County mandates $25-an-hour minimum wage for event staff at county parks

Staff at events held in San Diego County-owned parks must be paid at least $25 an hour and get benefits under a new policy passed by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

New labor standards for event staff were part of a larger package endorsed by supervisors to expand the county’s ability to regulate how workers are treated when they’re contracted to work big events like concerts in county parks.

Big events in county parks — including music festivals at Waterfront Park, like CRSSD Festival and Boots in the Park — regularly attract thousands of people each year, and the county says such large events generate $1.75 million in annual revenue for the county.

“When these events happen, production companies are always cutting corners,” Juan Perez, a recruiter with IATSE Local 122, which represents stage and entertainment workers, told supervisors.

“They outsource a lot of this work,” he said. “They bring in people from L.A., Las Vegas, Phoenix, all to save a little bit of money. San Diegans should be working and benefitting from these events.”

The move comes as the city of San Diego recently moved to raise wages for workers in the private sector.

Last month, the San Diego City Council passed a phased-in minimum wage hike for hospitality workers, a move that generated praise from organized labor but pushback from the business community.

The new legislation from the county includes a minimum wage for event workers and requires employers to provide contracted and subcontracted staff health and retirement benefits and to make an effort to hire local workers to staff their events.

The package passed on a 4-1 vote, with Supervisor Jim Desmond voting against it.

“I believe that morally the county has a responsibility to make sure that when our parks, our public parks, are used for these large scale events, these events are operated safely and economic benefits flow back into our local economy,” said Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who sponsored the legislation.

The county’s Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement will also get more enforcement power under the measure.

County labor regulators will now be tasked with auditing safety standards at large events on county land and informing workers at those events of their rights.

Another part of the measure asks county officials to empower county labor regulators to investigate labor practices at events and issue fines.

The county’s new rules come as the state has recently moved to impose tougher labor standards on public venues and events.

Legislation passed in 2022, AB 1775, requires entertainment event vendors to have staff complete OSHA training and receive other state certifications.