? All these things are paramount,” Colonna said before adding that businesses may be put “between a rock and a hard place.” Retailers and gyms Restaurants are one part of the equation when it comes to the indoor public spaces, but the rule would impact other sectors as well.
Record-setting powerlifter Scot Mendelson of Van Nuys-based Mendy’s Gym said he does not let anybody in his business unless they are vaccinated. “I got COVID, I lost 40 pounds and I almost died,” Mendelson said. “So, if you’re asking me, I wouldn’t want anybody to go through what I went through.” Mendelson, who cited concerns for his clients and their families, said he has turned away more than 50 people from his business. Planet Fitness, which has multiple locations throughout the valley, did not respond to request for comment.
On the side of retail, President Rachel Michelin at the California Retailers Association hopes that mask mandates can continue and that retailers are excluded from a potential vaccine requirement.
“It really puts both the consumer and the worker in a difficult position,” she said. “Before with face coverings, we saw acts of violence against our employees; we saw them being spit on over face coverings. We can’t imagine what that will be like for asking for vaccine cards.” Michelin added that the association hopes retailers and other businesses receive clear metrics and guidance if the city moves to the need for vaccine verification, should the requirement go through the L.A. City Council. The City Council already has voted to have a vaccine required for city workers. The requirement as it relates to indoor public spaces has yet to be drafted or voted on at press time.
CEOs Wary of Shot Mandate
