By Brian Sumers
Monday, January 30, 2012 - Neidi Dominguez says she has never lost an employment case. And she’s not even a lawyer.
Dominguez helps Los Angeles-area car wash workers recover lost earnings when their employers fail to pay them the state-mandated minimum wage, now $8 per hour, She guides low-wage workers who file claims with the state labor commissioner’s office, through which they can seek back wages from a hearing officer.
Dominguez, a legal organizer for CLEAN, the Community Labor Environmental Action Network, used to find the process discouraging. No matter how maliciously workers’ employers acted, the employees could not recover liquidated damages. They could always ask for them in court, but advocates say that’s not usually an option because awards are rarely large enough to attract reputable lawyers.
Editorial/Los Angeles Times
January 24, 2012 – Justice is not a commodity that Californians can learn to do without for several years as the economy sorts itself out and lawmakers learn to become more responsible budget stewards.
California government has cut and must keep cutting, even though at this point all cuts are substantive and they hurt. But there are some things that need to be protected when everything else is taking a hit. Courts have taken as much slashing as they can bear, and then some.
After imposing some $350 million in cuts in the current budget year, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed leaving the courts alone in the coming year - unless, of course, expected revenues fail to materialize. In that case, an automatic "trigger" would be pulled and courts would be in the sights.
By MetNews Staff Writers
Los Angeles, December 15, 2011--Attorneys at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Steptoe & Johnson, LLP yesterday announced that they have filed a lawsuit against the owners of a downtown hotel on behalf of displaced tenants and the Los Angeles Community Action Network.
The attorneys claim the owners of the Huntington Hotel-Rodney Goldberg and Richard Stromberg-evicted a majority of the existing low-income tenants after they bought the building in September 2010. The long-troubled building at 752 S. Main St. has been the subject of similar litigation under prior ownership.
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