Gov. Jerry Brown has signed one of them, Assembly Bill 359, which requires the purchaser of a grocery store to retain the store’s current employees for at least 90 days.

The Chamber continues to campaign against the other two bills, hoping for a Brown veto.

Assembly Bill 465  would make it illegal for businesses to require job applicants, as a condition of employment, to waive their right to have a future employment dispute adjudicated by the state labor commissioner or in civil court.

Senate Bill 406 increases family leave benefits by expanding the definition of a family to include more extended family members.

Expanding Definition of Family

Currently eligible employees are allowed by law to leave work for 12 weeks each year, without pay and with their job guaranteed upon return for reasons of illness, after the birth of a child or to care for a sick child, spouse or parent.

The definition of a child under the California Family Rights Act includes a biological, adopted, foster or stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person performing the role of a parent, who is either under the age of 18 or is an adult-dependent child.

SB406 would expand this definition to include the son or daughter of a domestic partner. The bill also would remove the provision regarding age and dependent status of the child.

The definition of a parent includes the employee’s biological, foster or adoptive parent, stepparent, legal guardian or other person who has performed the role of a parent when the employee was a child.

SB406 retains that definition and expands allowed leave to include care for a sick sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner and parent-in-law.

The other leave expansion provided by SB406 applies to businesses that employ both parents of a newborn child. It allows each parent to take 12 weeks off to bond with that child for a total of 24 weeks between them. Current law limits parents to a total of 12 weeks of leave between them.

To be eligible for the leave benefit, employees must have worked at least 1,250 hours for the employer in the previous year. The law would only apply to businesses with 50 or more employees.

The bill’s supporters say that it’s a matter of fairness, updating the 24-year-old CFRA regulations to better reflect the changing reality of today’s extended families.

Concerns of Chamber

But the Chamber and a coalition of businesses in a Sept. 11 memo to state senators called SB406 a “job killer” because “it will mandate employers to provide up to 24 weeks of protected leave, that can be taken each day in as small of increments of one-hour, with a threat of litigation and punitive damages for any unintentional misstep.”

Twenty-four weeks of leave could be taken by splitting it between 12 weeks through CFRA’s expanded provisions and then another 12 weeks through the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, according to the Chamber.

Businesses are also concerned that the family leave expansion will lead to increased litigation.

“CFRA includes a private right of action with the opportunity to obtain compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees,” the Chamber said. “This private right of action creates costly litigation for employers, even when employers take reasonable steps to address abuse under CFRA.”

The Chamber cited several examples. In one case an employee, while on 12-week medical leave for a back injury, was found to be working at a restaurant that he owned. After the employer fired him, the employee sued. “Although the employer ultimately prevailed, the employer had to pay for litigation for over six years,” the Chamber said.

In another case, an employee sued unsuccessfully after he was fired for golfing and doing side work while taking time off to care for his father who had undergone ankle surgery. Other cases include an employee who submitted false medical certification to justify his leave, and another who claimed his leave rights were violated although he had been provided more than 14 months of leave.

During the debate on the bill before the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on June 24, CalChamber legislative advocate Jennifer Barrera said there’s no need for state legislation dealing with personal situations best left between employers and employees.

“’I can give you one week here and another couple there,’” she said as an example of how a business might protect itself from being shortchanged while still accommodating an employee’s leave request. “It’s a balance how to accommodate both needs.”

A Hobson’s choice

But the bill’s author, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, doesn’t believe such accommodations are always made and that there need to be safeguards in place to protect employees. Nearly 40 percent of eligible employees do not apply for family leave because they fear losing their job or facing other negative consequences, she said, citing a 2011 Field poll.

“The choice – caring for a loved one, bonding with a new child or keeping my job – it’s a Hobson’s choice, in my opinion,” Jackson said. “And certainly one that does not reflect a society that tries to emphasize the importance of family and community.

 

“This bill … will have a profound effect on California workers who have to face a difficult choice between putting food on the table or caring for a loved one. Many of us have not had to risk losing our job to care for a loved one with a serious illness, but life happens.

 

“And we want to ensure that Californians can keep their jobs and keep contributing to the economy while taking on the added burden and responsibility, and for many the opportunity, to provide that care and nurturing for loved ones who are in need.”

Testifying in favor of the bill was Lisa Bautista, a registered nurse who said her employer did not allow her to take time off to help care for her ailing 91-year-old grandmother.

“I was in disbelief,” she said. “She’s my grandmother and I consider my immediate family. When I was forced to choose my job, it was heartbreaking for me and difficult for my mother and aunts. Had I been able to take care of her, I would have felt more at peace and didn’t feel like I abandoned her. My brother has serious health issues and I would like to take care of him when the time arises.”

SB406 passed the Legislature largely along party lines. There was no debate in the Senate, but both sides weighed in on the Assembly floor on Sept. 11.

Slippery Slope

Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine, is concerned that the bill’s expansion of the definition of family is part of a pattern of legislation that starts out as a commonsense measure and metastasizes into runaway benefits that hurt businesses.

“We always just take the next step and the next step and the step after that,” he said. “And that’s where you get businesses fleeing California. That’s where you get rules and regulations that are job killers, like the Chamber has said this bill is.

“It’s time to say stop. It’s time to give our employers breathing room so that they grow themselves and provide the further jobs and the further opportunities that at the end of the day don’t benefit the employers but actually benefit the employees by giving them good productive jobs.”

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, countered, “The other side often wants to talk about family values. In my community, family values often mean it’s not a traditional family. I’m a single mom. If my child was sick I have to continue to work to pay the bills. But my parents have always been there.

“This is a natural progression of this law. It is not an expansion that will cost employers more. It makes sense. If you are pro-family, there is no way you can vote against this law.”

As of Sept. 17 Brown had not announced whether he will sign or veto SB406.

CA’s unemployment rate declines to 6.3 percent, still 17 percent higher than the national rate:

“For both California and the U.S., improvement in the unemployment rate continues to stem primarily from the shift in the status of the unemployed, as they have moved to the employed category or left the workforce. There has been little change in the overall labor force, and as discussed below, California’s labor force participation rate remains at 1976 levels.

“California’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 17 percent higher than the national rate. California’s ranking again improved slightly to be the 11th highest unemployment rate among the states.”

Labor force participation rate remains at 62.3 percent, matching previous low in 1976:

“California’s persistently low participation rate is an indication the state still is not producing sufficient jobs at a wage rate sufficient to draw disengaged workers back into the labor force. This decline in the relative number of workers has an immediate effect on total household income, with its attendant effects on the ability of those households to afford California’s high housing, energy, and other costs of living.”

Six industries remain below 2007 pre-recession job level; construction and manufacturing remain the hardest-hit industries after the recession:

Source: California Employment Development Department, Wage & Salary Jobs (not seasonally adjusted), Average Annual Wage (Q3 2014)

Bay Area continues to dominate employment growth; Inland Empire also shows strong employment growth:

Read the full report here.

The report’s headline: “California unemployment indicator declines.”

The California Employment Indicator declined to 121.6 in the first quarter of 2015 from 124.2 in the fourth quarter of 2014, a drop of 2.6 points. The Indicator includes such variables as movements in the lagged values of real GDP, real exports, the S&P 500 and California’s total construction spending.

Any number above 100 indicates jobs growth. So the news generally remains positive. The slight decline to 121.6 still is well into positive territory. And it’s certainly than the 46.6 the Indicator plunged to in 2009 during the trough of the Great Recession, as shown in the following graph:

‘Cautionary’

The slight decline “is a little bit cautionary,” Esmael Adibi told CalWatchdog.com; he’s an economist and the director of the Anderson Center.

He said that, historically, the Indicator closely reflects the growth or decline in state jobs, “but not necessarily every downtick and uptick” in the data. A couple more quarters will be needed to see if this really is a worrisome trend, or just a jiggle in the data.

“I would not like it to be a trend,” he said. “Still, we’re over the 100 threshold” indicating continued jobs growth.

The following graph shows how closely the Indicator follows actual employment.

Culprit

He said the culprit in the downtick was the decline in GDP in the fourth quarter. As Forbes reported on Jan. 31, for the United States, “Real GDP increased at only a 2.6 percent annual rate from the third to the fourth quarter 2014, about half the 5 percent increase in the third quarter. Without inventory accumulation, the increase would have been 1.8 percent, down from 5 percent in the third quarter.”

Adibi added that, if the downward trend in the jobs Indicator continues, “jobs creation still will be positive, but the rate of growth will be slower.

He said the California and U.S. economies continue to perform pretty much as Chapman’s 37th Annual Economic Forecast expected last Dec. 3, as CalWatchdog.com reported at the time.

“Consumers are in good shape,” Adibi said. “They’re driving the economy more than exports. GDP is up 3 percent, as we forecast. And we still are bullish on jobs creation of about 2 percent, which is respectable.”

The growth in the stock market (despite recent setbacks) and the housing market are causing a “growth effect.” That’s when growth in asset values leads some people to cash in their profits and use it for spending or investing.

Adibi also tagged the cut in gas prices drivers are enjoying as being “like a tax cut.”

Although for California, the new tax at the pump from the cap-and-trade portion of AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, has stunted that effective “tax cut” and its salutary effects.

According to GasBuddy.com, today’s average price for regular gas in California was $2.49 a gallon, the third highest for any state, after $2.63 in Alaska and $3.11 for Hawaii.

Enjoying much lower prices were Idaho at $1.87, Utah at $1.89 and South Carolina at $1.91.

Despite the generally good news, California is not the state of Pollyanna. “There always is the message not to raise taxes or hurt the economy in other ways,” Adibi warned.

The California Index of Leading Employment Indicator jumped to 128.4 in the first quarter of 2014 from 122.5 in the fourth quarter of 2013. The Indicator is compiled by the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University. Any number above 100 indicates growth; below 100 means jobs shrinkage.

The following graph follows the Indicator’s path over the last eight years, dramatically showing the jobs crash in California during the Great Recession, and the subsequent recovery.

The Indicator compiles four components:

• GDP growth, which rose 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 (year to year), up from 2.0 percent in the third quarter.
• The S&P 500, which increased 29.6 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 16.7 percent in the third quarter.
• Real exports, which rose 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 2.3 percent in the third quarter.
• Construction spending, which rose 27.1 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 23 percent in the third quarter.

“We used the fourth quarter 2013 components to show us what will happen in the first quarter of 2014,” Esmael Adibi, the director of the Anderson Center, told CalWatchdog.com.

Jobs growth

“All variables combined in the Indicator series show a decent jump from the previous quarter,” Adibi said. “So jobs creation should pick up a little bit of steam and do better than in the fourth quarter of 2013.”

Adibi pointed to a second graph showing how closely actual jobs growth (the dotted line) tracks the Indicator’s projected jobs growth. So Chapman’s jobs projections have been close to spot on:

The graph does show that jobs growth still is not as strong as it was in the previous economic recovery of the a decade ago.

Taxes

The jobs growth comes despite recent tax increases, in particular the $7 billion increase from Proposition 30, which voters passed in Nov. 2012. The biannual Chapman Economic Forecast, which Adibi produces along with Chapman President Jim Doti, has warned that tax increases would retard economic growth and jobs creation.

“Tax increases obviously are negative,” Adibi explained. “If we didn’t have those, jobs growth would be even higher.”

Adibi still expects the 2.3 percent annual economic growth projected in Chapman’s Nov. 2013 Forecast to be close to what really happens, “barring the unexpected.”

He said that businesses especially crave certainty. And they’re currently getting certainty on taxes. The state budget is balanced for now, meaning more tax increases are unlikely.

As to Brown’s re-election bid, Adibi said the economic numbers are looking good should the governor seek a fourth term. “The economy is doing better,” Adibi said. “The budget surplus is kicking in due to higher taxes and economy. Voters also will like more spending taking place” on schools, universities and other popular programs.

By Katy Grimes

Did you hear the one about the government hiring record numbers of new employees while the country teeters on the brink of financial disaster?

Actually, it’s no joke.

Call the government if you need a job – they are always hiring.

According to a newly-released official report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 73 percent of the new civilian jobs created in the United States over the last five months are in government.

“In June, a total of 142,415,000 people were employed in the U.S, according to the BLS, including 19,938,000 who were employed by federal, state and local governments,” Terence Jeffrey of CNS News reported.

“By November, according to data BLS released today, the total number of people employed had climbed to143,262,000, an overall increase of 847,000 in the five months since June,” Jeffrey reported. “In the same five-month period since June, the number of people employed by government increased by 621,000 to 20,559,000. These 621,000 new government jobs created in the last five months equal 73.3 percent of the 847,000 new jobs created overall.”

Here is the BLS report. Scroll through it to the end to see the private sector, manufacturing, non-farm, health care, and government employment numbers.

By the way, here is my favorite government worker joke:

Four men were bragging about how smart their dogs are. The first man was an Engineer, the second was an Accountant, the third was a Chemist, and the fourth man was a Government Worker.

To show off, the Engineer called to his dog. “T-Square, do your stuff.”
T-Square trotted over to a desk, took out some paper and a pen and promptly drew a circle, a square, and a triangle. Everyone agreed that was pretty smart.

The Accountant said his dog could do better, and said, “Slide Rule, do your stuff.”

Slide Rule went out into the kitchen and returned with a dozen cookies. He divided them into 4 equal piles of 3 cookies each. Everyone agreed that was good.

The Chemist said his dog could do better still, so he called his dog and said, “Measure, do your stuff.”

Measure got up, walked over to the fridge, took out a quart of milk, got a 10 ounce glass from the cupboard and poured exactly 8 ounces without spilling a drop. Everyone agreed that was great.

The Government Worker called to his dog and said, “Coffee Break, do your stuff!”

Coffee Break jumped to his feet, ate the cookies, drank the milk, dumped on the paper, sexually assaulted the other three dogs, claimed he injured his back while doing so, filed a grievance for unsafe working conditions, put in for Workers’ Compensation and went home on sick leave.