SEE PAGE 2 FOR municipal employees’ earnings revealed
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Improved Conditions for Hens Increase Egg Prices By JENNIFER SCHLUETER As of January 1st, eggs sold in California must come from hens that live in a space of at least 116 square inches in which they are able to stretch their limbs and turn around, which means about 70 percent more space compared to the previous minimum. This new law, Proposition 2, resulted from a voter initiative and was passed in 2008 with a majority of over 60 percent. Because of the changes farmers were forced to make, consumers now see an increase in egg prices. The president and CEO of the California Grocers Association Ronald Fong told NPR: “We can confirm that egg prices have gone up at least 35 percent. Some have reported going up 70 percent.” With California being the largest consumer of eggs nationwide, according to the Los Angeles Times, farmers all over the US have adjusted to the new regulation because challenging it in court failed. California’s state veterinarian, Dr. Annette Jones reported to NPR that egg producers have switched to newly constructed free-range henhouses, built larger cages, or cut down the number of hens in already
VOLUME 2, NO. 1
Anaheim Hills Man Makes Self-Defense Clause Murky by Vickie Vértiz
According to the NLEOMF report, 126 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty this year, compared to 102 in 2013. The number of officers killed by firearms in 2014 (50) was 56 percent higher than the number killed by gunfire in 2013 (32). Ambush-style attacks, as evidenced earlier this
On Christmas morning, an intruder and homeowner had a show down and a chase down an Anaheim Hills street. According to the Orange County Register, experts say that debate has been sparked over whether the resident was “justified in shooting and injuring the suspect as he fled.” Allegedly, Nathanael Blair shot 29-year-old Jeremy William Bell from behind with a shotgun in a condo complex. Since then, the public has been divided about whether the incident made Blair into a hero or that he overstepped his boundaries in chasing the suspect down the street where he shot him in the back. Bell is facing felony burglary and assault charges after his attempted break in. Police are reporting that Bell broke into the home where Blair lives and hit him with a wrench. The Register reported that Bell was also charged with attempted burglary. Authorities are also claiming that Bell unsuccessfully tried to break into another home before his confrontation with Blair. His injuries were reported as non-life-threatening. Bell pleaded not guilty at an arraignment at the Orange County Jail Complex in Santa Ana, said the paper. The bail is set at $500,000 and Bell was served with a restraining order requiring him to stay away from the two homes and residents he was suspected of try-
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Please see page 2
-Courtesy Photo by Matt MacGillivray
existing ones. “In general, poultry farmers are trying to move in that direction, to provide more space and the ability for their hens to exhibit more natural behaviors,” NPR quoted her. However, the website also notes that even
though “[f]ree-range houses allow chickens to move around freely, … critics say the birds are more frequently injured than those in cages.” On the other hand, the Please see page 4
California Leads in Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities Nationwide in 2014 Law enforcement fatalities in the U.S. rose 24 percent in 2014, reversing what had been two years of dramatic declines in line of duty deaths, based on preliminary data compiled and released today by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF). “With the increasing number of ambush-style attacks against our officers, I am deeply concerned
SEE PAGE 3 for california’s new paid sick leave law
that a growing anti-government sentiment in America is influencing weak-minded individuals to launch violent assaults against the men and women working to enforce our laws and keep our nation safe,” declared NLEOMF Chairman and CEO Craig W. Floyd. “Enough is enough. We need to tone down the rhetoric and rally in support of law enforcement and against lawlessness.”
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Greater Los Angeles Municipal Employees Earned Average of $119,000 in 2013 Transparent California released previously unseen 2013 public employee compensation data – complete with names, pay, and benefits – for 400 cities and 826 special districts statewide on TransparentCalifornia.com, the state’s largest public sector compensation database. The data show that average full-time compensation for employees of 150 Greater Los Angeles cities was $119,462 in 2013, with thousands earning more than $200,000 a year and thousands more making at least $50,000 in overtime alone. City of Los Angeles employees are not included in the average, because while LA employee pay data are now on Transparent California, LA didn’t provide the cost of pension benefits provided to its employees. In the nearby City of Orange, the cost of benefits for a full-time employee is $30,573. Excluding the cost of benefits, the average LA government employee made $92,575 in pay. Such compensation is significantly higher than that of peers in the private sector. Other notable 2013 Greater Los Angeles findings include: 3,970 Greater Los Angeles municipal employees earned at least $200,000. Johnny A. Baltazar, Los
Angeles Police Officer, earned $500,930. Rodney S. Gould, Santa Monica City Manager, earned $483,954. 2,099 Greater Los Angeles municipal employees earned at least $50,000 in overtime alone. Donn D. Thompson, Los Angeles Firefighter, made $242,033 in overtime and $354,259 in total compensation. Charles F. Ferrari, Los Angeles Fire Captain, made $240,229 in overtime and $367,293 in total compensation. Martin Enriquez, Los Angeles Fire Captain, made $222,766 in overtime and $351,642 in total compensation. Notable 2013 statewide findings include: Average full-time municipal employee compensation statewide was $120,569. 11,203 municipal employees took home over $200,000 with 3,661 making over $50,000 in overtime. Average full-time municipal employee compensation for other regions in California were: North Bay: $130,172 South Bay: $141,739 Greater Sacramento: $109,785 Central Valley: $99,678 Greater San Diego: $114,329 Northern California: $108,269
Central Coast: $111,784 Notable 2013 special district findings include: Average full-time special district employee compensation was $106,592. Average full-time special district compensation for the top five districts were: San Ramon Valley Fire Protection: $245,624 Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District: $237,424 Montecito Fire Protection: $214,363 Woodside Fire Protection District: $211,998 Central County Fire Department: $208,583 “Los Angeles civil servants averaging $119,000 a year in compensation means that the term civil servant is no longer appropriate,” said Mark Bu-
cher, president of the California Policy Center. “Meanwhile, comparable workers in the private sector have seen their compensation stagnate as an ever-greater amount of their take home pay is diverted to fund these lavish government compensation packages.” Transparent California also released summary pages for individual cities and counties, which include median government employee and cost per resident. Those pages are available by going to a city or county page and clicking the “View Summary” link. Transparent California is the largest database of California public employee and retiree compensation with names and now contains over 7.7 million records.
Justified Self-Defense? Continued from page 1
ing to steal from. It is uncertain whether the Orange County Office of the District Attorney will pursue charges against Blair. Blair told reporters last week that Bell hit him in the jaw with a wrench, when he raced upstairs to grab his shotgun. He raced outside to shoot Bell where he was later found hiding in a garage. California laws give homeowners wide reach in protecting their homes over intruders who are allegedly there to cause harm. The use of potentially deadly force is allowed, said the paper, “…only if residents believe their life or the lives of their family or neighbors is in immediate danger.” Blair described himself as “terrified” during the encounter, stating that he was worried Bell might come back to his house. “I [am] glad I could protect my family,” Blair told the paper.
Legal expert, Lawrence Rosenthal, a former federal prosecutor and criminal law professor at Chapman University, said the shooting was likely unjustified but that “prosecutors would have a tough time convincing a jury.” “Once the burglary is over, the right to use deadly force disappears, but as a practical matter, jurors are going to be very much on the side of the homeowner, thinking, ‘I probably would have done the same thing in those circumstances’ and they will want to acquit,” Rosenthal told the paper. Rosenthal added that the District Attorney will not likely file criminal charges against Blair given the far reach of homeowner rights. With the investigation still pending and evidence still being gathered, police have not commented on whether they believe Blair acted appropriately.
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California’s New Paid Sick Leave Law Widely Misunderstood; Spells Trouble for Small Businesses California’s new paid sick law goes into effect January 1, but many small businesses don’t understand the law or its impact for their operations. Lonnie Giamela – a partner at national labor and employment firm Fisher & Phillips LLP – is counseling his clients to educate themselves and prepare. “Small businesses are going to be the most heavily impacted by this new statute, something most don’t even realize,” said Giamela. “There’s a real lack of clarity, so many small businesses are ignoring the new statute. That’s a big mistake.” Giamela is seeing three primary misconceptions: 1. “I don’t need to comply until July 1, 2015.” There is no time to waste. California employers must post a new poster and distribute a new Wage Theft Protection Act Notice by January 1, 2015. Failure to do so may subject the employer to unnecessary penalties. 2. “Small businesses aren’t covered by the statute.” This is just wrong. Every California employer is covered by the new statute. Moreover, all employees, regardless if exempt or non-exempt, full-time or part-time are covered by the statute so long as they work 30 days and do not qualify for one of the limited exemptions. 3. “I already have a sick leave policy so I don’t need to worry about the statute.” Many small businesses already have a PTO or sick leave policy that provides for at least six days annually of PTO, but that is not enough. The law also requires that policies be modified to notify employees that they can take leave for a number of situations. For example, most sick leave policies do not permit an employee to take leave for matters related to being a victim
of domestic violence. The new paid sick leave does. About Fisher & Phillips LLP (www.laborlawyers.com): Fisher & Phillips LLP is a national law firm committed to providing practical business solutions for employers’ workplace legal problems. Labor and employment law is all the firm does, offering deep and broad knowledge and experience in the area of the law the attorneys know best. Fisher & Phillips attorneys help clients avoid legal problems, are dedicated to provid-
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Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities Continued from page 1
month by the shooting deaths of New York City Police Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos while sitting in their marked patrol car, were the number one cause of felonious officer deaths for the fifth year in a row. Fifteen officers nationwide were killed in ambush assaults in 2014, matching 2012 for the highest total since 1995. Forty-nine officers were killed in traffic-related incidents this past year, which was an 11 percent increase from 2013. Twenty-seven officers died due to other causes in 2014, including 24 who suffered from job-related illnesses—such as heart attacks—while performing their duties. In 2011, officer fatalities spiked to 171, which led to a number of new initiatives and policy changes aimed at promoting law enforcement safety. The result was a sharp decline in line-of-duty deaths to 123 in 2012 and 102 last year—the lowest fatality figure since 1944. Over the past decade the average annual number of officer deaths has been 151. The deadliest year ever for law enforcement was 1930 when 300 law enforce-
ment officers were killed in the line of duty. The deadliest single incident was the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, resulting in 72 officer deaths. There are more than 20,000 names of officers killed in the line of duty inscribed on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC, dating back to the first known death in 1791. “We issue this report each year as a stark reminder that some 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers go out each and every day putting their lives on the line for our safety and protection,” explained NLEOMF Chairman and CEO Craig W. Floyd. “These brave men and women are willing to lay down their lives for us. The least we should do is honor and remember their service and sacrifice, support their families and do all that we can to make it safer for those who continue to serve.” The statistics released by the NLEOMF are based on preliminary data compiled and do not represent a final or complete list of individual officers who will be added to the National Law En-
forcement Officers Memorial in 2015. For a complete copy of the preliminary report on 2014 law enforcement fatalities, go to:www. LawMemorial.org/FatalitiesReport. Key Data as of December 29, 2014: Firearms-related incidents were the number one cause of officer deaths in 2014, with 50. This was a 56 percent increase over the 32 officers shot and killed in 2013. Ambush attacks resulted in 15 officer deaths, the leading felonious cause of deaths among officers in 2014 and for the fifth straight year. The other leading categories of felonious deaths in 2014 were traffic stops or pursuits (8), investigating suspicious persons or activities (7), disturbance calls (6), attempting arrests (4), investigative activities (3), accidental shootings (2), burglary in progress (2), investigating drug-related matters (1), robbery in progress (1), and tactical situations (1). Traffic-related incidents were the second-leading cause of of-
ficer fatalities in 2014, with 49. This was an 11 percent increase over the 44 traffic-related deaths in 2013. Of these 49 officers, 35 were killed in automobile crashes, nine officers were struck and killed outside their vehicle and five officers were killed in motorcycle crashes. Of the 27 officers who died due to other causes this year, 24 were caused by job-related illnesses; one officer was strangled to death; one officer drowned; and one officer was killed in a fire-related incident. During the past year, more officers were killed in California (14) than any other state; followed by Texas (11); New York (9); Florida (6) and Georgia (5). Six officers killed in 2014 served with federal law enforcement agencies. Two of the officers who died during the past year served with correctional agencies, two were tribal officers and one was a military officer. Three of the 126 fatalities were female. On average, the officers who died in 2014 were 41 years old and had served for 12 years.
Improved Conditions for Hens Increase Egg Prices Continued from page 1
LA Times claims that “animal advocates say [squeezing chickens into cages] causes needless suffering and boosts the likelihood of
salmonella contamination.” Representing almost all of the US’ egg farmers, president of the Georgia-based United
Egg Producers Chad Gregory, told the LA Times that egg farmers are adapting to consumers’ demands of more farm-animalfriendly conditions in several states. Lon Allan, questions the new law in his piece in the San Luis Obispo Tribune: “Come on, folks, they’re only chickens. […] you can fool them into laying more eggs by turning the lights on in the hen house so the day seems longer to them. “Come [Jan 1], all that is supposed to change. Backers of the law reasoned we’d have healthier chickens if they had more room to literally spread their wings. “I do not know whether happy chickens lay more eggs. How do you know if a chicken
is happy?” The LA Times visited Frank Hilliker’s egg ranch in San Diego County, a third-generation family business established in 1942, which underwent layout changes to conform to the new space regulations. Since these changes, Hilliker’s hens are now able to move more freely and “exhibit behavior he had never seen before — like a pecking order when it comes to feeding or their playful beak-tapping on old CDs and colorful string he’s hung from the beams,” reported the LA Times. The egg farmer himself feels “reinvigorated” about this “new challenge” and said: “I don’t know if the chickens know any better, but it’s made farming fun again.”