所有新闻

Fair Chance Community Organizer, Katie Dixon, and Staff Attorney Stacy Villalobos discuss with KQED potential problems with legislators' recent efforts to combat unemployment fraud occurring in California prisons. "Current proposals could end up penalizing vulnerable people, both with and without criminal records both with and without conviction records," said Katie Dixon, due to a lack of complete and reliable data from California's criminal justice system. "'We just don't believe that the [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] is capable of disseminating accurate information to anyone, let alone someone outside of their already complicated landscape.'"

Alexis discusses the power that employers have to demand vaccinations and a return to work, while noting that “employers should be following their legal obligations and that having that balance makes space for all workers in our workplaces.”

Katie noted that, although only employers with more than 25 employees are required to provide this COVID-19-related time off, it is in everyone’s interest for all employers to provide this leave.

In light of the Biden administration's proposed federal paid leave program, LAAW's Work and Family Program Director Sharon Terman reflects on the lessons learned from California's groundbreaking program. "'We have learned in our experience in California the critical components that are necessary for paid leave policy to be truly equitable and accessible,'" said Terman, such as a sliding wage replacement rate and broader eligibility requirements than those outlined in the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Sharon Terman, Director of LAAW's Work & Family Program, discusses the need for new policies to help working parents even after the current crises caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic has passed. "Whether schools are open or not, we need equitable policies to help families beyond this crisis . . . . Our workplace policies simply do not meet the needs of most families, and particularly families and people of color. The pandemic added more to the shoulders of women.”

Katie Wutchiett discusses the new COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law (SB 95), including which employees are covered and when leave can be taken. “Since CDC guidance recommends that people who are exposed to COVID-19 quarantine for 14 days, [the mere 3 days previously provided by law was] not nearly enough,” said Katherine Wutchiett, an attorney with Legal Aid at Work. “We were seeing workers who were having to choose between going to work sick and endangering their customers and co-workers, or staying home but risking their jobs and their income