#minnesota overtime law

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - March 20, 2023

🌱 - Okra to the Rescue and Other News You Can't 'Lettuce' Miss This Week

1. 4 day work week being pushed in Congress

Progressive Democrats, led by Rep. Mark Takano of California, are pushing for a four-day workweek to give Americans more time for leisure outside of work. The proposed Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require overtime pay for any employee working more than 32 hours in a week at a rate of time and a half.

More than 70 British companies have started to test a four-day workweek, and halfway through the six-month trial, most respondents reported there has been no loss in productivity.

2. Governor Walz signs universal school meals bill into Minnesota law

Minnesota just became the fourth state in the US to provide breakfasts and lunches at no charge to students at participating schools! The bill was signed into law by Governor Tim Walz on Friday, and it's set to ease the burden on parents who struggle to provide meals for their children.

The new legislation will cover the cost of meals for all students, regardless of household income. This means that families who don't qualify for free and reduced meals but who struggle to pay for food will also be covered. The bill is also meant to prevent "lunch shaming" practices, where children are denied food or given substitutes that indicate their family is struggling financially.

3. Texas Researchers Use Okra to Remove Microplastics from Wastewater

Researchers from Tarleton State University in Fort Worth, Texas discovered that food-grade plant extracts from okra have the power to remove microplastics from wastewater. Polysaccharide extracts from plants like fenugreek, cactus, aloe vera, tamarind, and okra were found to be effective non-toxic flocculant alternatives to remove microplastics from water.

Polysaccharides from okra and fenugreek were best for removing microplastics from ocean water, while a combination of okra and tamarind worked best for freshwater. Furthermore, plant-based flocculants can be easily implemented in existing water treatment facilities.

4. In the northern California snow, stranded cows are getting emergency hay drops

The recent wave of unprecedented snowfall in California has left cattle stranded and starving. When rancher Robert Puga ran out of hay, neighboring Humboldt County officials put together an emergency rescue operation called "Operation Hay Drop." State, federal, and local officials airdropped stranded cattle bales of hay to feed them.

Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal went to the Coast Guard with the idea of a helicopter rescue, and by midday Sunday, March 5, Operation Hay Drop was underway. So far, Operation Hay Drop has been a success, said rancher Puga. The mission covers about 2,500 head of cattle over several miles.

5. Make-A-Wish Foundation no longer considers Cystic Fibrosis to be automatically qualifying due to improvements in life outcomes for patients

Given the ongoing life-changing advances in cystic fibrosis, beginning in January 2024, cystic fibrosis will no longer automatically qualify for a wish.

6. 1st woman given stem cell transplant to cure HIV is still virus-free 5 years later

In 2017, a woman known as the "New York patient" underwent a stem cell transplant to treat both her cancer and HIV. Now, about 30 months later, she has been virus-free and off her HIV medication, leading some researchers to suggest that she may have been cured of HIV.

The New York patient, received stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood that also had the HIV-resistance genes. However, it's important to note that there is no official distinction between being cured and being in long-term remission, and the medical team is waiting for longer-term follow-up before making any definitive statements.

7. Cheetahs Back in Wild in India After Seven Decades

Namibian cheetahs have been successfully reintroduced to India after the world's fastest land animal was declared extinct in the South Asian country more than 70 years ago. Two cheetahs, Obaan and Asha, were released into the wild of Kuno National Park after being brought to India last September.

The species is being reintroduced on an experimental basis as part of a major prestige project for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India aims to bring in about 100 of the big cats over the next decade. The African cheetah is a different subspecies from the extinct Asiatic cheetah, which once roamed the sub-continent in great numbers.

Lastly, I recently opened a Youtube channel. Subscribe for a weekly compilation of feel good videos.

- - -

That's it for this week :) If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Let's carry the positivity into next week and keep spreading the good news!

[mystlnewsonline]

DOL Obtained Judgement - Amada Senior Care Twin Cities

Department of Labor recovers $121K in back wages and damages for 25 workers denied overtime pay by Minneapolis home healthcare provider Amada Senior Care Twin Cities. Investigation finds employer failed to pay overtime. MINNEAPOLIS, MN (STL.News) The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring the operator of a home healthcare provider franchise in Golden Valley to pay $121,000 in back overtime wages and liquidated damages to 25 certified nursing and patient care assistants after a federal investigation found the employer denied them overtime pay. On May 22, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Paul A. Magnuson for the District of Minnesota entered a consent judgment in which Getch Inc. — operating as Amada Senior Care Twin Cities — and its owner, Gregory B. Getchell, agreed to pay the monies owed to the affected employees.  The order also forbids employers from future violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. “Home healthcare employees work long hours to assist clients with daily living tasks that enable them to maintain dignity and live at home, yet all too often we find industry employers violating overtime rules and denying these care workers their rightful wages,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Kristin Tout in Minneapolis. The court’s action follows a review of Amada Senior Care Twin Cities’ employment practices by the department’s Wage and Hour Division from Oct. 9, 2019, to Oct. 6, 2021.  Investigators found Getch Inc. violated federal law by paying a flat daily rate to workers who provided live-in assistance with self-care and daily living activities.  By doing so, the employer failed to pay overtime as required when the employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. The division also alleged that the employer’s pay records gave the appearance that overtime had been paid when it had not been paid.  The division further asserted Getch misapplied rules exempting employees from eligibility for overtime pay and failed to pay overtime wages owed to an Amada Senior Care Twin Cities office worker.  These actions violated the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions. The department filed a complaint in federal court in Minneapolis on July 25, 2022. “Based on the department’s investigation, the court held Getch Inc. responsible for paying its workers overtime wages,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Heri in Chicago.  “The Department of Labor is committed to fighting for justice for workers denied their rightfully earned wages.” Founded in 2007, Amada Senior Care is a San Juan Capistrano, California-based company with more than 100 franchise locations throughout the U.S. Amada care providers offer care services for seniors and their families, including in-home senior care, senior housing advising, home monitoring, and financial care coordination. In March 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 738,000 healthcare and social assistance workers left their positions, and the field had more than 1.6 million openings.  As the aging U.S. population grows and demand for home healthcare services increases, employment in a variety of healthcare occupations is projected to grow 13 percent from 2021 to 2031 – faster than the average for all occupations – adding about 2 million new jobs. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor Read the full article

[antoine-roquentin]

Verheyden-Hilliard is the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, and preparing to take legal action challenging Enbridge’s financial relationship with Minnesota police. “It’s been important for us to see firsthand what the conditions are like on the ground,” she said. “It helps us to be able to craft litigation to effectively address what is occurring.” And what is occurring, exactly? “Enbridge is showering cash on county Sheriffs departments unlike anything the’ve ever seen,” she said. “The sheriffs and counties here are able to bill them for any time and material that they assert is relate to Line 3.”

“That means that any time they act against water protecters—surveil, suppress, follow, pull them over, arrest them, jail them—they get to bill for it,” she added. “They’re billing their actual time and overtime. This is not moonlighting.”

This appears to be true. Enbridge established a financial relationship with Minnesota law enforcement began in May 2020, when the state Public Utilities Commission approved Line 3’s route permit. That permit required the oil giant to set up a special fund that would reimburse police responding to anything pipeline-related.

This was great news for Minnesota’s cash-strapped police departments. For over a decade, individual city police departments had been shuttering due to budget woes, and county sheriffs had been picking up the slack without much increase in resources. Enbridge, it appeared, could help alleviate some pain.

Under the permit, police departments were informed they could get reimbursed by Enbridge for “maintaining the peace in and around the construction site” and “coordination services” related to maintaining public safety. More broadly, though, the permit said law enforcement could get reimbursed by Enbridge for any activity related to public safety and the pipeline.

So far, we know that activity includes the formation of the Northern Lights Task Force, a group of 18 county sheriff’s departments created specifically to combat and deter pipeline protestors, and inspired by the violent protests at Standing Rock.

[abqbox]

Went by the rink, because I missed it Friday, also they were showing the local junior team game from Minnesota and my brother-in-law was in town and wanted to go watch.

It was game three of a best of three series to get to go to the league final.

The Ice Wolves played well and had a number of leads through the game but the other team from New Jersey never was down by more than one and kept tying the game up, including with about a minute and a half left in the game with their goalie pulled.

After that it went to overtime, as it went on and on it seemed the other team was getting better in comparison to the Ice Wolves and then there was a big hit that injured one of the players and was called a five minute major penalty. It was over half way through overtime period two and the players all looked tired.

They managed to kill off over half the powerplay but couldn't last the whole five minutes and let one in to decide the game in favor of New Jersey. It was a disappointing end to the game and the team's season. But it was a great success for the young organization and the couple dozen or so fans at the rink to watch were disappointed but not super horribly upset.

It was a bit surprising to me that the rink snackbar was closed, I'm sure they could've made some money. But on the plus side, the second sheet was open with last week's maintenance all finished.

[gotham--fc]

Nooo tomato’s are evil the flavour is good but the texture 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️

Oh yeah for sure when I was watching the GB v France match back in 2019 it was a relegation game that saw Gb 3-1 or 3-0 down going into the third , pull it back, go to overtime where we had like 4 shots ? And France had a ton? And the GB getting a breakaway, falling on said breakaway but passing to a player behind who scored, like holy that game is ingrained into my brain like holy!

Hockey is honestly the best like I love watching it and playing it soo much. Like it’s just the best omg. Did you hear nhl players aren’t going to the Olympics :(( I wouldn’t be surprised if they postpone at this rate :(.

Yeah that’s fair, I’m not picky about my protective equipment (except my gloves cause I need my hands , and my skates if they count but they’re more they gotta be comfy ) there are some bits I don’t like (like my helmet cause it squishes my head or the Jill just cause it never sits right and u can’t adjust it in a game cause it would look weird). My stick tho holy, I got a new one last month and it was the exact same model as the old one but a new curve and I refused to use it for like 3 games cause I wasn’t used to it and didn’t wanna use it and then mess up a shot that would be important. Also I bought it off a mate and she was like want it before your game or after the game at training and I was like after cause I’m not playing with it lol. (They’ve also stopped making the sticks so I’m praying these two (three if you include the one with the different curve) never break cause I love it😂)- sorry for the rant there lmao I love my hockey sticks they are like my children.

Also yes that song is a bop I love it!

Yeah that’s fair tht was really sad, I was shocked Minnesota lost tho cause doesn’t knight et all play for them like damn!

Yeah you defo should’ve or maybe not maybe you not watching made them score cause they’re like nah not letting this dude see us score.

Fair fair, nah was just asking cause I feel like I’m filling up ur page with it all lol😂😂

Also I had to fully research the pitch invader and the laws round it today lol 😂 it’s sad the law is stupid :(.🏒🏒

I like tomatoes!!! On this blog we stan tomatoes!!

Oh yeah overtime is crazy, I remember last season the jays were trailing Oakland like 3 nothing, Marcus sieman hits a 3 run homer to tie it up, Oakland takes the lead again they tie it up and go to extras and really had no business winning that game but sieman again just bangs out another homer for a walk off win like that’s some wild shit right there

I heard that, it sucks but it is what it is, and honestly with all the cases in the nhl rn there would probably be a lot of players getting scratched from the Olympic roster anyway with covid stuff, but honestly I don’t think they’ll postpone the entire Olympics, just because they already did the summer Olympics like if this was the first Olympics in a pandemic I’d say yeah postponed for sure but since they already did it once just a few months ago I think they’ll go ahead because they know what they’re doing, but I could be wrong 🤷‍♀️

Again I’ve never played hockey 😂 but I get what you mean, once you get used to something you wanna keep using it, it’s like baseball right like trying to switch from a metal bat to a wooden bat like no way I’ll stick with my metal one please and thank you

My brother bought my dad a new Bauer stick for Christmas last year and my dad told him that it was a good stick but he’s still using his old one over a year later 😂

I feel like the only time the petes win when I watch is when I actually physically go watch them live which is absolutely tragic for my bank account 😂 at least ohl tickets aren’t as expensive as nhl ones

Oh I’ve avoiding looking into pitch invader rules cuz I know it’ll piss me off

But don’t worry, I love our chats, if they fill up my blog they fill up my blog, you know what that’s on me for not posting more often 😂

[harveyhyig091]

Take 10 Minutes To  Get Going With Betting Tips

Concepts Regarding Sporting Activities

" It was extra like the prompt future-- like staying alive," he claimed. Additionally, Craig Grialou and also Mike Jurecki praise the Cardinals' Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year champion, Corey Peters and also examine just how the defense could assault Daniel Jones as well as the Giants. It was far from best yet it was an action in the appropriate direction.

Top 10 Matched Betting Pointers For 2020.

Relief has actually originated from the pointer of a needle considering that Amy Hubbard obtained the first of her 2 COVID-19 vaccinations. His mom is living the headlines on the cutting edge as Teaching hospital's nursing manager and also they've spent the season separated yet in touch. Brent is the writer of 4 published books concerning Texas A&M, three related to A&M sports.

What's the 100 for in the NFL?

Celebrating 100 Years of Football

The celebration of the NFL's 100th Season kicked off with a Super Bowl ad for the ages and will continue with a series of “NFL 100” events, initiatives and programs celebrating players, fans, and their communities.

Groups will be allowed to have greater than the common 85 players on scholarship, however not more than 123 on the lineup, Sitake has said. Due To The Fact That the Cougars (10-1) have actually played a less-than-difficult schedule, nevertheless, the concern needs to be asked before they tackle probably the very best group they will see in 2020, 6-3 Main Florida in the Boca Raton Dish on Tuesday. McKissic, holding him to a 1-yard gain on a third-and-4 in the third quarter. Adams has actually published a sack in 4 successive video games and also has 9.5 sacks on the season.

The Cowboys shed two of 3 meetings with Mines last season, losing to the Orediggers in the RMAC Tournament on March 3-- the last game Highlands played before this period was canceled, and the last until November of 2021.

Yet if you desire them to win in the actual word-- mentoring sporting activities skills is so much more than looking excellent.

The Sports Tourist Understanding Institute is the leading-edge education institute for the sporting activities occasions and tourism industry.

You like sports stats and also rewatch timeless ready the subtlety.

Your athletes require to be able to carry out sports skills in efficiency scenarios-- which means a re-think of the way you train skills.

Sheffield Football Association, the leader of later area organizations. Sheffield as well as London clubs played 2 matches versus each other in 1866, as well as a year later on a suit pitting a club from Middlesex versus one from Kent and also Surrey was played under the changed guidelines. In FA clubs accepted an invite to enter a mug competitors and to add to the acquisition of a prize. By 1877 the associations of Wonderful Britain had agreed upon a consistent code, 43 clubs were in competition, and the London clubs' initial prominence had actually lessened.

Who is the best football team of all time?

And be sure to vote in the poll to crown the greatest NFL team in history.1962 Packers.

1991 Redskins.

1999 Rams.

1989 49ers.

1979 Steelers.

1994 49ers.

1996 Packers.

1971 Cowboys. The 1971 Cowboys boasted a fast, multifaceted offense that scored 40-plus points five times during the 14-game regular season.

More items

In competitors utilizing two-legged matches, each group competes in the house when, with an aggregate score from both suits deciding which team advances. Where accumulations are equivalent, the away objectives regulation might be made use of to figure out the champions, in which instance the champion is the team that racked up the most objectives in the leg they played far from house.

In Information.

Today, Brallier is rated no more than 7th in line amongst the early-day gamers approving pay to play. While the PAC had suspected something prohibited was afoot, there was no instant evidence to support its idea that the AAA had deserted the basic practices of the day by in fact paying someone to play football. Each hire is weighted in the positions according to a Gaussian distribution formula, where a group's ideal recruit is worth the most points. This formula ensures that soccer prediction all commits contribute at least some value to the group's rating without greatly gratifying teams that have numerous extra dedications than others. Interim defensive planner Pole Marinelli, the Raiders defense must get over injuries to maintain playoff hopes active versus the Chargers.

Who won last 10 Super Bowls?

Super Bowl X / Champion

Similarly, Gaelic football is one of the most popular sport in Ireland in regards to suit participation, and the All-Ireland Football Final is one of the most enjoyed event of that country's showing off year. The laws of rugby union additionally altered during the 20th century, although much less considerably than those of rugby organization. By the 1870s, Rugby and also Organization football had actually begun to come to be preferred in Ireland. The regulations of the English FA were being distributed extensively. Standard types of caid had actually begun to give way to a "rough-and-tumble game" which enabled tripping.

Oliver W. Rafferty-- Allegheny Athletic Organization, Pittsburgh-- $50 per game for the whole 1893 season. James Van Cleve-- Allegheny Athletic Organization, Pittsburgh-- $50 per ready the whole 1893 season. Peter Wright-- Allegheny Athletic Association, Pittsburgh-- $50 per ready the whole 1893 period.

Who invented football?

The man most responsible for the transition from this rugby-like game to the sport of football we know today was Walter Camp, known as the “Father of American Football.” As a Yale undergraduate and medical student from 1876 to 1881, he played halfback and served as team captain, equivalent to head coach at the time.

He has enabled simply three pressures throughout 372 pass-blocking snaps in 11 games. Claim what you will certainly regarding the routine, that's still unbelievably excellent. There's a head instructor in Miami that remains in his second year during a rebuild with a rookie qb and also practice squad freelances off the road that simply got 9 triumphes of them on the edge of making the playoffs.

Which club is older City or United?

Just two years separate the existence of the two Manchester clubs, with United holding bragging rights as the oldest as they were formed in 1878, while City were established two years later.

Go back in time to see the Detroit Lions Cheerleaders' progression through 2019 tryouts, DLC training camp, making the group, and investing the 2019 period as participant of the Detroit Lions Cheerleaders. Prepare in Minnesota Vikings jerseys right below at the VikingsLockerRoom.com, the main on the internet shop of the Minnesota Vikings. Store the biggest option of Vikings Nike Video Game Jerseys of all your preferred gamers in males's, women's and also children' dimensions. It's the "Persistence" version of the Bengals Booth Podcast as Dan Heap as well as Dave Lapham look ahead to Sunday's video game against the Philadelphia Eagles with punter Kevin Huber. Also, today's "Know the Enemy" segment with NBC Sports Philly reporter Michael Barkann. It's the "Stronger" edition of the Bengals Cubicle Podcast as Dan Heap as well as Dave Lapham recall at the current for Bengals gamers, coaches, as well as fans, an overtime incorporate Philadelphia. information Sam Hubbard's Period Of Trial Obtains A Raise Bengals protective end Sam Hubbard is much eased today and definitely not because of Monday night's task of slowing down Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's split-second launches.

Assents for such violations might be levied on individuals or on clubs as a whole. Fines may include penalties, factors reductions and even expulsion from competitions. For example, the English Football League subtract 12 factors from any kind of team that goes into economic administration. To name a few management assents are fines against video game loss. Teams that had waived a game or had been surrendered versus would certainly be awarded a technological loss or win.

He started Washington's very first 4 video games this season, going 1-3. He was changed by Kyle Allen, who went down with a season-ending ankle joint injury in the Week 9 loss to the New york city Giants.

[canimumblr]

I wish I had found a new job before lockdown happened. I wish I’d taken my friend up on her offer to go work at Target instead. I cannot with my job anymore.

Monday I cried on the phone talking to my boss about how I felt I couldn’t handle my job anymore, and was having such severe panic attacks at work that I couldn’t finish my shifts sometimes, and I was desperate for something to do. During that conversation I told him that I was honestly reconsidering whether I could even stay with this job if it stayed this demanding long-term, and that I would need to rescind my offer to work voluntary overtime because ever since I started doing it the panic attacks have gotten substantially worse and my health is really suffering and I didn’t know what to do.

TWO. FUCKING. DAYS. LATER. this motherfucker sends out a mass email to our entire team telling us he’s mandating us to be on call for BOTH of our days off (on alternating weeks--two weeks a month I’m on call for Tuesdays, and two weeks a month I’m on call for Saturdays). Never mind the fact that most people already fucking have commitments on their days off (I know I do) and I can’t work this for logistical reasons.

THIS is the response to me telling him that my health is suffering because of the increased demands of work right now. To increase it more. If I could afford to, I would’ve 100% quit on the spot. I’m just floored.

I sent back a polite email expressing my disappointment and asking what can be done. If he doesn’t respond well to that, my next response will be a little more...idk, detailed. 

Pointing out that while he CLAIMS this is to ease the burden on chatters, it’s really only slightly lowering the queue, meaning chatters are still doing the same amount of work but there are more of us doing the same amount of work so customers don’t wait long. In short, ensuring the company more sales/money while not actually allowing any individual chatter to have any reprieve. Also telling him that if not enough people are signing up for voluntary overtime, that means that people either can’t do it, or don’t think it’s worth it. Overtime can be further incentivized to make it worth it for those who can, but for those who can’t do it, telling them to just do it anyway is only going to create problems for all parties involved.

And if he still doesn’t respond well to that, I’m using my employment as leverage. I know I’m one of their top-performing employees. If what I need to do is just keep missing work and also refusing to come in for those overtime shifts until they fire me, so be it. You can collect unemployment if you get fired in most cases so at least I won’t be completely out of income.

I’d rather not do that, because this job pays me really well and when they’re NOT pulling this kind of bullshit I count myself lucky to have it, but to do this, IMMEDIATELY after one of your employees tells you they’ve been having panic attacks several times a week because they can’t keep up with the increased demands of the job, is just bullshit. There’s no justification for it.

I have another coworker who’s going another route--he’s going to inquire about Minnesota state law requiring employers to pay employees for all hours they’re expected to be on call if they are expected to stay close to the work premises. We’re working from home, but also he made it clear that we are expected to be available and ready to log in at a moment’s notice if we’re called in which seems close enough to count. So that’ll use a different kind of leverage.

I’m just so tired. I’ve broken through the unmitigated rage into just...hopeless depression about this situation. I don’t want to hate my job like this again. I don’t want to feel trapped at a job that destroys my mental health because I can’t afford to not work there. I did that about a decade ago and almost killed myself, it got so bad. 

I don’t know what to do.

[trivialbob]

Today my brother-in-law gave Matt and me tickets to the Minnesota Wild game. Tonight the Wild played the Chicago Blackhawks.

I get to one pro hockey game a year, or every other year. This was a lot of fun being there with Matt. Our seats were in the third row. Being that close to the glass you can see the players faces clearly.

When I’m events like this I wonder about people’s stories. Seated next to us was a 65-year-old woman with a blanket on her lap. I was curious if she had season tickets or was she, like us, the recipient of tickets someone couldn’t use. That lady sat stoically throughout the game. I didn’t talk to her.

On our other side was a young couple who spent $50 on beer (five times $10/can) and probably another $30 on french fries, nachos and a brat. Two people enjoying a very rare night out and determined to have a lot of fun and not worry about spending a little money now and then? Or two people not giving a shit and happy that the third credit card still had a bit left before being maxed out like the other two? Those are things I think about.

Another thing I consider are all the employees there. How do you get to be one of the people who works the penalty box? That would be a fun way to watch a game. The crew that shovels snow off the ice during commercial breaks - was there an ad in Craigslist when those jobs opened up? Do you go to vo-tech to learn to operate the computerized scoreboard?

Sadly, the Wild were defeated by Chicago 4-3 in overtime. It doesn’t change my life so I’ll sleep fine tonight. Matt and I had a nice time talking, reminiscing about when he and I each played hockey.

[star-anise]

We’re a week into Pride Month and I am already... so exhausted with people who are like “THE LGBT COMMUNITY IS THE MOST OPPRESSED COMMUNITY EVER!!! DON’T YOU DARE SAY ANYONE ELSE IS EVER OPPRESSED!!!”

✨ You fucking have to be intersectional if you want to be effective ✨

I’m a feminist. I spent two years working at a “women’s shelter”, which is, a shelter for women fleeing from domestic violence. Like 99% of women’s shelters, it was based on the Duluth Model, which is a theory of domestic violence developed from working with middle-class straight white women in Minnesota.

Everything about that shelter was based around gender as an axis of oppression--about men being the abusers of women. And let me tell you, I left because that ends up with a hot mess of a) ignoring all the awful and toxic things women can do to each other and to other vulnerable and oppressed people, and b) ignoring that the vast majority of women in our shelter suffered WAAAAAYYY MOOOORE from poverty, racism, colonialism, mental health problems, ableism, and child abuse than gendered violence--and these were also problems the men in their lives faced.

Our shelter would have been so much more effective if we’d dropped the feminist lens and gone, “WHAT are the forces causing violence in our clients’ communities? How do we address THEM?” instead of assuming that our West African clients weren’t in danger because it was their mothers-in-law threatening to kill them instead of their husbands, that our poor clients were moving to “safe housing” because their new area was riddled with gangs but far away from their ex-boyfriends, that our Indigenous clients had “adequate support” from family members each so traumatized and reeling from their collective childhood abuse that they struggled to look after themselves, let alone each other. We would have realized that even if they didn’t have That Evil Abusive Man in their lives, they still needed help, and if we didn’t give it to them, they’d be back in shelter two months later.

Yes I’m queer and that’s a unique form of oppression, but I’d be a fucking fool to claim it’s the only or the worst. This world has a lot of pain in it. And LGBT people come from every walk of life, culture, gender, and ability status. There are a lot of LGBT people whose gender or orientation is the smallest cause for discrimination they face. 

So I’m just so exhausted with the idea that you’re allowed to sit on top of this one form of oppression and claim that is the Key to Everything and act like it’s your only priority. It just sounds so privileged. “If it weren’t for this one little thing, my life would be perfect!”

I’ve tried that. I’ve taken the seminars. I’ve worked the overtime. I’ve seen where it leads. And I have no desire to do a new dance to the same old tune.

[hub-pub-bub]

Wage theft is when your boss doesn’t pay you what you’ve already earned. When I learned that Massachusetts had “blue laws,” that my bosses weren’t obeying them, and had shorted me around three thousand dollars, it was wage theft. 

This was the law: retail employees were to be paid at a “premium” rate on Sundays and holidays, time-and-a-half, the same as overtime. But none of the booksellers where I worked had ever been paid it. And while not being paid overtime is a textbook example of wage theft, when I tell people, they are happy to qualify it for me with a “Well…” or an “Okay, but…” I don’t know where this instinct comes from. Maybe it’s because “wage theft” makes it sound premeditated, more like a crime. (But it was a crime!) Or maybe it’s because I worked at an independent bookstore, and indie bookstores are beloved pillars of the community. (What would that mean about the community?) Maybe it’s because it doesn’t makes sense that an independent bookstore would do something like this. Everyone knows indiebookstores are thriving! (Which is true—it’s the people who work in them who are struggling.)

I found out when I was trying to see if I could afford to take a sick day. I felt like I was coming down with something, but taking a day off meant losing a not-insubstantial chunk of my monthly take-home pay ($11.50 an hour). Since there were sick hours adding up in a box labeled “time-off accrual” on my pay stubs—and surely they had to amount to something—I went to mass.gov to check the law. But they amounted to literally nothing, as it turned out: Massachusetts businesses only have to provide paid sick leave if they have more than eleven employees, and we had ten. My “sick days” meant I couldn’t be fired for staying home sick (as long as I wasn’t sick more than five days per year).

But I learned something else. There were links to related pages and I clicked the one about “blue laws,” which I didn’t know we had in Massachusetts.

Later that day I emailed the bookstore’s owners. Is there a reason our bookstore is exempt from blue laws, I asked, or was this an oversight?

They responded the same night. They’d heard that other area bookstores had to pay the premium rate, they said, because their booksellers were unionized, but that otherwise there was some exemption. They said they would investigate, that they’d talk to their lawyer and get back to me.

After that the story gets so routine you could probably write it yourself. When I followed up a few days later, they said their lawyer was on vacation but that they’d update payroll and we’d receive the premium pay on Sundays and holidays from then on. When some of the other booksellers and I contacted the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division, they only sent a form letter saying the matter was too small for them to investigate personally, but we were welcome to pursue legal action (on our own time and at our own expense). I found some free legal clinics on wage theft, but only once-a-month and while I was scheduled to work. Ten days after the first email, I followed up again; “still the same conflicting intel,” they said, “but when we told our lawyer that we started paying 1.5 for sundays and holidays, the matter dropped. (lawyers are expensive!) let me know if it’s not reflected in your check.” A coworker who already planned to quit asked the owners specifically about back pay–which I hadn’t had the courage to do—and they told her no, they weren’t going to pay it, and they said it in writing.

I ended up speaking to a lawyer, who offered to represent me on a contingency fee basis: I wouldn’t have to pay if we lost, and the bookstore would be responsible for my legal fees if I won. But he recommended I not move forward until I got a new job. It isn’t legal to retaliate against an employee for bringing a case, he told me, but, you know, it also isn’t legal to ignore blue laws.

I said thank you, I’ll consider my options.

One day in November one of the owners called me into the office at the bookstore. She gave me $500 in cash and $500 in store credit, about a third of what I was owed. I spent the store credit on gifts for the holidays and I looked for a new job. I ignored a follow-up call from the lawyer and tried not to wallow in the humiliation. I was not successful. Even now it feels like admitting something shameful: I was fooled, maybe, or I’m some kind of miser. A few people asked me, what if they can’t afford to pay back pay and they go out of business? You hear it more than once and it’s easy to forget it’s not a ransom, that you didn’t pluck the number out of nowhere. 

It’s hard to compare independent bookstores to other kinds of retail stores. Bookstores sell a cultural product and booksellers insist that bookstores can’t be compared to other retail stores because they sell a cultural product. And bookstores don’t exploit their employees more than other retail. But what grates is when bookstores market themselves as more than stores, as community hubs.

“Independent bookstores act as community anchors,” the American Booksellers Association declares, at the bottom of every page on their site; “they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.”

This same lofty idealism justifies why booksellers don’t need to be paid a living wage, like employees of nonprofits or teachers: because bookstores are so vital for the community, the assumption goes, the job should be reward enough itself. The work is so important that maybe booksellers should make personal sacrifices, working well below the value of their labor.

I spoke to around twenty booksellers while I was writing this, and I was struck by how many are willing to make trade-offs. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been. “Independent booksellers consistently describe their work as more than just a way to make a living, and more than just a means of escaping the constraints that come from working for somebody else,” writes Laura Miller, in her 2006 book, Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption; “These booksellers see themselves as bettering society by making books available.” Plenty of the booksellers I spoke to saw bookselling as a calling. Because of course they do! If they weren’t willing to make sacrifices, they couldn’t still be booksellers. And how else could bookstores get away with paying them—they, who generally have to have a college degree; who have to spend a lot of unpaid time reading across all genres and topics; who have to have at least a little knowledge about everything, from the ancient Greeks to Dog Man 7: Brawl of the Wild; who, at at least one store, famously have to correctly answer quiz questions before being hired—so little, while so successfully preserving an image as a (generally progressive) force for social good?

And it is so little. A bookseller in Southern California with eight years of experience still earns less than $20 per hour; “I can’t think of another industry where you could work for eight years and still be making that little,” he said. A different Southern California bookseller/assistant events manager earns $17.50. A bookseller/assistant events manager in the Boston area is earning $14. A former bookseller in Northern California was making $14.25, a quarter above the minimum wage. A part time bookseller in Chicago makes $13, the city’s minimum wage. A former bookseller in Minnesota was salaried after two years at $30,000 while a bookseller and events manager in Tennessee started at $25,000, six years ago, and now makes $31,500.

I started at $11 per hour and ended around eighteen months later at $11.50, and as far as I know, none of the booksellers at that store even earned $15. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Boston is $2400 per month, which I could cover if I worked 50 hours a week, didn’t pay taxes, and didn’t need money for food, utilities, medical care, or literally anything else.

The booksellers I spoke to reported quite a range of benefits—in one year, for example, a Bay Area bookseller accrued three weeks of vacation time, and in the same time period a Pennsylvania bookseller got three days. But some booksellers told me that their benefits were mostly on paper. Not being fired for calling in sick or going on vacation doesn’t make it financially viable, after all. A Minnesota bookseller told me she has ten paid vacation days per year, but the store has so few employees that taking time off means she’d have to make up the missed hours working overtime. A bookstore in California offered a health insurance program, but gave employees a fifty-cent raise if they didn’t enroll.

It’s not so bleak for everyone. Unionized stores generally fight for better benefits and act as safeguards against labor law violations; I talked to a handful of booksellers whose stores had some kind of profit sharing, which can make a big difference.

But… I don’t know. There’s a bookstore owned by people who, all evidence suggests, really give a fuck and want to do right by their booksellers. They pay at least $15 per hour, and I heard one of the owners say on a podcast how much is required of booksellers; “If you’re a college graduate, and you’ve spent all this time reading, in addition to going to college—yeah, you deserve $15 an hour. Period.” But when his interlocutor mentioned a bookstore that had profit sharing, the owner was quick to say it wouldn’t work at his store. (And it wouldn’t, yet—the store is young and not yet profitable.*) But “It’s also a matter of loyalty,” he said, and explained that he couldn’t envision employees staying longer than a year. “I would love to find a bookseller who I know would be around long enough. Right now it just hardly seems even worth doing all the work. No one would qualify, because they won’t stick around long enough.”

Tell me, what are they going to stick around for? The bookstore owner said all of his employees are part-time—they’re either in grad school or working other part-time jobs. Are they supposed to stick around for a part-time job that pays $15 per hour?

What is there to be loyal to?

IndieBound—an ABA project—has a section on its website dedicated to answering Why Support Independents? One answer is that “Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors.” But you can also find a page at the ABA website on “The Growing Debate Over Minimum Wage,” warning that “a minimum wage increase that is too drastic could result in reduced staff hours, lost jobs, or, worse, a store going out of business.” There’s also an “Indie Fact Sheet” to print out and give to local politicians; “Many indies pay more than the current minimum wage already for senior and full-time staff,” it says; “They do this because offering superior customer service is one of their competitive advantages—it is what separates them from their chain and remote, online retailing competitors. This also helps indies retain and attract good employees.”

See? Many bookstores pay their booksellers more than the minimum wage! It’s not their problem that that same minimum wage isn’t enough to cover a one-bedroom in any state in the country. It’s not their problem that inflation has eroded the value of the minimum wage. It’s not their problem that low wages are an affront to basic dignity or that higher minimum wages save lives. They’re just fiercely committed to their neighbors and their communities.

The ABA is happy to help its member stores fight even modest wage increases. “If the minimum wage is raised,” the Indie Fact Sheet continues, “it inevitably means indies will have to increase the wages of senior and full-time staff, in addition to increasing the wages of any minimum-wage workers. This increases the ripple effect. A seemingly ‘insignificant’ wage increase can have a dramatic effect on the bottom line, sending a profitable store into the red.”

There’s no mention of the dramatic effect an increase in the minimum wage could have on employees.

At Winter Institute–an annual ABA conference for independent booksellers–there’s a town hall where members can share their concerns. According to the ABA’s coverage of the event, an independent bookstore owner went to the mic to speak about the minimum wage. “I’m very happy the staff is getting a pay bump,” she said, “but that’s a huge adjustment to make every 12 months and once you get a handle on it, then it’s going up again. I feel like this seems to be going countrywide and that is something that is extra important to our nonexistent margins.”

Why this framing? Why not ask how other stores are handling the adjustment? Why not pay employees a living wage now so as not to have to change business model every year? Why does a bookstore owner feel comfortable getting up and saying this in front of an audience of booksellers?

If your local indie bookstore skirts labor laws or advocates against them, at the expense of its employees, can you still be sanctimonious for shopping there? Is your local indie bookstore thriving if its employees skip doctor’s appointments they can’t afford? If your local indie bookstore’s trade group doesn’t have resources for booksellers on paid sick leave, health insurance, or wage theft–in an industry famous for its tiny margins–is it an industry you’d recommend joining?

“We find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of being believers in social and economic justice while struggling to pay our employees a salary they can survive on,” writes Elayna Trucker on shopping local and running a bookstore; “We urge our customers to Shop Local but make hardly enough to do so ourselves. It is an unintentional hypocrisy, one that has gone largely ignored and unaddressed. So where does all that leave us? Rather awkwardly clutching our money, it seems… All of this brings up the most awkward question of all: does a business that can’t afford to pay its employees a living wage deserve to be in business?”

I am so glad I don’t have to come up with an answer. I have no idea. I haven’t the faintest idea at all.

In the end it was a tweet. I left the bookstore after the holidays and started a new job in January. In February, after a night of shitty sleep, I tweeted, “I have been spending hours lying awake at night doing nothing but feeling this intense shame like a stone in my chest about experiencing wage theft at my last job and I am sincerely just hoping that tweeting about it is enough to make it stop so let’s see if it works.”

A day or two later I got an email. “It’s filtered back to me that the $1000 we gave you to settle the Sunday pay issue,” they said, “didn’t resolve it.” They said some things about how they hadn’t known until I told them. They cut me a check for the back pay that same day.

I didn’t delete the tweet. I don’t know if any of my coworkers got back pay.

A little later, I read an article about the student-run Harvard Shop in Cambridge. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office found that the store owed almost $50,000 in back pay to their employees and $5,600 in fines for violating blue laws. “In this case, we unknowingly did make a mistake in how we were paying our students for Sunday and holiday pay,” the store’s manager said.

I only saw the article because the union I joined at my new job shared it on Twitter.

In Seasonal Associate, Heike Geissler’s barely-fictionalized account of her time working at an Amazon fulfillment center, she writes: “What you and I can’t do, because you and I don’t want to, is to think your employer into a better employer, and to compare these conditions to even worse, less favorable conditions, so as to say: It’s not all that bad. It could be worse. It used to be worse. We don’t do that. You and I want the best and we’re not asking too much.”  

I loved bookselling. I loved it for the same reasons everyone does: the community of readers and booksellers, the joy when someone came back into the store and says I recommended the perfect read, the pride when authors reach out directly to say how much my work meant to them. The free books, the discounts, the advance copies, all of it. And I do believe that bookstores can be forces for social good, insofar as bookscan be forces for social good, which I think they can. It is self-evidently better to get your books from a local store than from Amazon, and for precisely the reasons the IndieBound website gives.

But it’s not enough to Not Be Amazon, and framing bookstores as moral exemplars regardless of how they treat their employees isn’t to the benefit of booksellers. Bookstores “thrive” by hiding how much their booksellers struggle. “Any thriving I do personally is in spite of my store,” one of the booksellers I spoke to said. Working at a bookstore is not as bad as working at an Amazon warehouse; I didn’t walk dozens of miles per day and my bathroom breaks weren’t monitored. But are we willing to let that be the baseline?

*clarification added after publication

[laureala]

hi love! i wanted to know who specifically was the ship for your username? plus any random thoughts about the upcoming 18x16 ep? i hope you’re having a great day!

hi!!! it was laurel and michaela. the spelling doesn't really make sense thinking about it but it looks better than lauraela imo! just looked on twitter and people called them both at the time. honestly my memories of that show are very fuzzy except i know that oliver is very me and the line about no one being good at torts stuck with me (handy screenshot when i did a-level law; thank fuck for exams being cancelled). but i had that username on twitter and got attached apparently!

as for 18x16, correct me if i'm wrong but we don't have a summary for it do we? so it's kind of hard to tell what's gonna happen apart from addison coming back and arguments over minnesota. i am definitely excited to see addison! i would say i'm curious how the meredith situation is going to play out because of how the decision would affect the show, but i'm not super excited for a bunch of drama over it. i also saw the extended promo where amelia says 'i am pro minnesota' so brain is working overtime wondering how she and kai (and scout) are going to fit into it all. but time will tell! i've learned to stop trying to actually figure out what's gonna happen because i am always wrong.

hope you're having a lovely day too anon!! <3

[phoenixjobs8]

Software Staff Engineer

DescriptionCirrus Aircraft’s Mission is to deliver an aviation experience that is the pinnacle of innovation, quality, and safety to our customers.

Cirrus Aircraft is the recognized global leader in personal aviation and the maker of the best-selling SR Series piston aircraft and the Vision Jet

, the world’s first single engine Personal Jet and recipient of the 2017 Robert J.

Collier Trophy.

Founded in 1984, the company has redefined performance, comfort and safety in aviation with innovations like the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System® (CAPS®) – the first FAA-certified whole-airframe parachute safety system included as standard equipment on an aircraft.

To date, worldwide flight time on Cirrus aircraft has passed nine million hours and over 170 people have returned home safely to their families as a result of the inclusion of CAPS® as a standard feature on all Cirrus aircraft.

Find out more at cirrusaircraft.com.Cirrus offers a competitive benefits package and is dedicated to the advancement of general aviation.

The Cirrus Flying Club offers employees and their family members the unique opportunity to obtain their private pilot’s license in the comfort of a Cirrus or rent a Cirrus for an impromptu adventure at a greatly reduced rate.

We are committed to investing in the future of our employees and company by offering professional development and career progression opportunities and we engage employees by offering several employee and family events throughout the year, as well as the opportunity to take part in activity clubs and community events.Job Summary:Responsible for the the design, testing, and certification of avionics system and component-level software for FAA certified single engine aircraft.

Develop software architecture and module requirements from high-level design objectives.

Perform design and analysis of all aspects of system and component-level software and related interactions with aircraft systems and avionics equipment.

Generate certification plans and reports to meet 14 CFR Part 23 requirements.This position is responsible for embedded software development from the ground up on new designs and hardware.

Collaboration with electrical and mechanical engineering to achieve fully integrated systems will be required.

Experience with small multi-disciplinary teams is a plus.Qualifications:Education and/or Experience:Minimum:+ Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineer, Computer Science, or Software Engineering or equivalent required.+ 10-14 years’ experience in a related field+ Generating System Requirements, Traceability Matrices, Interface Control Documents, and related design specifications.+ Proficient with software development tools and methodologies+ Proficient in C, C+++ Ability to work both independently and within a cross-functional team+ Proficient with Microsoft Office tools (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Visio)Distinguishing Education and/or Experience:+ Safety-critical software development and certification (Aerospace, Medical, Automotive)+ Embedded software development (some hardware background is a plus)+ Generating all required documentation in support of DO-178C and DO-254 certification activities+ Requirements Management Software tools and methods: DOORS, Jama, or similar programs+ Change Management Software tools and methods: Jira, Clearcase, SVN, or similar programs+ Familiarity with open source tools a plus (GCC, GDB, and other similar programs).+ Compliance with 14 CFR Part 23 regulations, including DO-178/DO-254 or similar processesSupervisory Responsibility: NoneOther Duties:Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job.

Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Overtime hours may be required.This opportunity is located in Duluth MN, North Dallas TX, or Phoenix AZ East Valley.Cirrus gives priority to candidates interested in moving to our Duluth headquarters for innovation and activity center of our manufacturing, engineering, and enterprise operations.

We will also consider candidates who are interested in working with us from Dallas, TX or Chandler (Phoenix), AZ.

Phoenix Arizona, East Valley.

The economic growth and superior quality of life found in the PHX East Valley didn’t just happen overnight.

From thriving cultural opportunities to amazing recreation areas, the PHX East Valley has developed into the place where individuals want to work, live and play.

From pedestrian-friendly downtowns with urban vibes, to small town communities bustling with personality, to the Superstition Mountains where there is wide-open space and urban growth is on the horizon, the PHX East Valley has it all.Duluth, Minnesota.

As the home to our corporate headquarters, Duluth is a four-season city on the western tip of Lake Superior and was voted “Best Town” by Outside Magazine.

The splendor of the largest freshwater lake in the world offers a multitude of outdoor activities for adventure or rejuvenation.

The North Shore lifestyle is known its year-round activities, including bicycle and snowmobile trails, kayaking, rock climbing, fishing, hiking, golfing, sailing and skiing.

And as a top employer in the area, Cirrus Aircraft was recently named “Best Overall Large Company to Work for in the Northland” and “Best Workplace Culture” by the Duluth News Tribune readers.Dallas Texas is the third most populous city (after Houston and San Antonio) and the metropolis of the sprawling Dallas–Fort Worth urban area, known locally as the Metroplex.

Fort Worth lies 30 miles (48 km) west; other major cities in the metropolitan region include Arlington, Carrollton, Denton, Garland, Grand Prairie, Irving, Lewisville, Mesquite, Plano, Richardson, University Park and McKinney (home of the 1st remote Cirrus Aircraft Factory Service Center).

Cirrus is dedicated to a drug free work environment promoting equal employment opportunity.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, national origin, color, age, disability, religion, pregnancy, veteran status, marital and family status, sexual orientation, receipt of public assistance, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

The post Software Staff Engineer first appeared on Valley of the Sun Jobs. source https://valleyofthesunjobs.com/it-tech-support/software-staff-engineer-da8661/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=software-staff-engineer-da8661

[jacobflrs]

Riot vs. Protest

Between the novel coronavirus and the election removing Donald Trump from office, the year 2020 has had many defining moments. It seems, however, that none was more important than the uprising of protests against police brutality and the subsequent counter-protests as if to say, “no you’re wrong.”

George Floyd was murdered by police on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, MN. While being restrained at the neck, Floyd repeatedly exclaimed, “I can’t breathe.” He died from mechanical asphyxia. Undeniably this led to civil unrest, and protests continued throughout the country for months. Initially, protests in Minnesota, and other places, were violent. It was a reaction of frustration and animosity that people felt of being attacked by the same people who were sworn to protect them. It was the kind of reaction you only hear in history courses talking about civil rights movements and the LA Riots. 

Overtime, as the coverage of Floyd’s death gained national recognition, protests across the country significantly increased. The violence in these protests weened quite a bit, and most Black Lives Matters protests remained peaceful. And these protests displayed a massive amount of people, which only increased with growing interest in other cases like Breonna Taylors. 

Black Lives Matters protests were quickly tainted by retaliation of both law enforcement and counter protestors claiming to be purely protecting businesses from being vandalized. With lines clearly divided, tension between them has only worsened.

The aspect of these protests that gets very complicated is the blatant favortism by police and crowd control officers of the counter protestors. BLM protestors have been labeled terrorists and anti-American. They are generalized, based on the earlier riots, to be criminals and vandals. Meanwhile, the opposition is seen becoming aggressors and instigators while law enforcement officials stand by. The BLM protestors are not clearly armed, and yet they are blasted with tear gas and beaten out of the streets. So called Proud Boys are seen holding assault rifles and never once are they seen tear gassed by police. In multiple case these armed militias lead to multiple shootings and deaths. 

Is this an indicator of white privilege? Or just blatant racism and a visual representation of a country so deeply divided that we do not share the same liberties? In the article by Joshua Inwood, titled ‘White Supremacy, White Counter-Revolutionary Politics, and the Rise of Donald Trump’ Inwood describes the direction the country has been headed under Donald Trumps reign as President. He explains that the face of white supremacy is vastly different than the historical explanation. It is deeply rooted into our political system and economy. With the rise to power of Trump, the Proud Boys and other pro-white organizations are becoming increasingly normative behavior. 

References

Inwood, J. (2019). White Supremacy, White Counter-Revolutionary Politics, and the Rise of Donald Trump [Editorial]. Retrieved 2019.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/22/portland-police-far-right-protest/

[minnesotaprelawland]

COVID-19 In The Workplace

By Grace Paulson, University of Minnesota- Twin Cities Class of 2023

November 11, 2020

When the Coronavirus took the world by storm, it brought a lot of uncertainty along with it. What was life going to look like after quarantine? How would the economy be affected? What would work life look like? These questions were the talk of every conversation in March. Nearly eight months later, these questions are still at the forefront of some minds, especially questions involving COVID-19 and compensation related to the workplace.

Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has implemented several policies in order to combat the problems the virus could cause in the workplace, including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act states that employers are to provide their employees:

 “Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a health care provider), and/or experiencing COVID-19symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis; or two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay because the employee is unable to work because of a bona fide need to care for an individual subject to quarantine (pursuant to Federal, State, orlocal government order or advice of a health care provider), or care for a child (under 18 years of age) whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related toCOVID-19, and/or the employee is experiencing a substantially similar condition as specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Labor.¹”

The Act also allows for up to an addition 10 weeks of paid expanded family and medical leave at two-thirds of his or her regular hourly rate. However, for these benefits to apply, individuals have to have been employed for at least 30 days and have covered employers. In this case, covered employers is defined as “any person engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce, who employs 50 or more employee for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar work weeks,²”according to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. Even with these regulations in place, many believe they have not been properly compensated for COVID-19 related training and safety briefings.

The government has set up several salary related precedents in the wake of COVID-19. What happens,though, when employees are held overtime for COVID-19 related briefings? What about when they have to spend extra time in their work day to ensure that all safety protocols, like measuring temperature,are followed? The law allows for employees to measure the temperature without having to worry about breaking disability law, but nowhere does it talk about wage and hour compliance. Legally, activities defined as “principal activities” must be compensated. The question then becomes, does measuring temperature constitute as a principal activity? Is it an activity that is “an intrinsic element of the principal activities and one that the employee must do in order to perform their principal activities?” ³The short answer is no. Many people feel as though they should be properly compensated for having to wait in line to have their temperature taken before being able to enter work, but the Fair Labor Standards Act does not consider this to be a principal activity. Therefore, employers have no obligation to pay their employee for it.As many companies have come to understand, there is a lot of uncharted territory when it comes toCOVID-19. The government has done what it can when it comes to the effects COVID-19 has in the workplace, but ultimately it cannot solve every issue. Sometimes it is up to the discretion of the employer, which can lead to legal disputes, such as the numerous cases related to temperature measuring. However, at a time of such uncertainty, only time will tell what the right decision is.

________________________________________________________________

1. “COVID-19 and the American Workplace.” U.S. Department of Labor Seal,www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic

.2. “29 CFR § 825.104 - Covered Employer.” Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute,www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/825.104.

3. “Fisher Phillips: Measuring Worker Temperatures Could Lead To Wage And Hour Claims.” FisherPhillips: Leading Labor & Employment Attorneys, www.fisherphillips.com/resources-alerts-measuring-worker-temperatures-could-lead-to-wage.

4. “Preparing Your Workplace to Address Coronavirus Risks: FAQs for Employers.” The NationalLaw Review, www.natlawreview.com/article/preparing-your-workplace-to-address-coronavirus-risks-faqs-employers.

[stephenmccull]

‘Is This Worth My Life?’: Traveling Health Workers Decry COVID Care Conditions

This story also ran on The Guardian. It can be republished for free.

David Joel Perea called from Maine, Vermont, Minnesota and, ultimately, Nevada, always with the same request: “Mom, can you send tamales?” Dominga Perea would ship them overnight.

That’s how she knew where her 35-year-old son was.

The traveling nurse had “a tremendous work ethic,” routinely putting in 80 hours a week, said his brother, Daniel.

But when Perea took a job at Lakeside Health & Wellness Suites — a Reno nursing home that has received dozens of safety citations since 2017 from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — Dominga was “scared silly.”

During Perea’s stint, nearly one-fifth of Lakeside’s residents were infected with COVID-19, according to state health records. Lakeside’s “top priority is the safety of those who live and work in our facility,” a spokesperson said.

When her son didn’t respond to her text on April 6, Dominga knew something was wrong. Perea had COVID-19. He died days later.

As COVID-19 surges across the country, health care systems continue to suffer critical shortages, especially among non-physician staff such as nurses, X-ray technicians and respiratory therapists.

To replenish their ranks, facilities have relied on “travelers” like Perea. Staff agencies have deployed tens of thousands nationally since March outbreaks in the Northeast.

Now the virus is tearing through rural areas — particularly in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states — stressing the limited medical infrastructure.

Rural hospitals have relied largely on traveling nurses to fill staffing shortages that existed even before the pandemic, said Tim Blasl, president of the North Dakota Hospital Association. “They find staff for you, but it’s really expensive labor,” he said. “Our hospitals are willing to invest so the people of North Dakota get care.”

The arrangement presents risks for travelers and their patients. Personnel ping-ponging between overwhelmed cities and underserved towns could introduce infections. As contractors, travelers sometimes feel tensions their full-time colleagues do not. Frequently employed by staffing agencies based thousands of miles away, they can find themselves working in crisis without advocates or adequate safety equipment.

In 2020, the upsides of their jobs — freedom and flexibility — have been dwarfed by treacherous conditions. Now the ranks of travelers are thinning: The work is exhausting, bruising and dangerous. Thousands of front-line health workers have gotten the virus and hundreds have died, according to reporting by KHN and The Guardian.

On April 17, Lois Twum, a 23-year-old traveling nurse from New Orleans, was one of four passengers on a flight to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

When the self-described “adventure-seeking adrenaline junkie” arrived for her first shift at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, she said, she was assigned four patients on a COVID-19 unit. (Intensive care nurses typically care for two or three patients.) As these “constantly crashing” patients required resuscitations and intubations, “there was practically no one to help,” Twum said, because “everyone’s patient was critical.” The hospital did not respond to requests for comment on the workplace conditions and treatment of travelers.

Meanwhile, as hospital employees got sick, quit or were furloughed amid budget cuts, travelers picked up the slack. They were redeployed, Twum said, assigned more patients as well as the sickest ones.

“It was like we were airdropped into Iraq,” Twum said. “Travelers, we got the worst of it.”

On social media and in email groups, recruiters for travelers circulate photos of sun-splashed skylines or coastlines emblazoned with dollar signs, boasting salaries two or three times those of staff nurses. They promise signing bonuses, relocation bonuses and referral bonuses. They make small talk, ask about travelers’ families and suggest restaurants in new cities.

But when it comes to navigating workplace issues, “these people can just disappear on you,” said Anna Skinner, a respiratory therapist who has traveled for over a decade. “They are not your friends.”

Caught between the hospitals where they report for duty and remote staffing agencies, their worker protections are blurred.

For instance, under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, providing protective equipment is the agency’s responsibility — but the travelers who spoke with KHN said agencies rarely distribute any.

Perea’s family said they believe David did not have adequate PPE. His employer said it was the nursing home’s responsibility to provide it. “It is up to each of our clients to provide PPE to our staff while they are working assignments through MAS,” said Sara Moore, a spokesperson for Perea’s agency, MAS Medical Staffing.

Sometimes travelers are assigned to emergency rooms or intensive care units with which they have little experience. Skinner, a pediatric specialist, said she landed in adult ICUs when deployed to the University of Miami Health System in April. She received an hour of orientation, she said, but “nothing could have prepared me for what I had to deal with.”

Over five weeks, she said, she intubated one patient after another; suctioned the blood pouring into patients’ lungs and out of their noses and mouths; and dealt with families who were aghast, angry and afraid. Under the stress, Skinner said, she couldn’t sleep and lost weight. The hospital did not respond to requests for comment on workplace conditions for travelers.

Travelers often face “incredibly onerous” hurdles to the overtime, sick leave or workers’ compensation they are entitled to under the Fair Labor Standards Act, said Nathan Piller, a lawyer at Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky, an employment and business litigation firm.

Even the number of hours they can count on working is out of their control, Skinner said. Contracts reviewed by KHN authorize travelers to work a set number of hours, but only a fraction of those hours are guaranteed, and must be approved by on-site managers. The guaranteed hours may be compensated at rates hovering around minimum wage, and may require working holidays, which are not uniformly recognized.

The terms can be “modified from time to time during employment,” according to the contracts.

In 2018, AMN Healthcare, one of the country’s largest travel nursing agencies, agreed to a $20 million settlement for wage violations involving nearly 9,000 travelers. Violations “appear fairly commonplace across the industry,” said Piller, who worked on the settlement.

Travelers, Skinner said, are left to advocate for themselves to managers they might have just met — and “complaining just isn’t an option.”

KHN reviewed travel nursing contracts issued by Aya Healthcare, a large staffing agency, and found that any disputes — wrongful termination claims; claims of discrimination, harassment or retaliation; wage claims; and claims for violation of federal, state or other laws or regulations — must be settled out of court, in arbitration.

Officials at the Service Employees International Union, the American Nurses Association and National Nurses United said their constituents have been suspended or fired from traveling worker agencies for speaking to the news media, posting on social media or otherwise voicing concerns about unfair practices.

Matthew Wall, a longtime traveling nurse, knows this all too well. In July, two days into his assignment at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, Georgia, Wall said, he reported to hospital administrators “undeniably unsafe” conditions for himself and patients, including inadequate PPE, long hours and high patient-to-staff ratios.

Instead of addressing his concerns, Wall said, the hospital — which is under investigation by the federal government for workplace safety issues after another traveling nurse died of COVID-19 in mid-March — canceled his contract. “Travelers are treated like dog chow,” Wall said. “The second you become a liability, they dispose of you.”

“We continue to closely follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines paired with our best practices in patient care and safety for all,” said John Manasso, a hospital spokesperson, who declined to comment on Wall’s case.

Some see an impossible choice. “We all know, if not for us, these patients would have no one,” Twum said, “but watching each other get sick left and right, it makes you wonder, is this worth my life?”

Skinner, for her part, took a job as a staff nurse in Aspen, Colorado. After his current contract in New Orleans ends, Wall is planning a break from nursing.

It was like we were airdropped into Iraq.

Lois Twum

Dominga Perea finally received a text back the night of April 6: “Don’t panic, Mama, I have the COVID.

“Pray for me.”

She saw David over FaceTime on Easter. “He struggled even eating mashed potatoes” she said, “because he couldn’t breathe.” The next morning he went on a ventilator and never woke up.

Months later, Lakeside hadn’t filled Perea’s position. “Ideal candidate must be a caring individual dedicated to providing high quality care,” the job listing read, and “able to react to emergency situations appropriately when required.”

KHN Mountain States editor Matt Volz contributed to this report.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

‘Is This Worth My Life?’: Traveling Health Workers Decry COVID Care Conditions published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/