Businesses Bond Over Labor Law

November 16th was a rainy night in the Valley. Still, a new organization called the California Business and Industrial Alliance, or CABIA, had more than 50 people in attendance at its meeting at Town and Country Event Rentals in Van Nuys. Attendees came from as far as Northern California and as far south as Orange County. What brought everyone together? The desperate need for change in California’s onerous labor laws. New members and potential members filled the room to learn more about this new organization. One attendee observed: “The rainy night was fitting as there is a storm coming and outdated labor laws are in its path.” CABIA is less than six months old, has almost 1,700 followers on its Facebook page, and has quadrupled its membership in a matter of months. This is clear evidence that business owners are looking for help, relief, support and an organization that will be there for them. CABIA’s north star is to fight against California’s 1,039 page Labor Law Digest filled with complex and obscure language only the trial lawyers understand. This organization began after the company I work for was hit with a lawsuit under the state’s Private Attorneys General Act, commonly called PAGA. The company is Timely Industries located in Pacoima, and we manufacture prefinished steel door frames. The suit cost $1 million to settle and was due to late lunches and misclassified safety incentives. The story is unfortunately too common: A disgruntled worker went to an attorney and was conned into suing the company and a minor late lunch violation – where employees were given the flexibility to take lunch whenever they wanted – became a class action lawsuit going back four years. The real winners are the attorneys and the real losers are the employees. After the suit, no flexible work schedule is permitted and employees must punch in and out for lunch. The positive culture in our workplace is now a bureaucratic and rigid one, thanks to the state and the lawyers they have empowered. The injustice of this suit and the laws that are devastating all California businesses is what compelled me to start CABIA. More than 6,000 PAGA lawsuits were filed in the last year alone; it is not just businesses that are feeling the pain. The Humane Society, the Salvation Army and the Children’s Home are a few other victims. It doesn’t matter if it’s a for-profit or a non-profit organization. It’s not right that one bad apple can drag a whole workforce into a class action PAGA lawsuit for inaccurate information on a check stub, undocumented meal breaks and many other minor technicalities. I believe change is coming soon. CABIA has nine seasoned attorneys assisting in drafting a bill to fix some of the worst parts of PAGA; we have a lobbyist to take our bills to the Capitol. CABIA will educate legislators to bring awareness about laws that are hurting employees. We are working with other trade groups and will work with anyone who is for labor law reform that makes common sense. We’ve got a great team supporting our work. At our meeting on Nov. 16, Dan Hoffer and Robert Pepple from the Venable law firm started the meeting with an education on how to avoid PAGA Lawsuits. Bill Cook from the insurance brokerage firm of Andreini and Co. discussed workers comp strategies and Laura Clifford from the Employers’ Fraud Task Force also spoke. We had guest speaker Malcolm McGough from Election Integrity Project California. CABIA thanks Board Member Richard LoGuercio for hosting the event and Board Member Joann Roth-Oseary of Someone’s in the Kitchen for providing the food and drinks. CABIA will have quarterly meetings at Town & Country next year and we hope to see you at our next meeting. Join the movement at www.cabia.org. Tom Manzo, president of Timely Industries in Pacoima, is also president of the California Business and Industrial Alliance, which he founded this year.