I just watched this great 35 minute documentary film, which features people who were laid off and used that opportunity to carve out new careers. As one of the featured people said, "Don't be the person looking for a job. Be the person who is doing something interesting."
Monday, February 8, 2010
Census Bureau Jobs
I heard through the grapevine that the LA regional offices of the US Census Bureau are hiring! From the website...
Jobs
Census Taker Positions - Apply by contacting your Local Census Office or call 1-866-861-2010.
The Los Angeles Regional Census Center is opening the Local Census Offices (LCOs) for the 2010 Decennial Census. For more information about how to apply, and the opening and closing dates, open the appropriate state link on the left menu.
We are currently conducting two separate operations with different employment options. Regional Office employment features part-time, long-term employment conducting on-going monthly surveys throughout the region for various government agencies. The 2010 Census (the every-10-year population count) employment includes full-time management and office positions in selected locations. Conditions of employment and contact information are different for these two operations. Listed vacancies will indicate Regional Office or 2010 Census employment. Job links will open PDF documents or automatically forward off site to http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/.
The Census Bureau does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, membership in an employee organization, or any other nonmerit factor.
Forms
Optional Application for Federal Employment (OF 612) [PDF 727k]
Declaration for Federal Employment (OF 306) [PDF 92k]
Application for Veteran Preference (SF-15) [PDF 1.2Mb]
Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) [PDF 379k]
Employment Package Check List [PDF 8k]
2010 Census Field Employee Practice Test
Take our practice test [PDF
Jobs
Census Taker Positions - Apply by contacting your Local Census Office or call 1-866-861-2010.
The Los Angeles Regional Census Center is opening the Local Census Offices (LCOs) for the 2010 Decennial Census. For more information about how to apply, and the opening and closing dates, open the appropriate state link on the left menu.
We are currently conducting two separate operations with different employment options. Regional Office employment features part-time, long-term employment conducting on-going monthly surveys throughout the region for various government agencies. The 2010 Census (the every-10-year population count) employment includes full-time management and office positions in selected locations. Conditions of employment and contact information are different for these two operations. Listed vacancies will indicate Regional Office or 2010 Census employment. Job links will open PDF documents or automatically forward off site to http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/.
The Census Bureau does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, membership in an employee organization, or any other nonmerit factor.
Forms
Optional Application for Federal Employment (OF 612) [PDF 727k]
Declaration for Federal Employment (OF 306) [PDF 92k]
Application for Veteran Preference (SF-15) [PDF 1.2Mb]
Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) [PDF 379k]
Employment Package Check List [PDF 8k]
2010 Census Field Employee Practice Test
Take our practice test [PDF
Friday, February 5, 2010
Efforts To Extend Unemployment Benefits
I have had so many readers contact me regarding extending benefits and the status of the law on that issue. As of right now, there is no movement to extend benefits again. But, you can change that. Please read the following information taken from Allison Doyle's article on about.com, to take action. Click on the "how to contact the Senate" link below to send an email to our Senators in D.C. It's really easy. Just type in your name and zip code and an email will be generated on your behalf.
The current unemployment extensions are set to expire on February 28. The Senate and House Jobs Bills may include an extension, but they have not been finalized. It's important to let your Senator know that continued extensions are critical.
Here's how to contact the Senate (from the National Employment Law Project):
http://www.unemployedworkers.org/page/speakout/FederalUI2010
If you're out of work, please add your story to our collection:
Share Your Unemployment Story
Read Unemployed Worker Stories
The current unemployment extensions are set to expire on February 28. The Senate and House Jobs Bills may include an extension, but they have not been finalized. It's important to let your Senator know that continued extensions are critical.
Here's how to contact the Senate (from the National Employment Law Project):
http://www.unemployedworkers.org/page/speakout/FederalUI2010
If you're out of work, please add your story to our collection:
Share Your Unemployment Story
Read Unemployed Worker Stories
Following Your Favorite Blogs Via RSS Feed
Here's a handy video by an Internet guru who, like me, believes in plain English. Thank you Common Craft. I thought this was helpful enough to share so you can follow this blog and any others you might like.
San Gabriel hotel operator settles discrimination, harassment suits
From the Los Angeles Times...
The Hilton had been sued by former Latino employees who alleged racial discrimination and sexual harassment. The management company settles for $500,000.
The management company that runs a popular Hilton hotel in the heart of San Gabriel's Asian community agreed Wednesday to pay $500,000 to settle two lawsuits filed by former Latino workers alleging racial discrimination and sexual harassment.When Landwin Management Inc. took over management of the hotel in 2005, some Latino banquet servers were fired and replaced with less qualified Chinese workers, according to attorneys at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which represented about two dozen former Hilton employees in the case."If you can show that the job required certain special skills that could only be filled by Chinese speakers, that would be a different matter," said Derek Li, the supervisory trial attorney for the EEOC. "The defendant did not raise language as an issue in the defense for not rehiring the workers."
But Stephen Ronk, a lawyer for Landwin, said the company was simply looking for a "leaner staffing model." He said the hotel's work force has always been diverse. "This is an international hotel. It's not a Chinese hotel," Ronk said. "We don't make decisions to hire anyone based on their ethnicity."The only reason Landwin agreed to settle, Ronk said, was to avoid expensive litigation costs that might lead to even more job losses.
The settlement included a sexual harassment lawsuit, also filed against the firm in 2007. Female employees in the housekeeping department alleged that they had been targets of verbal abuse by their supervisor and that Landwin ignored their complaints."There is no merit whatsoever to these claims," Ronk said.The terms of the settlement also require Landwin to abide by a three-year consent decree that includes making policy changes such as setting hiring goals for Latino workers, anti-discrimination training for employees and the hiring of a consultant to monitor progress.The Mediterranean-style Hilton opened in 2004 largely to cater to the area's growing Asian community. About half the local residents are Asian, and the majority of the hotel's clientele are tourists from China, Taiwan or Hong Kong.
There is a sentiment out there that if you sue a company with deep pockets, you're entitled to millions almost automatically. A $500,000 case is hard to come by. They seem like they pop up every day because you only read about the really big cases in the news. This case is unique and not at all average.
The Hilton had been sued by former Latino employees who alleged racial discrimination and sexual harassment. The management company settles for $500,000.
The management company that runs a popular Hilton hotel in the heart of San Gabriel's Asian community agreed Wednesday to pay $500,000 to settle two lawsuits filed by former Latino workers alleging racial discrimination and sexual harassment.When Landwin Management Inc. took over management of the hotel in 2005, some Latino banquet servers were fired and replaced with less qualified Chinese workers, according to attorneys at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which represented about two dozen former Hilton employees in the case."If you can show that the job required certain special skills that could only be filled by Chinese speakers, that would be a different matter," said Derek Li, the supervisory trial attorney for the EEOC. "The defendant did not raise language as an issue in the defense for not rehiring the workers."
But Stephen Ronk, a lawyer for Landwin, said the company was simply looking for a "leaner staffing model." He said the hotel's work force has always been diverse. "This is an international hotel. It's not a Chinese hotel," Ronk said. "We don't make decisions to hire anyone based on their ethnicity."The only reason Landwin agreed to settle, Ronk said, was to avoid expensive litigation costs that might lead to even more job losses.
The settlement included a sexual harassment lawsuit, also filed against the firm in 2007. Female employees in the housekeeping department alleged that they had been targets of verbal abuse by their supervisor and that Landwin ignored their complaints."There is no merit whatsoever to these claims," Ronk said.The terms of the settlement also require Landwin to abide by a three-year consent decree that includes making policy changes such as setting hiring goals for Latino workers, anti-discrimination training for employees and the hiring of a consultant to monitor progress.The Mediterranean-style Hilton opened in 2004 largely to cater to the area's growing Asian community. About half the local residents are Asian, and the majority of the hotel's clientele are tourists from China, Taiwan or Hong Kong.
There is a sentiment out there that if you sue a company with deep pockets, you're entitled to millions almost automatically. A $500,000 case is hard to come by. They seem like they pop up every day because you only read about the really big cases in the news. This case is unique and not at all average.
Survey
Hi all-
There seem to be a lot of you who have not received your extension money. Can you let me know whether you have? Via email, or comment to this post. Thanks! I have a few projects in the works that will address this issue.
There seem to be a lot of you who have not received your extension money. Can you let me know whether you have? Via email, or comment to this post. Thanks! I have a few projects in the works that will address this issue.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
What Is Up With All The Unemployment Extensions
I have been getting a lot of questions regarding extensions. It took me a couple of hours to figure out the status of the law on EDD extensions. The EDD website was the most clear on the topic, which is nice. It seems as though the magic date is February 21, 2010. If you run out of benefits before then, you can get an extension assuming you are otherwise eligible. If you do not run out of benefits before then, you have to cross your fingers the Congress will pass another piece of Legislation to move the date. Good thing it's an election year!
From the EDD website...
New action taken by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama on Saturday, December 19, 2009 will now enable more long-term unemployed workers to qualify for federal extension benefits. As part of the national Defense Appropriations bill, Congress has pushed back the filing deadline for unemployment extension claims from December 27 to February 21, 2010. This affects several aspects of the federal extension program and the impacts on claimants all depends on when someone started their regular UI claim and when they are set to exhaust their current benefits.
For those who run out of all of their regular UI benefits, up to 26 weeks, on or before February 20, 2010, and remain unemployed and otherwise eligible, this new federal action will make you potentially eligible for the first extension or tier of unemployment benefits that provides up to 20 weeks of additional benefits. Eligibility for any further extension benefits beyond that will all depend on whether or not Congress decides to further push back the new extension deadlines.
For those who run out of their first extension or tier of unemployment benefits, up to 20 additional weeks, on or before February 27, 2010, the new federal action will make you potentially eligible for the second tier of extension benefits. That second tier now provides up to an additional 14 weeks of benefits once someone fully exhausts the first tier extension. If someone remains unemployed and otherwise eligible, they will receive a notice and claim form from EDD upon the end of their first tier of extension and will be seamlessly moved into the second tier once EDD receives the claim form verifying eligibility.
For those who run out of their second extension or tier of unemployment benefits, up to 14 additional weeks, on or before February 27, 2010, the new federal action will make you potentially eligible for the third tier of extension benefits approved in early November. That third tier provides up to an additional 13 weeks of benefits once someone fully exhausts their second tier extension.
The first two-week claim form under this new third tier of extension benefits were sent out by EDD on Monday, December 14, 2009. The first two-week checks for third tier benefits were sent in the mail on Tuesday, December 15, 2009. If you believe you are already eligible for this third tier of extension and have not received your first two-week check by December 23, 2010, please use the online AskEDD method to send an e-mail inquiry to EDD.
For those who run out of their new third extension of unemployment benefits, up to 13 additional weeks, on or before February 27, 2010, the new federal action will make a new fourth tier of extension benefits, also approved by the federal government in early November, available to eligible claimants. The fourth tier provides up to an additional 6 weeks of benefits once someone fully exhausts their third tier extension. In order to meet the newly revised filing deadline for the fourth tier, a claimant’s eligibility for the third tier would have to have started on or before November 15, 2009. Only then, for a vast majority of this group of long-term unemployed clients, would there be enough time to start a third tier extension and use all 13 weeks of additional benefits available before February 27, 2010, which is the deadline for starting a fourth tier of extension benefits.
The new legislation enacted by the federal government does create the potential for a total of up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits available to qualified unemployed workers.
Contributing to that total is up to 20 additional weeks of benefits from a separate FED-ED extension program available to eligible claimants who run out of all other available extension benefits. However, only those who have been unemployed for a longer period of time, about a year-and-a-half or more will be eligible for the up to 99 weeks of benefits. Those more recently employed, who started a typical 26-week regular claim after August 16, 2009, will not be eligible for any extension benefits unless Congress takes further action again to extend the new filing deadlines.
From the EDD website...
New action taken by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama on Saturday, December 19, 2009 will now enable more long-term unemployed workers to qualify for federal extension benefits. As part of the national Defense Appropriations bill, Congress has pushed back the filing deadline for unemployment extension claims from December 27 to February 21, 2010. This affects several aspects of the federal extension program and the impacts on claimants all depends on when someone started their regular UI claim and when they are set to exhaust their current benefits.
For those who run out of all of their regular UI benefits, up to 26 weeks, on or before February 20, 2010, and remain unemployed and otherwise eligible, this new federal action will make you potentially eligible for the first extension or tier of unemployment benefits that provides up to 20 weeks of additional benefits. Eligibility for any further extension benefits beyond that will all depend on whether or not Congress decides to further push back the new extension deadlines.
For those who run out of their first extension or tier of unemployment benefits, up to 20 additional weeks, on or before February 27, 2010, the new federal action will make you potentially eligible for the second tier of extension benefits. That second tier now provides up to an additional 14 weeks of benefits once someone fully exhausts the first tier extension. If someone remains unemployed and otherwise eligible, they will receive a notice and claim form from EDD upon the end of their first tier of extension and will be seamlessly moved into the second tier once EDD receives the claim form verifying eligibility.
For those who run out of their second extension or tier of unemployment benefits, up to 14 additional weeks, on or before February 27, 2010, the new federal action will make you potentially eligible for the third tier of extension benefits approved in early November. That third tier provides up to an additional 13 weeks of benefits once someone fully exhausts their second tier extension.
The first two-week claim form under this new third tier of extension benefits were sent out by EDD on Monday, December 14, 2009. The first two-week checks for third tier benefits were sent in the mail on Tuesday, December 15, 2009. If you believe you are already eligible for this third tier of extension and have not received your first two-week check by December 23, 2010, please use the online AskEDD method to send an e-mail inquiry to EDD.
For those who run out of their new third extension of unemployment benefits, up to 13 additional weeks, on or before February 27, 2010, the new federal action will make a new fourth tier of extension benefits, also approved by the federal government in early November, available to eligible claimants. The fourth tier provides up to an additional 6 weeks of benefits once someone fully exhausts their third tier extension. In order to meet the newly revised filing deadline for the fourth tier, a claimant’s eligibility for the third tier would have to have started on or before November 15, 2009. Only then, for a vast majority of this group of long-term unemployed clients, would there be enough time to start a third tier extension and use all 13 weeks of additional benefits available before February 27, 2010, which is the deadline for starting a fourth tier of extension benefits.
The new legislation enacted by the federal government does create the potential for a total of up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits available to qualified unemployed workers.
Contributing to that total is up to 20 additional weeks of benefits from a separate FED-ED extension program available to eligible claimants who run out of all other available extension benefits. However, only those who have been unemployed for a longer period of time, about a year-and-a-half or more will be eligible for the up to 99 weeks of benefits. Those more recently employed, who started a typical 26-week regular claim after August 16, 2009, will not be eligible for any extension benefits unless Congress takes further action again to extend the new filing deadlines.
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