New Long Beach Ordinance Requires Human Cashiers at All Times

Quick Hits

• Effective September 21, 2025, the City of Long Beach Ordinance No. ORD-25-0010 imposes new staffing requirements for self-checkout registers in food and drug retail establishments.
• Covered establishments with self-checkout registers must employ at least one human cashier at all times.
• Covered establishments must assign at least one employee to supervise every three self-checkout lines.

The ordinance added Chapter 5.93 to the Long Beach Municipal Code. It requires “drug retail” and “food retail” establishments with self-service checkout stations to provide at least one non-self-service checkout station staffed with an employee to provide human assistance for scanning, bagging, and accepting payments for purchases.

Covered establishments also must advertise and enforce a fifteen-item limit for self-checkout purchases and prohibit purchases of items that require proof of ID or items with special theft-deterrent measures that require employee intervention prior to purchase, such as removing a surveillance tag or opening a locked cabinet.

Additionally, self-checkout stations must be in a location that enables observation and surveillance from employees and local law enforcement.

Covered establishments must staff at least one employee to supervise self-checkout operations. At least one employee must oversee every three self-checkout stations (1:3 ratio). The assigned supervisor cannot have any other work responsibility that could interfere with the supervisor’s ability to maintain direct visual inspection of self-service checkout operations.

The ordinance applies to large grocery stores and defines a “food retail establishment” as a store that is either “over fifteen thousand (15,000) square feet in size and sells primarily household foodstuff” or “over eighty-five thousand (85,000) square feet and with ten percent (10%) of their sales floor area dedicated to the sale of” groceries.

In contrast, the ordinance’s definition of a “drug retail establishment” does not focus on size and applies to any “retail store that sells a variety of prescription and nonprescription medicines and miscellaneous items ….”

Enforcement

The ordinance delegates enforcement to private litigation and creates a private right of action for customers and employees to sue establishments in California courts.

Courts may award civil penalties for each violation in the amount of $100 “for each employee” of the establishment. The civil penalty increases by an additional $100 per employee for each day that the violation is not fixed, up to $1,000 per employee for each day the violation remains unfixed. Courts may also award attorneys’ fees and costs.

The ordinance prohibits retaliation against any employee seeking to enforce its requirements.

Notice Requirements

All covered establishments must prominently post signage in a location accessible to customers that includes a link or a QR code to the City of Long Beach’s website regarding the ordinance, a summary of the public’s rights, and the enforcement options available.

Next Steps

Covered Long Beach drug and food retailers may wish to review the ordinance to ensure compliance. Other employers may consider remaining vigilant and up-to-date as these issues evolve.

Ogletree Deakins will continue to monitor developments and will post updates on the California and Retail blogs as additional information becomes available.

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