Labor

California’s Nov. 8 election is less than two weeks away, but battle lines are already being drawn for elections in 2024 and beyond. Here’s a look at two key fights: First up: Not so fast, fast food companies. That was the message sent Thursday by the state’s largest labor union, SEIU California, when it asked […]

Some prosecutors say that may change. They are partnering with the state on more wage cases or forming special units to pursue labor abuses as crimes. A new felony law could help, they say.

For eight years, the Los Angeles-based janitorial service provider Pacific Commercial hired one employee to work from morning until dusk, but also commissioned an independent contractor to take the night shift. The catch: The employee and the contractor were the same person, a 52-year-old named Edith Lopez. By classifying Lopez as a non-employee from 5 […]

During the decade after the 2008 recession, state funding for public health dropped 64%. COVID-19 funding has boosted the budgets of local public health departments, but the exodus of staff has left local officials struggling to fill vacancies.

The state is a national leader in labor law, experts say, but its agency enforcing wage theft rules in California still struggles to staff up.

Racism, redistricting and resignation. Those were the three R-words that rocked the California political world on Monday, as everyone from Gov. Gavin Newsom to U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla to statewide candidates in the Nov. 8 election weighed in on a leaked 2021 recording obtained by the Los Angeles Times in which three Los Angeles City […]

“It’s hard for any legislator to admit that a policy they championed, and put a lot of money behind, is going to make things worse.” That comment, from San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo, came during a Saturday panel on child care at Politifest, an annual series of debates and discussions hosted by the nonprofit […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom hadn’t even finished dispensing with all of the bills on his desk ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline before he issued a call for new legislation. “We’re not going to stand by while greedy oil companies fleece Californians,” the governor said in a stern Twitter video, citing a lopsided surge in gas prices […]

The bill increases leave payments to 90% of paychecks for lower-income workers in 2025, so more of them can afford time off for maternity leave or to care for ill family members.

With a midnight Friday deadline to determine the fate of hundreds of bills on his desk, Gov. Gavin Newsom has been a busy man. On Wednesday, Newsom unexpectedly showed up at the vigil that members of the United Farm Workers union have been holding outside the state Capitol since late August, when they completed a […]