Hotel workers at a Marriott in L A file COVID-19 safety complaint latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
PETA submits formal complaint to USDA following incident at Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation
PETA has now filed a complaint asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate the Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation in Butte County.
Posted: Feb 24, 2021 4:18 PM
Updated: Feb 25, 2021 10:55 AM
Posted By: Deb Anderaos
OROVILLE, Calif. – Wednesday morning, PETA announced it submitted a formal complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Director Robert Gibbens, calling on the agency to investigate the Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation.
PETA submitted the letter this morning, saying they want the USDA to investigate the foundation for apparent violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) after a 3-year-old leopard ‘attacked a volunteer and then escaped his primary enclosure at the roadside zoo on Saturday,’ according to PETA’s news release.
Friday, February 19, 2021
A February 2021 California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) press release trumpeted the agency’s enforcement efforts and its recently issued citations for COVID-19–related violations. Cal/OSHA continues to aggressively issue “serious” classification citations to California employers. For example, Cal/OSHA issued “serious” and “willful-serious” citations with hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties against a sister agency, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation dba San Quentin State Prison, for COVID-19–related violations.
With Cal/OSHA’s continued hard-hitting enforcement efforts across the state and the agency’s issuance of “serious” and “willful-serious” COVID-19–based citations, California employers may be blindsided when organized labor uses workplace safety citations to declare an otherwise illegal strike or walkout as legal.
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The California Labor Commissioner has fined a McDonald’s franchisee for firing four employees who participated in strikes to protest coronavirus safety conditions in their Los Angeles workplace.
R&B Sanchez, which operates a McDonald’s on 1716 Marengo St. in Boyle Heights, was fined Friday more than $125,900 in lost wages and retaliation penalties and ordered to offer the workers their jobs back. The franchisee may appeal.
“Too many workers fear retaliation if they report a problem or stand up for their rights,” said Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower in a statement Wednesday. “California law has anti-retaliation protections in place that make it illegal for employers to punish workers for exercising their labor rights, such as reporting a workplace safety hazard”
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California Attorney General (AG) Xavier Becerra recently announced that he has created the Worker Rights and Fair Labor Section, which will fall under the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Division of Public Rights. This new section will be tasked with protecting workers against workplace issues such as wage theft, health and safety violations, and employee misclassification. Additionally, it will bolster the enforcement of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s (Cal/OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS), which are designed to protect workers from COVID-19.
According to an AG office spokesperson, “the new section will have a senior assistant AG overseeing the work of supervising deputy AGs and various deputy AGs. As a result, among other things, the increase in personnel handling these matters will significantly strengthen DOJ’s capacity to tackle issues involving workers’ rights.