I generally give Eric Garcetti high marks for his administration of Los Angeles. He’s been very slow to respond to most of my communications and I’m still holding my breath over commitments he made to me and to organizations I represent to get our support in the last election, but I understand that everybody has different priorities and we have to wait our turn in line. However, his recent response to a communication over the minimum wage and enforcement of labor laws in the City has me scratching my head.
Mayor Garcetti’s response:
Eric writes back: “To address your
concerns regarding United Valet Parking, I encourage you to contact the California
Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which adjudicates wage claims, investigates
discrimination and public works complaints, and enforces Labor Code statutes and
Industrial Welfare Commission orders.”
Uh, okay. Like, I said that “I have brought these practices to the attention of the State Labor Commissioner and the Police Commission who have failed to take any enforcement action….” For those not familiar with the terminology, the “State Labor Commissioner” and the “Division of Labor Standards Enforcement” are one and the same thing. So I already told Eric I reported the violations…..should I keep reporting the same thing to the same agency that didn’t have the courtesy to respond to the report? Doing the same thing over and over without getting a result is one definition of insanity.
So the issue really is, as I’ve explained once already, the Police Commission doesn’t currently have enforcement authority but it should have enforcement authority over violations of the Labor Code and its own Municipal Code to take action against companies that endanger and steal from their own employees, or the City can exercise tunnel vision and pretend that the violations aren’t happening in plain view. To see just how open and brazen these violations are, check out:
http://janbtucker.com/blog/2014/02/09/united-parking-ripping-off-workers/
While ripping off his employees’ tips, ignoring safety laws, and failing to pay judgment and tax liens against United Valet Parking, its owner, Kenny Sabet, manages to live in luxury:
The assessed value of this Sabet home is $762,565
Another Sabet home assessed for $1,160,223
I have high hopes that the Mayor and Los Angeles City Council have the gumption to prove that they are not limousine Liberals and actually want to put some teeth into the laws that prevent businesses from operating as sweat shops in Los Angeles. They need to enact laws like the ones that I’ve proposed to them.
