Category: Brownness

Brownness, employment law, Legal

48 hour Sick Leave Law In Effect in City Of Los Angeles: Legal Reasons #56

Sanjay Sabarwal

The City of Los Angeles has a mandatory paid sick leave (PSL) law which is part of its minimum wage ordinance and which has been in effect since July 1, 2016, for employers with 26 or more employees.  The Los Angeles PSL ordinance will begin to apply to employers with 25 or fewer employees on July 1, 2017.

From an employer perspective, one of the toughest challenges of these local PSL ordinances is that the rules can change at any time. That is precisely what happened with Los Angeles’s ordinance when the city recently revised the rules and regulations relating to this ordinance. The city also revised its answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Some of these changes or clarifications are important, providing information on topics such as:

  • How to determine business size;
  • How to pay employees for sick time;
  • When an existing paid leave or paid time off policy can satisfy the requirements of the ordinance;
  • How to use the frontloading method during the first year that the law applies to an employer and in subsequent years; and
  • Whether a maximum cap on accrued hours is allowed.

The Los Angeles PSL ordinance contains different provisions than the state PSL law. Employers with businesses in a city with a local PSL ordinance need to comply with both the state and the local law. For each provision, protection or benefit, employers will need to provide whichever is more generous to the employee.

More information can be found on the Office of Wage Standard’s website.

Gail Cecchettini Whaley, CalChamber Employment Law Counsel/Content

The City of Los Angeles requires employers to post a minimum wage and paid sick leave poster. CalChamber’s Los Angeles Labor Law Posters contains the official notices employers must post in Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County.

Brownness

Vision Over Circumstance

Sanjay Sabarwal

Sometimes the weeks and days merge into one, and I wonder if what I am doing matters. It is easy to talk about all the stuff I get done during day, all my accomplishments, but deep within there is a constant battle of whether any of it really matters. Each day, I visualize a better me (spiritually, emotionally and physically) and express gratitude for what I have, yet there is a constant nagging feeling that I am not doing enough or that what I do is unnoticed by others. And then I see a beautiful sunrise, and it feels Papa is telling me I got you son. You are doing the right thing. The eyes fill up with tears once in a while, but that silence morning communion with him also does the job of bucking me up.

His morning routine I am adapting into my own, and I treasure this alone time as I am surrounded by my vision and doubts. Both do a daily battle, and I have to say my vision is winning more often than it used to.  Still, that’s not to say that mornings when I get to also grieve and really allow myself to miss him. The rest of the time belongs to my vision. It is the only I allow myself to be in my shit. Only time when I miss him with such ache that I wonder how others do it. Yet, the pain also subsides a bit each time I do something I feel like he would be proud of (namely law, being in service to others, waking up early. etc).

It helps to have these moments, to see my life as that bloody beautiful sunrise because happiness will always come through vision over circumstance.

Brownness, Food For Thought, Journal

Task Disorientation

Sanjay Sabarwal

03a50aaa6de20f2e334f7298d1524bcb Last week, my laptop stopped working, I had two flat tires, I was unable to get to the gym daily, and had a huge breakdown in communication with a loved one. I stewed about all the tasks I did not get to. Over and over, I kept scolding myself for not holding myself to getting my daily and weekly tasks to a point where I felt like a complete and utter failure. And then I took a breath.  I realized that yes I didn’t get to all my tasks, but how I handled what came up mattered more

I got a new laptop, got a great deal on the tires, and was able to have an intimate and vulnerable conversation with the loved one. Then there were other things, I hit 245lbs on my front squat, learned a bit about how to increase blog subscribers, discussed with my cousin about the podcast, revised a personal essay, saved the company from an HR mistake, and settled a claim for a client who was so grateful she hugged me 4 times.

It hit me that I still needed to not get so caught up in getting tasks done that I failed to accept what my overall goals were for myself. Too often, I lost myself in the to do list, and stopped living life when the whole point of the tasks was to live a life worth living. So I stopped and learned to be grateful for the blessings life threw my way. Thanked the universe for disorienting me, forcing me to slow down and know that no matter that I did not get to all my tasks the way I wanted, but I am still further from my starting point.

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Brownness, Legal

I Don’t Have a Drinking Problem: Legal Reasons #33

Sanjay Sabarwal

dui_chartFar too many people appear to believe that they do not have issues with alcohol, and appear to think it normal to have “just a few” and drive. With the advent of Uber and Lyft, it amazes me people still think it OK to drive after two drinks in an hour. It may seem wise to save those few bucks, but you only need to get caught once, or worse, get into a car accident, to have your driver record be scarred for a long time to come. Not to mention thee cost of being in jail, bail, fines and the unsettling realization that all this could have been avoided. So don’t it. If you cannot seem to stop even at two drinks, even if you don’t drink daily, you may have a drinking problem.

Still, it pays to use common sense. In the unfortunate case, you are pulled over. NEVER admit you have been drinking or smoking, as that gives police officers probable cause to ask further questions, and inspect your vehicle. Refused to take the breathalyzer as they can be inaccurate and show a higher blood content level if you have recently had a drink. Request a blood test, which unfortunately, may mean a trip to the station, but also means your body has more time to metabolize the alcohol.