Articles

From the ALERT Newsletter, June 12, California Chamber of Commerce
 
Recent I-9 Form changes mean all employers are required to verify that every new hire is either a U.S. citizen or authorized to work in the United States. Changes have occurred in the I-9 form and acceptable documents that establish both the employee's identity and employment eligibility. Employers need to be aware of these changes and adjust hiring practices to conform to these new requirements.  
 
Am I required to have all of my employees complete the new I-9?
 

From ALERT Newsletter, June 12, 2009, California Chamber of Commerce
 
“The expenditure of vast sums of public money to meet the demands of our social problems cannot be continued indefinitely unless a sound fiscal policy is adopted to balance budgets.”
 
These words of warning were spoken by the State Controller - not this year, but in 1934 in the depths of the Great Depression. Our state’s economy has not collapsed to that extent, but our budget policy may be in even worse disarray.
 

Last month, the California Department of Industrial Relations through its Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) issued a “Public Works Manual”. 

While lenthy at 115 pages, it should provide a valuable resource for questions concerning bidding public works projects.

Included is a section on “Prevailing Wages”, and also included are answers to the most common questions on payroll and record keeping.

by Scott Peterson, Oakland Chamber of Commerce

The owner and two employees of an Oakland Construction Company, NBC General Contractors Inc., have been charged with wage theft and insurance fraud for allegedly defrauding workers, the state and their workers comp insurance carrier out of millions of dollars, authorities said. (May 26, 2009)

from Kevin Pedrotti, Legislative Advocate for the Golden State Builders Exchanges

The Legislature and Governor passed the 2009-10 budget in February 2009, the earliest adoption of a budget in modern history. About $6 billion of the budget solutions were premised on success in the May Special Election. That’s out the window. And the continuing bad economic news since February has also increased the size of the problem.

from the California Chamber of Commerce Alert Newsletter, May 2009

The California Supreme Court has denied review of a workers’ compensation case, thereby helping to solidify the 2004 California Chamber of Commerce-supported workers’ compensation reforms. The Supreme Court’s rejection of the petition for review in effect affirms a California court of appeals ruling that upheld the Legislature’s intent of containing costs through the passage of the CalChamber-supported workers’ compensation reforms in SB 899 (Poochigian; R-Fresno, 2004).