Just Cause 3 G2a

[Najee Laboy]

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The Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, passed in 1980, prevents landlords from arbitrarily ending a rental agreement. The Just Cause Eviction Ordinance applies to month-to-month renters, renters with verbal agreements, and renters with expiring term leases. To end or not offer to renew one of these agreements, a landlord or property manager must state one of the 16 approved reasons listed in the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance and be in compliance with the Rental Registration & Inspection Ordinance. Most Just Cause reasons do not require the owner to pay any type of relocation assistance to a tenant.

Effective July 2021, landlords must offer tenants in expiring term leases a renewal unless they have a just cause reason not to renew the tenancy. Notice must be issued 60 to 90 days prior to the expiration of the tenancy. Please see SMC 7.24.030.J for additional information.

SDCI issues land use, construction, and trade permits, conducts construction and housing-related inspections, ensures compliance with our codes, and regulates rental rules. SDCI is committed to an antiracist workplace and to addressing racism through our work in the community.

In order to evict a tenant from a rental unit covered by the Rent Ordinance, a landlord must have a "just cause" reason that is the dominant motive for pursuing the eviction. Note that the mere expiration of a rental agreement or a change in ownership does not constitute "just cause" for eviction.

The landlord also needs a "just cause reason to take away or remove access to certain housing services, including but not limited to garage facilities, parking facilities, driveways, storage spaces, and laundry rooms. However, a landlord who has complied with the requirements of Ordinance Section 37.2(r) may temporarily remove certain housing services, including parking and storage spaces, in order to perform mandatory soft-story seismic retrofit work required by the Building Code.

Since evictions are complex proceedings, landlords should proceed with caution and seek the advice of an attorney before asking a tenant to move or attempting an eviction. If a landlord evicts or tries to evict a tenant unlawfully, the landlord may be subject to substantial civil and/or criminal liability. While we cannot provide legal advice or refer you to individual attorneys, staff will be glad to direct you to appropriate resources for advice and assistance. A list of resources is available through the Referral Listing or at our office.

In this report, we present new findings from three data sources that shed light on the harmful effects of at-will employment on workers and show broad public support for adopting just-cause protections around the country:

We need a national just-cause policy, as well as state and local laws, to guarantee workers the job stability and economic security they deserve and ensure that they feel safe speaking up about mistreatment on the job.

Just cause eviction policies can apply to all rental housing in a jurisdiction or to a subset of units, like those that are subject to rent regulation. Just cause eviction laws typically enumerate a list of conditions that are permitted to form the basis for an eviction. Evictions are, then, not permitted for any reason not listed. In some jurisdictions, even when a lease ends, tenants can only be evicted based on the enumerated criteria. In this situation, tenants are in effect provided with the right to renew their lease or to remain in their unit on a month-to-month tenancy, as long as one of the bases for eviction is not present. When these policies apply, a landlord must notify a tenant of the basis for the eviction and other procedural requirements often apply. Some jurisdictions impose penalties on landlords that fail to comply with just cause eviction procedures.

Some jurisdictions impose civil or criminal penalties on landlords who violate just cause policies. In California, landlords may have to pay relocation costs for tenants being evicted for personal use, substantial renovations, or condo conversion. In many jurisdictions, landlords may have to pay damages and attorneys fees to wrongfully evicted tenants.

Requiring landlords to compensate tenants being evicted without cause can also serve to discourage landlords from taking such actions while at the same time helping to mitigate the burden imposed on tenants.

Many jurisdictions adopt other forms of procedural and substantive eviction protections that are not part of any just cause scheme. Procedural protections may include notice requirements, discovery rights, and the right to a jury trial. Substantive defenses to eviction available in some jurisdictions include retaliation, breach of the implied warranty of habitability, and violation of applicable consumer protection statutes.

For general reference, some examples of jurisdictions that apply the policy to all units are Seattle, Oakland, Berkeley, Washington D.C., and the state of New Jersey, some of which also have local rent regulation.

Just cause is the standard that management must adhere to when disciplining or discharging an employee. It means that in union settings, the employer must have a reason to act in disciplining an employee and the reason must be just and fair. In non-union workplaces, the employee is an at-will worker and can be disciplined or fired for whatever reason or no reason at all.

1. Notice. Was the employee adequately warned of the consequences of his/her conduct?

This means that the employer must have clear rules of conduct at the workplace that are either written or oral, including the consequences for violating such rules. Some cases however may not warrant such a requirement because they are so egregious or commonly understood, such as; drinking on the job; patient abuse; theft; or insubordination.

3. Investigation. Did management investigate before administering the discipline?

The employer must investigate before imposing any discipline. The burden is on the employer to gather all of the facts, documents and witnesses. However, the employer may suspend an employee, with pay, pending investigation.

5. Proof. Did the investigation produce substantial evidence or proof of guilt?

The investigation should produce substantial proof of a violation. The conclusions of guilt must be supported by the evidence.

All units covered by the Rent Adjustment Program are also covered under the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance. However, if your unit is not covered under RAP, it may still be covered under this ordinance.

Early attention to any problem can reduce the potential of a major conflict developing, and supervisors/managers should contact us to discuss problem situations. The supervisor and employee will not always agree as to what constitutes just cause, and a grievance may result. If the discipline is to be effective, it must be administered in such a way as to sustain a challenge if a grievance is filed and eventually appealed to arbitration. Consultation with an Employee Relations Consultant is required prior to initiation of formal discipline (e.g., letter of warning, suspension, dismissal), and before, if possible, placing an employee on investigatory leave.

And yet, voices across the political spectrum, including many on the left, have described this as a "just war." One longtime advocate of peace, Richard Falk, wrote in The Nation that this is "the first truly just war since World War II." Robert Kuttner, another consistent supporter of social justice, declared in The American Prospect that only people on the extreme left could believe this is not a just war.

I have puzzled over this. How can a war be truly just when it involves the daily killing of civilians, when it causes hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to leave their homes to escape the bombs, when it may not find those who planned the September 11 attacks, and when it will multiply the ranks of people who are angry enough at this country to become terrorists themselves?

I believe that the progressive supporters of the war have confused a "just cause" with a "just war." There are unjust causes, such as the attempt of the United States to establish its power in Vietnam, or to dominate Panama or Grenada, or to subvert the government of Nicaragua. And a cause may be just--getting North Korea to withdraw from South Korea, getting Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait, or ending terrorism--but it does not follow that going to war on behalf of that cause, with the inevitable mayhem that follows, is just.

The stories of the effects of our bombing are beginning to come through, in bits and pieces. Just eighteen days into the bombing, The New York Times reported: "American forces have mistakenly hit a residential area in Kabul." Twice, U.S. planes bombed Red Cross warehouses, and a Red Cross spokesman said: "Now we've got 55,000 people without that food or blankets, with nothing at all."

A New York Times report: "The Pentagon acknowledged that a Navy F/A-18 dropped a 1,000-pound bomb on Sunday near what officials called a center for the elderly. . . . The United Nations said the building was a military hospital. . . . Several hours later, a Navy F-14 dropped two 500-pound bombs on a residential area northwest of Kabul." A U.N. official told a New York Times reporter that an American bombing raid on the city of Herat had used cluster bombs, which spread deadly "bomblets" over an area of twenty football fields. This, the Times reporter wrote,"was the latest of a growing number of accounts of American bombs going astray and causing civilian casualties."

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