{"id":30056,"date":"2020-12-18T13:18:59","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T21:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=30056"},"modified":"2020-12-18T13:18:59","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T21:18:59","slug":"essential-services-for-essential-workers-in-the-pandemic-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=30056","title":{"rendered":"ESSENTIAL SERVICES FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS IN THE PANDEMIC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by\u00a0Mark Hedin<\/a><\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0Dec 16, 2020<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0COVID-19<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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From left to right: Michael Nobleza, Executive Fellow, FUSE Corps, LA County Office of Immigrant Affairs; Monica Nguyen, Program Director, GAIN, LA County Department of Public Social Services; Rose Basmadzhyan, Chief, Wage Enforcement Program & Investigation Division, LA County Department of Consumer & Business Affairs; Yvonne Medrano, Program Attorney, Employee Rights Program, Bet Tzedek Legal Services<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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L.A. County provides a range of services despite COVID\u2019s chaos<\/p>\n

Also available in\u00a0Spanish<\/a>,\u00a0Chinese<\/a>, and\u00a0Korean<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By Mark Hedin, Ethnic Media Services<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a time of COVID-necessitated lockdowns, if you\u2019re working, you\u2019re essential. In Los Angeles County, no one should allow an employer to rob them of their wages or force them to work in unsafe conditions. But immigrant workers, both documented and not, are particularly vulnerable to such exploitations.<\/p>\n

Three county officials and a lawyer described an array of programs to protect workers at a teleconference Dec. 14 for ethnic media.<\/p>\n

A third of Angelenos are immigrants, noted Michael Nobleza, FUSE corps executive advisor for the Office of Immigrant Affairs (https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/OIAservices<\/a>), but immigrants comprise 40-60% of the essential workforce \u2013 janitors, delivery drivers, warehouse, restaurant and health care workers \u2014 \u201con the front lines of the pandemic, putting themselves at risk so that we can stay home safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

These workers are also the most likely to face challenges trying to stay healthy, due to work conditions where maintaining safe physical distancing and using personal protective equipment is difficult, and sometimes living close to similarly challenged workers, freeways and industrial plants.<\/p>\n

For many, he said, \u201cphysical health and well-being comes second to economic health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undocumented workers are ineligible for most state and federal aid programs, and the federal CARES Act disqualifies entire households for assistance if just one person is undocumented, cutting out 1.125 million Angeleno citizens or green card holders, Nobleza said.<\/p>\n

OIA has held webinars addressing voting, workers\u2019 rights, workplace safety, eviction defense and foreclosure prevention strategies (archived at\u00a0https:\/\/oia.lacounty.gov\/know-your-worker-rights-webinar-resources\/<\/a>, including Spanish-language presentations, and also at the OIA\u2019s Facebook page:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LAC4Immigrants\/<\/a>) and hosted an event with Univision LA this year to address \u201chow to keep the American dream alive\u201d for DACA recipients.<\/p>\n

In early February of 2021, as part of its new LA Immigrant Essential Workers Initiative, OIA will host a two-day summit \u201cfocused on day laborers, domestic workers and DACA recipients entering the workforce\u201d to propose legislation reforms and connect essential workers to \u201cwraparound\u201d services.<\/p>\n

Rose Basmadzhyan, chief of the Wage Enforcement Program and Investigative Division at the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, investigates issues of minimum wage and unpaid wages, matters of overtime, split shift differentials, adequate lunch breaks and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times workers are afraid to come forward,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to take a tip anonymously or from a third party. We do understand the vulnerability, fear of retaliation or adverse action. We have tools to allow us to remedy that, from hefty fines to reinstatement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The office can be reached at 800 593-8222 and\u00a0https:\/\/dcba.lacounty.gov\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So far, she said, 1,500 employees have received wages they were due, and the county has collected $1.3 million in fines and back pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get a complaint,\u201d she said, \u201cwe investigate the entire business, because when a problem exists with one employee, the problem will exist with others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statewide, the minimum wage is going up $1 per hour on Jan. 1, to $13 for companies with 25 or fewer workers and $14 for bigger ones. But in L.A. County, it\u2019s already $14.25 for small businesses and $15 for large ones.<\/p>\n

Monica Nguyen, director of GAIN (Greater Avenues for Independence), described her program, run under the auspices of the largest public social services agency in the country, the county Department of Public Social Services, which helps more than 3.5 million people, in 19 languages.<\/p>\n

GAIN administers federal state and county-funded programs for people who receive cash assistance through CalWorks.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to help people overcome any barriers they have finding and keeping employment,\u201d she said, through job search assistance, vocational training, case management, adult education, or dealing with domestic violence or mental health issues \u2013 \u201cyou name it,\u201d Nguyen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day we can see around us those affected by COVID-19,\u201d she said, citing \u201csevere food insecurity\u201d and a \u201cmuch larger unemployment rate than usual in L.A. County.\u201d Last December, she said, the unemployment rate was 4.3%. This year, in September, it hit 15.5% and was 12.3% in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of support we can provide,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cChild care, assistance with transportation, work-related expenses such as tools and books.\u201d<\/p>\n

People can apply for GAIN services at (866) 292-4246 or contact DPSS at (866) 613-3777 and dpss.lacounty.gov. She also suggested applying for CalFresh (https:\/\/www.getcalfresh.org), \u201can excellent opportunity to get help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yvonne Garcia Medrano, program attorney for Bet Tzedek\u2019s employee rights legal services, concluded the conference by encouraging anyone experiencing any issues around things such as workplace safety, wage theft, discrimination, unemployment, or retaliation to reach out to her nonprofit for pro bono legal help.<\/p>\n

Bet Tzedek (https:\/\/www.bettzedek.org\/) is at the center of network of dozens of legal firms, ready to go to bat for anyone \u201cseniors, the unhoused, immigrants and workers in Los Angeles County regardless of race, age, gender or status,\u201d she said, \u201cone of the few legal nonprofits that provide legal help to undocumented workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bet Tzedek has a weekly clinic that workers can reach any time at (323) 939-0506, extension 415. Messages will be returned for an intake interview, followed up by a phone call on a Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. from a lawyer offering actual legal help, not simply a workshop.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fear is that we\u2019re returning to a time when nobody is enforcing these laws and employers know it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Mark Hedin\u00a0|\u00a0Dec 16, 2020\u00a0|\u00a0COVID-19 From left...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30057,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30056\/revisions\/30057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}