The following appears courtesy of California Department of Industrial Relations, California Labor Commissioner
California Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su has issued citations totaling $1,625,468 to the Bedford Care Group, Inc., an assisted living provider located in Fresno. The Labor Commissioner cited the Bedford Care Group for labor code violations including unpaid minimum wage and overtime, meal and rest break violations, as well as the failure to issue itemized wage statements.
The following was written by Robert Rodriguez and was published in the Fresno Bee
A Fresno County farming company is suing the state, saying it unfairly imposed a requirement to negotiate with a labor Union on behalf of thousands of its workers.
Gerawan Farming Company, one of the largest tree fruit growers in the state, is suing the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and the United Farm Workers Union, alleging the state failed to meet the requirements for imposing mandatory mediation against the company.
The UFW filed a new lawsuit against California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health alleging continued "systematic failure" to enforce the state's heat illness prevention regulation. The new lawsuit is in addition to a previous heat injury related lawsuit filed by the UFW which is currently pending in the Court of Appeals. Agricultural Employers should be aware of the UFW’s heat injury crusade and the added scrutiny it will undoubtedly bring to Heat Injury & Illness Prevention Plans. The UFW’s actions may also spur increasingly strict enforcement from the agency. The following was detailed in the Cal-OSHA Reporter:
On the heels of Congressional movement on comprehensive immigration reform in recent weeks, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R, Va.) unveiled a new immigration bill entitled “The Agricultural Guestworker Act” (H.R. 1773). A key component of the proposed bill is designed to fix problems with the existing temporary agricultural guestworker program known as H-2A. H-2A visas allow workers to enter the U.S. for temporary or seasonal farmwork. In referencing the existing problems with the H-2A program, Goodlatte states, “American farmers avoid using [the H-2A program] altogether since it exposes them to frivolous litigation and burdens them with excessive regulations.” Goodlatte proposes replacing the H-2A temporary agricultural guestworker program with the newly proposed H-2C program. “The new guestworker program created under the “Ag Act” remedies this problem by removing red tape, streamlining access to a reliable workforce, and protecting farmers from abusive lawsuits” according to Goodlatte.
By: Edward McClements, Barkley Insurance and Risk Management
Health Care Reform requirements and regulations are flying out of Washington at a blistering pace. Late last week the Department of Labor released new COBRA model notices (since the current COBRA notice has language that soon will be outdated due to the reforms). They also released the Employee Notification model notice for the new Exchanges.
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