As more California workers allege violations a backlog grows; it can take the state months or years to decide claims.
McDonald's workers, including Lizzet Aguilar, celebrate winning a state retaliation claim against a Boyle Heights franchise location. Four workers won more than $100,000 in lost hours, penalties and backpay after they alleged the owners illegally retaliated against them for making a workplace safety complaint during the pandemic.
Now labor activists are pushing for the state to more swiftly resolve retaliation claims, and for the Legislature to pass a measure making it easier for workers to win them. It’s a move business interests oppose, warning it could subject employers to unjustified claims. “Why this retaliation happens is workers standing up for themselves, standing up for their rights, and owners and companies putting those workers down, deterring the other workers by this increased fear,” said Jules Yun, who organizes restaurant and retail workers for the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, an advocacy center in Los Angeles.
. Officials dismissed 228 of those claims for a lack of evidence, deciding in the worker’s favor in just nine cases.After being fired from her McDonald’s job, Aguilar’s debt piled up and her household income dwindled. The officer ruled that the owner of the Boyle Heights franchise location, R&B Sanchez, Inc., along with its owners Beverly Sanchez and the late Robert Sanchez, and their nephew who was the human resources manager, had illegally retaliated against the four workers for making a legally protected workplace safety complaint.
An attorney representing the Sanchezes and the company did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Reached by phone, DRS Hospitality CEO Dean Sanchez — a relative of the former owners whom the state also listed in the case as an R&B Sanchez company representative — declined to comment, saying he was only “an employee at the time all that happened.”The labor groups’ advocacy around retaliation targets a central dynamic in the employee-employer relationship: the fear of losing a job.
This spring the sisters filed a lawsuit against Hong Kong Banjum, the restaurant that employed them as cooks and dishwashers, alleging wage theft. In a court filing, CEO Min Kyung Jeong denied the accusations, saying the sisters were paid for all hours worked and given rest breaks. Jeong and her attorney did not respond to several CalMatters’ emails and phone calls requesting comment.
She called the Koreatown worker center organizers back crying, Yun said, and repeated to them what she said the manager had just told her. The organizers returned. “We were comforting Sandra and we were encouraging her to stay a couple more hours,” Yun said.Sandra Barreno at Harvard Park, Los Angeles, on July 13, 2023. Photo by Ashley Balderrama for CalMatters
But the lawsuit does not include allegations of retaliation — the Barrenos’ lawyer said they would be hard to prove. Nor have the sisters filed a retaliation complaint with the state — worker center organizers knew of a significant backlog, Yun said.
Under current state law, workers must prove their employer’s actions were retaliatory to win their case. Then the state could fine the business or force the employer to pay back pay for an illegal firing. Yun said the bill could encourage more workers to organize themselves to make workplace demands together: “It won’t eliminate all the fear, of course, but it is one more step.”
“Our concern is when you start to get out 60, 90 days that’s when judges tend to look at other circumstances,” such as whether anything happened in between that time or whether the worker had a pattern of other behavior, Jensen said. Opponents argued then that workers could stave off justified firings by filing labor complaints ahead of time. Davis wrote in his veto letter that the measure would have “a chilling effect on a supervisor’s willingness to legitimately discipline problem employees.”
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
What Southern Californians Say Are The Top-Tier Bagels And SchmearSouthern California's bagel scene is thriving. We walk you through where to go.
Read more »
Elias: Basing Californians’ electricity rates on income unworkableThe plan would really just discourage new rooftop solar installations and protect big utilities from the Community Choice Aggregation trend,
Read more »
Thomas Elias: Most Californians support density, but maybe anti-density measure will gain steamDespite those findings, often showing 60 percent or more in favor, the rebellion against those laws has a decent chance of success.
Read more »
California gas prices skyrocket ahead of Labor DayGas prices across Southern California have increased 35 times in 37 days.
Read more »
Busy Labor Day weekend ahead for travelers in and out of Southern CaliforniaAAA’s domestic bookings for flights, hotels, rental cars and cruises are up 4 percent, compared to last year’s Labor Day holiday
Read more »
National Cinema Day chaos motivates California mall to make unaccompanied teens wear ID badgesA mall in Southern California will soon require unaccompanied minors to wear identification cards after a crowd of youths started three brawls at the shopping center during last weekend’s National Cinema Day promotion.
Read more »