Happy New Year from your CALSAGA Board of Directors and Staff. We wish a positive and prosperous 2017 to all of you.  Our pledge to you is to continue fighting for you and our industry in Sacramento and keeping you informed of the issues that affect your business.

Sadly, we start the year with negative news from the California Supreme Court. The below summary was prepared by Jamiee Wellerstein of our long time legal advisors, Bradley & Gmelich, and we urge you to read it carefully. We will provide additional information about this issue as it becomes available.

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Breaking News for California Employers!

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On December 22, 2016, the California Supreme Court devastated
California employers, the security industry in particular, in the
landmark case of Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc., ending an
11-year battle and holding that employers can no longer require
employees to remain “on duty” or “on-call” during paid rest breaks.
The Court ruled that the same standard that applies to off-duty meal
breaks (that employees must be completely relieved of all duties)
also applies to rest breaks.

This ruling results in the potential reinstatement of a $90 million
verdict against the security company, whose security guards remained
on-call during rest breaks and carried radios or other communication
devices in case they needed to return to work.  Even though it was
clear that breaks were rarely interrupted, the Court held that the
on-call requirement invalidated the rest breaks.

What does this mean for California employers?  Employees must be
relieved of all duties during their rest breaks. Employees can no
longer be required to remain “on duty” during rest breaks. Employees
can no longer be required to remain “on-call” (i.e., available for
interruption) during rest breaks. According to the Court, “[C]arrying
a device or otherwise making arrangements so the employer can reach
the employee during a break, responding when the employer seeks
contact with the employee, and performing other work if the employer
so requests. These obligations are irreconcilable with employees’
retention of freedom to use rest periods for their own purposes.”
Employees cannot be required to remain on the premises during rest
breaks.       The Court’s decision may be unreasonable and
impractical, but it is now the law in California.  This will mean big
changes for many California employers. We encourage you to contact
your employment attorneys to plan for the changes that need to be
made.

Jaimee K. Wellerstein is partner at Bradley & Gmelich LLP and an
experienced litigator with a broad spectrum of experience upon which
to draw.  As the head of the firm’s employment team, she concentrates
her practice in representing employers in all aspects of employment
law, including defense of wage and hour class actions,
discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and wrongful discharge
lawsuits. She also provides employment counseling and training in all
of these areas. Ms. Wellerstein routinely represents employers in
federal and state courts and in arbitration proceedings throughout
the state, as well as at administrative proceedings before the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Department of Labor
Standards Enforcement, the United States Department of Labor, and
other federal and state agencies.

As a civil litigator, Ms. Wellerstein has represented clients from
Fortune 500 companies to governmental agencies to small businesses
throughout each stage of litigation. In addition to her employment
law experience, she has honed her expertise in cases involving
general tort litigation, premises and products liability, security
guard litigation, public entity work, and contract disputes.

jaimee_wellerstein    Jaimee K. Wellerstein is partner at Bradley & Gmelich LLP and an experienced litigator with a broad spectrum of experience upon which to draw.  As the head of the firm’s employment team, she concentrates her practice in representing employers in all aspects of employment law, including defense of wage and hour class actions, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and wrongful discharge lawsuits. She also provides employment counseling and training in all of these areas. Ms. Wellerstein routinely represents employers in federal and state courts and in arbitration proceedings throughout the state, as well as at administrative proceedings before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, the United States Department of Labor, and other federal and state agencies.

As a civil litigator, Ms. Wellerstein has represented clients from Fortune 500 companies to governmental agencies to small businesses throughout each stage of litigation. In addition to her employment law experience, she has honed her expertise in cases involving general tort litigation, premises and products liability, security guard litigation, public entity work, and contract disputes.

Another successful CALSAGA conference is in the books! The 2016 CALSAGA Annual Conference took place October 19-21 at the Agua Caliente Casino Resort in Rancho Mirage, CA.1

Elections for the 2017 – 2018 CALSAGA Board of Directors took place on day one of the conference. Congratulations to our new and returning board members: President, David Chandler; Treasurer, Mark Miller; Northern California Vice President Mark Tsuji; Southern California Vice President, Aleda Sebenick; Secretary Mike Smidt; Northern California Directors Jim Diaz and Chris DeGuzman; Southern California Directors Gary Bradley and Bill Markson. Additionally, two Directors at Large will be appointed by the board in the new year.

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Past President David Travers returned as our emcee and, as always, the agenda was packed with pertinent industry information! Highlights include the informative and entertaining session “Conflict Management for Security Professionals” with Retired NYPD Sergeant Antonio Alfonso and former US Secret Service Janine M. Paul. BSIS Chief Laura Alarcon and Deputy Chief Clarissa Serrato-Chavez provided a bureau update as well as dedicated time to answering members’ questions.

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We are very thankful to our sponsor and vendor partners that make it possible for us to keep attendee costs down while still offering a great program! 2016 Conference sponsors included Tolman & Wiker Insurance Services, El Dorado Insurance Agency, Costanza Insurance Agency, Kwantek, Silvertrac, On Guard Apparel, A.G. Spanos Companies, StaffPro, The Works Consulting and Heffernan Insurance Brokers along with several other participating sponsors. CALSAGA asks you to please consider these partners when making business decisions.

Thanks to the efforts of Charitable Foundation President David Travers and Region V Co-Director Lorraine New and the generosity of our attendees $4510 was raised for the CALSAGA Charitable Foundation.

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KESQ News Channel 3 Anchor Bianca Rae served at as the Master of Ceremonies for the CALSAGA Awards Dinner on day two of the conference. At that event we had the honor of presenting Mario Hernandez of AlliedUniversal Security Services with the Medal of Valor Award. Officer Hernandez was the sole on duty during the December 2015 terrorist attacks in San Bernardino. We thank him for his bravery and for exemplifying the traits of an outstanding security officer. In addition, we were able to recognize the Security Officer of the Year and present three Lifesaving Awards.

Details about the 2017 CALSAGA Annual Conference we be released soon. We hope you will make plans to attend!

The Law Enforcement and Private Security Conference of California (LEAPS-CAL) is proud to present the newly established statewide association addressing retail crime.  The California Organized Retail Crimes Association (Cal-ORCA), with the support of the LAPD, will be presenting its inaugural conference on September 27, 2016 in Pasadena, California.  There is an opportunity for you to support this event by becoming a sponsor, and we understand there is limited availability.
All details can be found at the following link: California Organized Retail Crimes Association (Cal-ORCA) Conference Information

A Message From BSIS:

The Bureau of Security & Investigative Services (Bureau) continues to receive a high volume of deficient paper applications, initial and renewal. About 30% of the applications received are incomplete and/or are submitted on outdated application forms. 

Deficient applications not only delay the issuance of a license to an applicant, but also impact the Bureau’s ability to process all license applications timely.

Most Common Deficiencies

  1. Submitting an outdated application.
  2. Not answering both conviction questions.
  3. The handwriting on the application is illegible.
  4. The applicant failed to sign the application.
  5. The address is incomplete.
  6. For a security guard initial application, the Certificate of Completion Serial Number field for the Powers to Arrest Training is blank.

 To obtain the current application forms please visit:  http://www.bsis.ca.gov/forms_pubs/index.shtml

 

Conshohocken, PA-based AlliedBarton Security Services and Santa Ana, CA-based Universal Services of America today announced that they have agreed to merge, creating the leading security company in North America.

The combined company, which will operate under the AlliedUniversal brand following the close of the transaction, will offer its clients localized response and national support with industry-leading technology solutions and approximately 140,000 highly-trained officers. It is expected to have total annual revenues of approximately $4.5 billion.  The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The two companies have a shared value proposition and aligned values.

The full news release can be seen here: Press Release

Annual Conference

Updated information for the 2016 Annual Conference can be found on our website at: https://calsaga.org/2016-annual-conference/.

Please use the link above to purchase attendee tickets, reserve your vendor booth space or sign up to be a sponsor for this dynamic three-day event which will be held October 19th through 21st at the Agua Caliente Casino Resort in Rancho Mirage, CA.

The complete Speaking Program and Vendor/Sponsor Packet can also be viewed at the link above.

PPO 101

We are also excited to be once again offering our CALSAGA PPO 101 class on Tuesday, October 18th for the amazing price of $49 per person.  This one-day program, which covers the basics of running a PPO company, is a fantastic opening act for the Annual Conference.  Don’t miss out – seats are limited.

 

Questions? Contact kris@calsaga.org

We wanted to reach out and make you aware that our organization has been undergoing a rather expansive transition for the last 6 months.  We have made a commitment to our members and have updated our infrastructure in order to provide the best possible experience.  We have revamped our website, membership management system and email system.  These systems are now up and running smoothly.

We are also excited that we have launched our “Find a Member” page. This page can be used to look up our Members by name, service type and/or service area.  We are only disclosing the Company and Member Name, Company Address and Company Website as we take releasing any of your information very seriously.  We have also included an “Opt Out” button if you would NOT like to be included in our membership directory.

As part of this process, you all should have received a Membership Verification email.  This email included login information in which you can edit your company information (including what services you offer and where, whether you are a MBE/WBE owned business, whether you would like to be included in our “Find a Member” page as well as updating all your contact information).

In order to have accurate information for the searches, we would appreciate you completing the information on your Membership Verification page.  We hope this page will serve as a great resource for all.

Check out our “Find a Member” page at: https://calsaga.org/find-a-member/

To complete your information, please login at: https://calsaga.org/membership/ or contact kris@calsaga.org for Login information.

We look forward to more great things to come.