The cities of Santa Ana and Irvine are being sued over recently-approved ordinances to hike the hourly wages of grocery and pharmacy workers during the pandemic. The California Grocers Association (CGA) filed the lawsuit March 17 at the Orange County Superior Court, and seeks to declare the ordinances invalid and unconstitutional by singling out grocers and ignoring other frontline workers. Irvine became the first city in Orange County to approve “hero pay” in February, with its ordinance to take effect March 25. Santa Ana became the county’s first city to implement the measure after passing an urgency ordinance that took immediate effect March 2. In both cities, grocery workers—and some pharmacy workers—will receive an extra $4 per hour in hazard pay for 120 days. The mandates will hurt both customers and workers, said CGA president Rob Fong. “A $4 per hour mandate amounts to a 28 percent average increase in …