Truck drivers who work at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach filed a complaint with Cal/OSHA Monday alleging that one of the region’s largest short-haul trucking companies failed to protect drivers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Container Connection owns multiple trucking companies that operate in the Los Angeles region, and the complaint is the first of its kind addressing conditions during the pandemic that drivers transporting goods from ports to retailer warehouses have faced, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is representing the drivers that filed the complaint.
“Container Connection is in the sole position to identify and report hazards to customers to protect drivers’ safety and health,” the complaint said. “Container Connection drivers are hesitant to report COVID-19 hazards to customers’ warehouses because of the fear of reprisal having their load rejected or being banned from the site. This fear is b
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The California Supreme Court has ruled an employer cannot round the time an employee spends on their meal break to the nearest preset fraction of an hour. The court further held that time records showing noncompliant meal periods raise a rebuttable presumption of meal period violations.
Meal Breaks: The Basics
A California employer generally must provide nonexempt employees with the opportunity to take an uninterrupted 30-minute unpaid meal period no later than the end of the fifth hour of work. Employees may not be discouraged from taking their meal period and must be relieved of all duty.
Where an employee’s meal period is involuntarily missed, delayed, or shortened, the employee must receive one hour of premium pay at the employee’s regular hourly rate. An employer need not police the meal period to keep an employee from choosing to work during their break. The employer need only ensure it provides its employee the opportunity to take a bona fide timely break from du
Democratic Club wades into hotel worker dispute
Feb. 18, 2021 at 6:00 am
The JW Marriott Le Merigot (File photo)
Local residents and workers are rallying around JW Marriott housekeepers who are attempting to resolve a dispute with hotel management in the wake of rumors that the hotel may soon be sold.
In 2019, Santa Monica City Council passed a housekeeper protection ordinance that sought to guarantee fair pay for heavy workloads and prevent employers from matching minimum wage increases with additional responsibilities. The law also established required training on public health issues and worker protections and ensured worker retention in the event of a sale.
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Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a number of bills that will affect California employers in 2021. Most significantly, the new laws greatly expand the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), create stringent workplace reporting requirements related to COVID-19, and clarify California’s year-old independent contractor law, Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5).
Supplemental COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave
Assembly Bill (AB) 1867 expanded supplemental paid sick leave for COVID-19-related reasons for certain employers not already covered by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Specifically, it required private employers that employ 500 or more U.S. employees to provide California employees with paid sick time for COVID-19-related absences.
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With the new year comes new laws that affect California employers. The following are the A to Z of changes in the law that may affect your business in 2021.
Attorneys Fees for Whistleblower Retaliation and Extended Filing Period for DLSE Claim (AB 1947)
This new legislation expressly authorizes a court to award reasonable attorneys fees to a plaintiff who prevails in a “whistleblower” action under Labor Code Section 1102.5. The new legislation also lengthens the period of time in which employees can file complaints with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). An employee who believes he/she has been discharged or otherwise discriminated against in violation of any law enforced by the Labor Commissioner now has one year to file a DLSE complaint.