Category: Blog

Understanding How The Latino Community Keeps This Country Moving

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shifted life in America. In the early days of lockdown, one of the only places people could reasonably go to was the grocery store. For the first time, families began cooking at home en masse, and it even became popular to create sourdough starters and start making bread from scratch. 

But have you ever stopped to wonder who kept the grocery store shelves stocked? It wasn’t just the essential workers in the store who contributed to the food supply, but the farmworkers who grew and harvested the food available for purchase. 

80% of these farmworkers in America are Latino / Hispanic / Spanish-speakers.

That means that despite the discrimination and hardships that the community faces, they were the ones keeping America fed during one of its darkest hours. Latino workers have propped our country up, often at great personal cost. The Latino narrative is largely ignored by our media, which means that their plight is largely invisible. Fifty-two million people in the United States identify as Latino, yet their news coverage and news contributions are sparse. 

An opinion piece in the New York Times summed it up nicely when they said:

“The inventory of exclusion is long. Latinos have been shut out of prestige magazines that confer authority, awards and book deals. New York City is about 30 percent Latino — 2.5 million stories to tell. Yet on its contributor page, The New Yorker magazine does not appear to list a single Latino; the magazine declined to confirm or deny. Because of the publication’s union, some newsroom inequalities have recently been addressed. The New Yorker should tackle racial inequalities too so that excluded groups, including Latinos, particularly nonwhite Latinos, are hired as high-level editors and writers and the magazine can credibly cover Nueva York.” (source).

If you or a loved one feel like you are being ignored or discriminated against as a Latino community member, then it is your duty and right to stand up for yourself. Contact Para Los Trabajadores in Glendale, California today about help and representation.

We understand that Latino farmworkers have kept this nation moving during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we pledge to honor that contribution with culturally competent legal representation for every Latino client.

How to handle a workplace injury when your boss refuses to file an accident report

Workplace injuries are an unfortunate reality. Sadly, no matter how many precautions you take, accidents can and do still occur. If an employee is injured on the job while performing job duties, it is the employer’s responsibility to file an accident report so that the injured party may file a workers’ compensation claim. Workers’ compensation will help the injured employee to cover medical expenses and lost wages while they recover. The system seems simple enough, but tragically some employers will refuse to file accident claims, thus preventing an employee from seeking the compensation they deserve. 

There are several reasons why an employer may refuse to file a claim. These can include lack of coverage, non-compliance, and mitigating circumstances. For example, if an employer believes that the circumstances of your accident will absolve them of financial responsibility, they may choose not to file a report at all. Fortunately, as an injured party, there are several things you can do if your employer refuses to acknowledge your accident or injury: 

• Make sure that your employer has a written record of your injury. An email will suffice. Be sure to include the date and time of your injury, the location of your injury, how the accident and resulting injury occurred, your symptoms, and your contact information.
• Get in touch with your local State Workers Compensation Board. They will help you to file the appropriate forms. 
• Contact a worker’s compensation attorney. If your employer is refusing to file an injury report, then they are likely not going to be reasonable throughout the rest of your recovery process. You have rights as an employee, and a good workers’ compensation attorney will help you to fight for those rights.

The legal team at Para Los Trabajadores can and will help you handle a sticky worker’s compensation situation. Do not fight this alone and do not suffer in silence. If you have been injured on the job, we can help you fight for compensatory damages. Call us today to discuss the details of your situation. We are here for you.

What are the rights of salespersons who get paid commission?

What are the rights of salespersons who get paid commission?

A commission is a monetary compensation following the completion of a task. In the sales world, commissions are most commonly a percentage of the value of the goods and/or services sold and are paid out following the successful completion of a sale. Commissions may be paid on top of or in addition to salaries, and are often used as incentivizing tools to motivate the sales team to sell more. 

Commissions can be a difficult area of employment to understand legally, which is why we have outlined your most important rights here:

• If you work for commission, you may be protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). If you are, then you are entitled to an hourly minimum wage, even if you earned no commissions during a set pay period. 
• The FLSA does not require payment of commissions, so if you are not paid a commission that you believe you are owed, you will likely have to face your employer in small claims court. Before proceeding to court, make sure that you have written confirmation of the commission you were supposed to receive.
• Commissioned employees may be except from overtime pay if their pay is equivalent to more than 1.5 times the minimum wage amount, and if more than half of their earnings come from commissions. 

Commission-based employee rights are complicated and can be difficult to understand. If you are concerned that your commission are not being paid fairly, call us for a free consultation to discuss the details of your potential case. 

No one should be expected to work for free.

Are Domestic Workers entitled to overtime pay in CA?

Domestic service workers are employees that work in a home. This can mean maids, nannies, household managers, and more. Domestic work is very common in the state of California, but many people do not realize that their rights are actually protected under the law.

The California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights outlines appropriate work time scheduling. The bill clearly states that domestic workers must be afforded 12 consecutive hours away from work for every 24-hour period. If a domestic worker works for more than 12 hours in a single day, they are entitled to overtime pay. This means that their pay-rate increases to 150% of what it normally is, per hour, for every hour above 12 that they work.

For example, let’s say that a live-in nanny normally works from 8 am to 8 pm at a rate of $15/hour. For a normal 12-hour day, that nanny would earn $180. If a parent is stuck late at work and asks the nanny to care for the child for an extra 2 hours, the nanny’s pay rate rises to $22.5 for the extra two hours. On the hypothetical day that the nanny works 14 hours, she would earn $225 ($180+$22.5+$22.5).

If you or a loved one perform domestic work, make sure that their rights are protected.