[Source: Sacramento Bee] The good news, at least for California employers, is that the 2012 overhaul of the state’s system of compensating workers for job-related illnesses and injuries appears to be having its stated effect. Although the changes – a deal between employers and unions that drew Gov. Jerry Brown’s blessing – increased cash benefits Read More…
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California governor approves legislation raising paid family leave benefits for employees
[Source: Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo] On April 11, 2016, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 908, which will increase workers’ access to State Disability Insurance (“SDI”) and Paid Family Leave (“PFL”) starting in 2018. PFL provides wage replacement benefits for up to six weeks to care for a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, Read More…
Expanded paid sick leave mandate moving forward in L.A.
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The city of Los Angeles is a step closer to requiring all employers to provide six days of paid sick leave to their workers, three days more than mandated under state law. The City Council’s economic development committee voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to forward the recommendation for three additional days Read More…
Brown signs California law boosting paid family-leave benefits
[Source: Los Angeles Times] Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a bill expanding California’s pioneering family-leave law to help more low-income workers and provide better benefits. “It’s a real pleasure to be able to sign another bill that helps ordinary Californians, working men and women,” Brown said. The action comes 15 years after California became Read More…
Mr. Trump: America’s economic problem is regulation, not trade
[Source: The American Spectator] It is important to point out who and what are really to blame. Even when Donald Trump seems to get something right, he’s mostly wrong. At least when it comes to economics. Many Americans are suffering financially. Yet he hates trade, even though Americans have grown rich as a trading nation. Read More…
AQMD board narrowly approves restart of refinery in Torrance
[Source: Los Angeles Daily News] ExxonMobil’s Torrance refinery was given regulatory approval Saturday to produce emissions that violate clean air standards as it restarts the plant for gasoline manufacturing more than a year after it was crippled in an explosion. Approval was granted on a narrow 3-2 vote by the South Coast Air Quality Management Read More…
Air quality district picks former EPA administrator as chief amid protests
[Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune] Environmental activists interrupted a four-hour meeting of the South Coast Air Quality Management District governing board Friday, accusing the district of bowing to petroleum industry interests as it voted for a new executive officer. The protesters, dressed as clowns and representing the Sierra Club’s My Generation Campaign, added to the Read More…
Gov. Brown expected to sign minimum wage hike
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The state Legislature on Thursday approved a minimum wage hike to $15 an hour for all employers in California by 2023, sending the bill to Gov. Jerry Brown for his expected signature on Monday. Both houses approved the wage-hike bill on largely partisan votes of 26-12 in the Senate and Read More…
California lawmakers weigh nation’s highest entry level wage
[Source: Associated Press] California state lawmakers are poised to enact the nation’s highest statewide minimum wage on Thursday, with gradual increases to $15 by 2022. Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders are promoting the boost as a matter of economic justice, and as an example to a nation struggling with a growing divide between Read More…