Insider received a call from an operator in Washington State wondering if they can be classified as an essential business and be out updating vinyls for customers?  Timely call, for lots of reasons, but in particular that the OAAA held a “Stay at Home” webinar this week with a significant focus on Outdoor as an essential business.  Here are some highlights from the Webinar:

Outdoor Advertising is a communications medium – Most States do not specifically indicate that Outdoor is an essential business. Case law though has made clear that Outdoor is an important means of communication to the public and should qualify as an essential business.

What are the components of declaring my business as essential? – Two main categories to keep in mind.

• The first is that Outdoor communicates important messages for the government. In particular the flexibility of digital in coordinating information for location of available hospital services and testing can be an extremely useful tool.
• The second is that Outdoor communicates for other businesses considered essential.  This is a much larger category and impacts most all of us as we provide advertising for hardware or grocery stores, restaurants and drug stores.

Components of declaring your business as essential –

• Remember being essential is proportional.  Though your business is essential, not all of your employees are essential.  You can maintain minimum basic operations, but if an employee can work from home, that’s where they should be.
• Keep in mind that enforcement varies by state.  You should read and understand who your state deems an essential business. There is a website, The Council of State Governments, that provides all the State information in one place.  You can find a list of all State Executive Orders at this link.
• Use good judgement.  Being essential does not provide carte blanche to update vinyls for every customer.  You could make the argument that you need to do the occasional posting to keep your essential business viable.

Should my employees who are essential carry anything with them? – At a minimum, have them carry some form of company identification and either the state list that specifically indicates our industry as essential or, if a more general reference is made, a concise letter explaining why the business should be considered essential.

As you can tell, specifics change from state to state and information and procedures evolve and change almost daily.  If you are essential, common sense and dealing with our employees humanely, is the best place to start.

Insider Note: Lamar Advertising did made a request of the State of New York to be designated as an essential business. Lamar received a determination from the state that they were an essential business and not subject to the required 100% workforce reduction the state has mandated. The State continued that the designation as essential was made solely with respect to those employees that must be present at the business location in support of essential business activities. No other employees/personnel shall be permitted to work from Lamar’s business location.

New York has been as aggressive as any in their “Stay at Home” enforcement.  Does not mean that your State would make the same designation, but it is an indicator and good information for you to have.

The OAAA now has on their site Essential Business Guidelines, which are available to members. Also for OAAA members you can review their Webinar from this week at their Webinar Library on this link.

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