September 03, 2020
By Eric Heinz
City News Service
The Los Angeles City Council voted today to declare a fiscal emergency and approved plans to furlough more than 15,000 city employees and carry out early retirement buyouts for another 1,280 employees to try to recoup as much anticipated lost revenue as possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Revenues for the 2021 fiscal year are currently difficult to forecast due to the pandemic, with the City Administrative Officer's staff reporting they could come in anywhere between $45 million to $409 million below the estimate of $6.68 billion.
City Administrative Officer Richard Llewellyn estimated that Los Angeles has already lost more than $50 million, while noting that revenue projections were based on the economy reopening more fully by July than has occurred.
“We know now ... that the best-case scenario ain't gonna happen,'' said Councilman Paul Krekorian, who chairs the council's Budget and Finance Committee. “So that means ... even after we enact furloughs, we're still going to have a shortfall in revenues that's going to have to be accommodated.''
Each pay period's furloughs of city employees represents a savings of $5.79 million, or $104.2 million in fiscal year 2020-2021, according to city documents, so the council may still have to find additional savings.
The furloughs, which equate to about 10% of an employee's annual salary, are set to begin Oct. 11.
Although Los Angeles is set to receive about $694 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds, that money cannot be used to replenish lost revenues, only to respond to the pandemic.
City Council members said without implementing the furloughs, they would have to consider laying off employees.
For the early retirement program, the city set a minimum 1,300 participation number, but the council voted to get rid of that requirement as the number of those volunteering to retire came up just short. City staff estimates the buyouts could save the Los Angeles an additional $13 million.
“We can't sit and hope that Washington will ride to the rescue,'' Krekorian said. “We can't hope that we can reopen negotiations with labor, and within a month, get a solution that is going to save hundreds of millions of dollars. It's unrealistic and we have to do the realistic thing of acting on these furloughs so that we don't have to act on worse-(case) scenarios in a few months, because I can guarantee you that if we don't, we will be faced with choices that are much harder.''
In an opinion piece published Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times, Councilman Mike Bonin laid out a proposal for the council to defer raises and bonuses for the Los Angeles Police Department's union members.
“These police union raises are forcing budget cuts that will make Los Angeles less healthy, less secure and considerably less safe,'' Bonin said.
“Los Angeles cannot adequately protect, serve, or provide for its residents with these cuts and furloughs.''
According to Bonin, members of the police union are getting a 4.8% raise, plus $41 million in new educational bonuses, totaling about $123 million this fiscal year. LAPD officers will get an additional raise in 2022. Meanwhile, cuts to the salaries of other city employees through furloughs will “sharply reduce city services, including public safety programs,'' he said.
Llewellyn said any adjustments to the early retirement program or the furloughs would have to be renegotiated with the city's labor union – something that Los Angeles doesn't have time to do amid looming budget deadlines, but he said further discussions could take place with certain departments on how to find additional savings.
“Our labor partners came to us and said, ‘We think we should look at a separation plan as sort of a long-term structural assistance with the choppy waters we were heading into potentially for several years,’” Llewellyn said. “Nobody likes furloughs and nobody likes separation plans, nobody likes service cuts, but the separation plan seems to be a reasonable way to proceed.''
Bonin's deferral motion failed to get support, and he also failed to convince his colleagues to exempt Emergency Management Department employees from furloughs.
One of the red flags council members have brought up in committee meetings is the city's dwindling reserve funds that were used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city's reserves in the 2020-21 fiscal year are expected to be below the city's minimum target of 2.75% of the general fund, with about $227 million remaining, but the council voted to find ways to move funds from various departments and resources to raise the reserve fund to $284 million, according to city documents.
This is still well below the city's aspirations of having 5% in reserves across the board and lower than the almost 8% it had prior to the pandemic.
September 03, 2020
By City News Service
A former director for a digital marketing agency in Los Angeles is suing her ex-employer, alleging she was fired in May for complaining about disparate treatment and inappropriate comments in the workplace, including “Black people don't do snow sports.”
Lamees Barnett's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against MuteSix Group Inc. alleges racial discrimination and harassment, retaliation and wrongful discharge. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A MuteSix representative could not be immediately reached for comment on the complaint filed Tuesday.
Barnett, 29, had a master's degree and more than five years of progressive marketing experience when she was hired at MuteSix in November 2016, according to her court papers. She worked as a campaign manager until July 2018, when she was promoted to a digital marketing director and became the only Black person at the company to lead a team as a director, according to her lawsuit.
Prior to her promotion, MuteSix required Barnett to sit before a panel of about six directors who “grilled her in a fashion reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition,” asking her “numerous detailed and intrusive questions” about why she deserved a promotion, the suit says.
Barnett was cross-examined by the panel in a manner that made her feel that MuteSix management would limit her professional advancement solely because she was Black, despite her past accomplishments and loyalty to the company, the suit states.
The next two employees who were promoted to director were both male and neither had to answer a similar series of questions, according to the plaintiff.
MuteSix management dismissed her claims about discrimination and criticized her for speaking out against her alleged unequal treatment, according to the complaint. She was called “combative,” “emotional” and “argumentative,” which she believed were racially coded comments typically made against Black women, the suit states.
One manager during a team meeting asked Barnett if she could swim, which she considered a racial trope, the suit states.
“This dog whistle tactic demeaned, undermined and embarrassed plaintiff in front of her peers,” the suit alleges.
In 2019, a MuteSix director said during a meeting that “Black people don't do snow sports,” according to the suit.
“This open derogation of plaintiff caused her personal and professional harm and MuteSix did nothing,” the suit states.
Another manager limited Barnett's opportunities and steered her to make company pitches to Black-owned companies, such as UOMA Beauty and Memebox, the suit alleges.
For the majority of Barnett's employment with MuteSix, the company had no employee handbook or written policy to provide guidance on how to report the type mistreatment alleged by the plaintiff. In addition, MuteSix did not have a human resources department to address complaints and otherwise oversee MuteSix's compliance with labor laws, the suit states.
Barnett was fired May 4 and was told her dismissal was based on poor performance, even though she had consistently received positive feedback for her work, the suit says. She believes she lost her job in retaliation for her attempts to address alleged racial and gender discrimination at the company.
August 27, 2020
By Tanu Henry
California Black Media
On July 25, the federal government’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program ended for most states, leaving millions of Californians without the extra cash many of them had been relying on for months to make ends meet.
The $600 extra in federal stimulus pay was added cushion to the amount states already provide for their residents in unemployment insurance payments.
Created for Americans who lost their jobs due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the program was authorized by the Cornonavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) act, which was signed into federal law in March.
Then, last week, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved California’s application to participate in the federal Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program -- funding that President Donald Trump authorized by memorandum Aug. 8.
The LWA program provides $4.5 billion to California from which $300 extra in unemployment insurance benefits will be paid to individuals for three weeks.
“Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have sought to maximize federally funded unemployment benefits to Californians. These benefits are critical for the basic security of families and communities and for our economy, which have been so devastated by the virus and its financial impacts,” said California Labor Secretary Julie A. Su after the EDD’s announcement.
To qualify, unemployed Californians would have to already be eligible to receive at least $100 each week in unemployment benefits and they would have to provide proof that their job loss resulted from the coronavirus crisis.
Although the U.S. House of Representatives has approved a fifth stimulus bill, the $3-trillion-dollar ‘‘Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, the Senate has not brought it up for debate or vote. That bill includes an extension of the $600 federal supplement through Jan. 31, 2021.
Senate Republicans have countered the $600-a-week proposal in the HEROES act with a $400 weekly payment in UI benefits. Democrats turned down that offer in negotiations.
Some Republican Senators opposed to the $600 payment approved in the last stimulus package argued that it does not provide an incentive for workers who were laid off to look for work.
"We cannot encourage people to make more money in unemployment than they do in employment," Sen. Tim Scott (D-SC) pointed out.
While the U.S. Congress decides what should be included in the next stimulus package, for now unemployed Californians can apply to get $300 a week extra in unemployment benefits dating back to Aug. 1.
“As we modernize and strengthen the state’s unemployment insurance delivery system, we will continue to leverage any additional resources the federal government makes available,” Su said.
August 27, 2020
LAWT News Service
In partnership with the LA Regional COVID-19 Fund, Councilman Curren Price has secured $1 million in grants to assist micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits operating in District 9 affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The fourth round of grant applications will be open from Monday, Aug. 31 through Sept. 4.
The LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund is open to micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profits located in Los Angeles County. The LA Regional COVID Fund is composed of three parts including grants, loans and technical assistance. Grant opportunities of $5,000 are available to micro-entrepreneurs and $15,000 for small businesses and nonprofits.
For the remaining schedule, eligibility information or to apply, please visit https://www.lacovidfund.org/. Applications are available in 15 languages. For more information, call (833) 238-4450.