CALSAGA meal and rest break seminars an overwhelming success

In response to increased litigation surrounding the issue of meal and rest breaks, CALSAGA staged two meal and rest break seminars on Tuesday, February 12 in Sacramento and Wednesday, February 13 in Cerritos.   Over 130 people attended both seminars and we are pleased to report that three new PPO members joined the association!

We were extremely fortunate to have legal expert Laura Innes from Simpson, Garrity & Innes speak at both events.  For those of you that were in attendance, you know the information she provided was invaluable.   From updating attendees on pending court cases to advice on how to best decrease your liability, Laura had all the answers!  CALSAGA sincerely appreciates her taking a few days out of her busy schedule to address our members on this very important issue.

As she has done in previous speaking engagements with CALSAGA, Laura went through an example meal and rest break waiver form that she recommends all employers have on file with their security officers.  If you need to download that form, click here.  While the form is not the silver bullet in protecting your company from litigation, it is without question one of the best tools in the form of documentation that you can have.   

Depending on which seminar, the combination of Association Manager Jeff Flint and/or CALSAGA lobbyist Kelly Jensen from Sloat, Higgins & Jensen updated attendees on our legislative effort last year on the meal and rest break issue, as well as gave an the outlook on the issue for 2008.  Flint pointed out that we were close on a legislative deal last year, and despite the deal breaking down in the eleventh hour, the overall feeling is that we’d laid a solid foundation as we look to negotiate a deal moving forward.

Based on the positive response we received back on the seminars, CALSAGA is considering staging seminars this summer on other labor-related issues as it pertains to the security industry.  While we recognize that the meal and rest break issue as our top priority, we also realize there are other labor issues that are important to employers.

Once again, thank you to everyone who came out to make these seminars a success!