It’s not surprising that three of four businesses checked by our reporter did not ask to see her vaccination card. (See the article on page 1.) I’ve heard others say they had a similar experience.
It could be that some businesses in the city of Los Angeles just don’t know they are now required to check the vax status of incoming customers. Or it could be that they know the new ordinance won’t be enforced until Nov. 29, and they’ll start checking then. Or it could be that they just don’t intend to check, now or after Nov. 29.
Unfortunately, so many regulations and rules from the state, city and county seem to rain down on businesses so hard all the time that at least some business operators kind of click off. They can’t keep up. They may know that as of last year they were supposed to build lactation rooms for employees and that they likely should get rid of their independent contractors and that now they may have to become vax bouncers. They could even agree philosophically with the aim of those new regulations along with many others, but perhaps they’re working 60- or 70-hour weeks trying to keep their businesses afloat and, especially smaller businesses, may be unable to expend the mental bandwidth or afford to hire the expertise to keep up with all the stuff they’re supposed to. So they take a chance and don’t bother to comply.
However, I suspect that it goes beyond that. Sure, some can’t keep up and kind of click off. But others may be more strategic. They pick and choose which regulations to heed and which to ignore. At least for as long as they can.
I can’t help but think that some business operators mentally file each new regulation into one of two categories. One is the must-do file. Those are the laws that can be ruinously expensive to violate, such as those subject to California’s Private Attorney General Act. Comply with those or face sudden death.
The other category is the might-do file. Those contain the regulations that are lightly enforced or carry smaller penalties. Those are the ones that business operators may strategically decide that it’s not worth bothering to comply with.
L.A.’s requirement that some businesses screen out the unvaccinated falls into the latter category. Companies that are first-time offenders get a warning only. Second time offenders face a $1,000 fine. Repeat offenders can face a fine of up to $5,000. Those are pretty light penalties.
What’s more, some believe the new ordinance will be lightly enforced. Los Angeles City Councilmember John Lee, appearing at the annual “State of the Valley” luncheon put on by the Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce on Nov. 4, said he voted against the ordinance partly because “I think we all know” that the ordinance won’t be effectively enforced.
It may be that businesses that are supposed to bounce out the unvaxxed will not do so as a thought-out decision. They figure that chances are they won’t get caught. Even if they do, they will first get a warning. After that, OK, they’ll start enforcing the mandate as set out in the ordinance.
But until then, the act of setting up vaccination checkpoints will mainly serve to aggravate customers and stress out their employees. They may conclude that it is wiser and probably cheaper not to comply until they must.
Charles Crumpley is editor and publisher of the Business Journal. He can be reached at