Monday, October 5, 2020
California has closed a busy legislative session with more than 30 laws relevant to employers being signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. The 2020 session was influenced by the difficult events of 2020, from the COVID-19 pandemic to racial injustice.
COVID-19 Legislation
As COVID-19 became the primary point of concern for people across the nation, the California legislature focused on legislation pertaining to employers and the pandemic.
One of the first bills signed was Assembly Bill (AB) 1867, the statewide COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave. AB 1867 fills in some of the exceptions contained in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and provides up to 80 hours of paid sick leave to full-time employees who need to self-isolate or quarantine due to a COVID-19 diagnosis or exposure. Part-time employees and those who work on a variable schedule receive pro-rated benefits.
[February is Black History Month. For the month of February, RESULTS is sharing a series of spotlights of some of our staff and volunteers in the Black community. This post features Jamaica Brickhouse, a RESULTS advocate in Wilmington, Delaware.]
I am not a stranger to adversity. I grew up as the oldest of five children in a single-parent household. Through each phase of my life, I have experienced some type of homelessness and poverty knowingly or unknowingly. Like most people in my community, I have quietly dealt with the effects of systemic racism and oppression, whether I was seeking employment, housing, or in the criminal justice system. For a long time, I did not know how to help myself and others on a larger, more impactful scale.
In his new exhibit, North Carolina photographer Tom Simon captures both the faces of hunger and the communal efforts to alleviate hunger that touch multiple geographies, cultures and systems throughout the state. The 35-photo exhibit, Lifeline: Hunger Relief During the Pandemic, was recently on display at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, NC, and can now be viewed online here: https://tomsimon.myportfolio.com/lifeline-hunger-relief-during-the-pandemic. You can also follow Tom on Instagram at @sisimon678.
Tom Simon is a documentary filmmaker and tv producer who was volunteering as a photographer for local non-profits when the pandemic hit. He became interested in the weekly food distribution efforts that popped up during the pandemic, and decided to document what he saw. He writes,