Week in Review: 5/9/2020
Free COVID-19 Testing for LA County Essential Workers
Any PPOA member who resides in LA County is now able to receive FREE COVID-19 testing across the County of Los Angeles. More info here: https://covid19.lacounty.gov/testing/
Because PPOA members are deemed Essential Workers, the need to be COVID-19 symptomatic is NOT a criteria to receive the free test. Again, PPOA members must reside in LA County to receive the test and must make an appointment online: https://lacovidprod.service-now.com/rrs
California Streamlines Workers’ Comp for Essential Employees
Yesterday, an executive order was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom to effectively streamline workers’ compensation claims for essential employees who contract COVID-19.
Under this executive order, essential employees in California who are diagnosed within two weeks of reporting to work between March 19 and July 5 will be presumed to have contracted COVID-19 on the job. This shifts the burden of proof that typically falls on an employee and instead requires companies or insurers to prove the employee didn’t get sick at work. The executive order is in place for 60 days and is retroactive to March 19th.
“PPOA, along with our fellow first responders are grateful for Governor Newsom’s action today. It gives us all a sense of certainty,” stated PPOA President Tab Rhodes. “I also want to acknowledge our Sacramento legislative firm, Lang, Hansen, O’Malley & Miller, who have worked with PPOA for the last two months regarding COVID-19 issues such as this.” Additionally, the PPOA board is thankful for the efforts and support on this issue, provided by the Law Offices of James J. Cunningham as well as our workers compensation firms: Lewis, Marenstein, Wicke, Sherwin & Lee and Straussner Sherman.
Key provisions of the executive order include the following:
- Removes burdens of access to workers’ compensation for all employees risking their health and safety to deliver critical services outside their home during the statewide stay-at-home order.
- Creates a time-limited emergency workers’ compensation benefit (rebuttable presumption) that COVID-19 was contracted at a workplace.
- The presumption will stay in place for 60-days after the issuance of the executive order.
For a comprehensive list of COVID-19 updates for PPOA members, please click here.
Week in Review: 5/2/2020
After COVID-19 recovery, first responders get back to work
This story below about two Custody Assistants who recovered from COVID-19 is an eye-opening excerpt from an Associated Press article (4/27/20) entitled “After COVID-19 Recovery, First Responders Get Back to Work”
LOS ANGELES — In jail-speak, it’s called “the line.”
For correction officers, it means any duty that requires working directly with inmates. Custody Assistant Sonia Munoz’s line is a 184-bed inmate hospital ward at the Twin Towers jail, with its beige walls and powder blue doors. It’s where she most likely contracted the coronavirus. And passed it along to her younger sister and her father.
Right now, Munoz, 38, is safe. She’s 10 pounds lighter, her thick uniform belt is tightened to the last notch, but she’s been transferred to an office gig, where she can line up three bottles of hand sanitizer on her desk and work alone.
Still, the line is there.
Any overtime shift could bring Munoz back. Her mother, 3-year-old nephew and 94-year-old grandmother escaped illness last time, but they may not be so lucky again.
It’s something her 27-year-old partner, Christopher Lumpkin, worries about.
On March 18, he became the first member of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, which oversees the nation’s largest jail system, to test positive for COVID-19. He likely passed it to Munoz and three other custody assistants. More than 60 sheriff’s personnel county-wide and at least 28 inmates have tested positive for the virus.
Using Facebook Messenger, Lumpkin and Munoz traded stories and symptoms, bedridden in their quarantined homes as the virus spread outside.
“I will pray for you guys as well,” Lumpkin wrote.
Now, Lumpkin is recovered and back on the line. He changes his gloves and sanitizes his hands each time he works with an inmate and keeps an extra mask hanging off his duty belt.
Munoz takes similar precautions in her office, separate from the inmates.
But she can’t avoid the line forever.
“I have to go back to the lion’s mouth.”
Original AP article, video and additional photos are here: https://apnews.com/ab5ceac4542026be8792fb6561f8f38e
Week in Review: 4/18/20
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County Seeks to Reopen 2018-2021 Fringe Benefits Contract
Today, April 27, 2020, the Coalition of County Unions (CCU), of which PPOA is a member, was officially notified by the Los Angeles County CEO’s office of their “desire to reopen the 2018-2021 Coalition of County Unions Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding Fringe Benefits.” The reason cited for the reopening is “to discuss the County’s matching contribution (up to 4%) to 457 plan participants.” Further, the request comes “on the immediate and anticipated ongoing expenses associated with the County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
PPOA was advised of the potential of this move by the CEO’s office during conference calls late last week. On Friday, April 24, 2020, a conference with CCU leadership was conducted with every union on that call in agreement that the reopening of the MOU cannot and will not occur until detailed fiscal information of the County’s budget is provided. The information requested includes the current as well as projected expenses and loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis, the proposed Fiscal Year 2020-21 Budget, and any changes to the FY 20-21 Recommended Budget once Federal/State reimbursements for the COVID-19 response are identified or received.
This request of the County was not a surprise. Once the CEO notified the unions that MegaFlex employees would not be receiving matching contributions to their 401K (up to 4%) and 457 (up to 4%) plans for the remainder of this fiscal year, PPOA circled the wagons with other union leadership and began discussing various scenarios and strategies. The Chair of the CCU, working with legal counsel and budgetary consultants, has prepared a detailed information request in response to the CEO’s notification. PPOA will continue to work collaboratively with all parties to address these concerns and defend any potential circumstances which would represent a loss of any kind to our members. Additional budget information regarding the “Deep impacts from COVID-19” can be found at https://lacounty.gov/budget/.
Week in Review – 4/25/20
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URGENT: Employee Retention Benefits Security Breach
Late yesterday afternoon (April 21, 2020), PPOA was notified by Employee Retention Benefits (ERB) and the Claremont Police Department that during an arrest, property recovered at the scene included just under 200 applications for ERB insurance. These applications of Los Angeles County employees include personal information and identifiers including name, Social Security numbers, address, phone, and email. Working through the evening, ERB staff have now identified there are an additional 650 applications missing as a result of this theft. All criminal documentation has been submitted, and the investigation is being conducted with the assistance of the Claremont Police Department, the Pasadena Police Department, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
In December 2018, ERB began offering a suite of supplemental insurance products (life, cancer, disability) to PPOA members, Sheriff Department employees and County of Los Angeles employees. Through agreement, all ERB clients that worked for the County of Los Angeles had their insurance premiums deducted through the PPOA payroll slot and continue to do so. PPOA does NOT and has NEVER retained any ERB insurance application information and PPOA has NOT had any breach of data or information security.
IMPORTANT: If you, as a member, purchased or enrolled in voluntary insurance benefits with ERB during the period of December 1, 2018 through October 31, 2019, your personal information was possibly compromised. At this time, PPOA recommends you take any proactive measures to protect yourselves including, but not limited to:
- • Conduct an immediate review of your credit history;
- • Consider a credit freeze with each of the three credit bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian;
- • Consider a credit protection service;
- • Advise your family if they were included in any documentation submitted to ERB, and
- • From a personal safety perspective, stay alert and be cautious of your surroundings
AGAIN, only those individuals, having enrolled in voluntary insurance benefits with ERB between December 1, 2018 and October 31, 2019, have been potentially compromised. If it is determined that your application has been compromised, you will be personally notified.
At this point, ERB management is working feverishly to provide information to the investigating agencies, reach out to those affected utilizing a staffing response team, and has pledged a one-year credit monitoring service to ALL potentially affected policy holders and their families.
PPOA has made our resources available to the investigating agencies to assist in any way, as well as to ERB in communicating information to our members as it develops. Please monitor these emails, the POPA website, and mobile app for additional information as it becomes available.