Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!!! Wow, the time has really flown by. Our last 3 months have been very exciting.

 

Our Birthday dinner celebration in October was wonderful. Many past presidents attended and it was a great celebration of the 75 years SDIW has been a chapter of NAIW/IAIP. We even had our photo books looking back on all of those years of fellowship and friendship. What a great time!

 

October also began our theme of giving back. Sejal Friday put together a SDIW team for the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk". We walked on October 16th and our team raised $1,315!

 

Our November meeting was a charity meeting. Nancy Mosby was our speaker and she told her story of how she and her family survived POW camp in the Philippines during WW II. She has told her story many times but we were the last group to hear it. What a story of survival. In connection with this, SDIW sponsored a military family for Thanksgiving. We collected food, a turkey and many other much needed items for the family. Teresa Harrison delivered it all to them prior to Thanksgiving.

 

We also had speakers from our local charities come and speak. Dr. Mary Leslie from OPT/Invest and Antoinette Fallon, Director of Rachel's House updated us on their activity. We were able to present each of them with a $1000 check.

 

Our most recent Christmas Party meeting was so much fun and we had such a great turnout. Along with that came an amazing amount of toys and other donations which were donated to Becky's House, part of the YWCA. I think we ended the year on a great note!

 

Our next meeting is our Membership Drive meeting. If you haven't been to one of our meetings, please come check us out and see what we're about. Membership is half price and runs through June 30, 2012. We're also having a social media class which includes LinkedIn. This class coincides with headshots that were taken at our November meeting by Kerstenbeck Photography. 

 

Check out our website at: San Diego Insurance Women. Like us on Facebook as 'San Diego Insurance Women'. On LinkedIn, in groups, we are 'San Diego Chapter of NAIW'.

 

And of course, if you have any questions, you can contact me directly at sblanco55@gmail.com.

 

In fellowship,

 

Gia Blanco

California Enacted 2011 Legislation Effective January 1, 2012

 

California has ended their 2011 legislative session. Governor Jerry Brown has signed many bills into law that may impact California employers in 2012 and beyond. These enacted bills vary in content and scope. Listed below are some important highlights and how they may affect employers.

 

Workers' Compensation Notices: Assembly Bill 335 requires informational material to be written in plain language. The bill further addresses the notice of potential liability for benefits which is covered in California Workers' Compensation pamphlets. This law is effective January 1, 2012.

 

Pregnancy Disabilities and Leave-Related Conditions: Assembly Bill 592 makes it an unlawful employment practice for employers to interfere with, restrain, or deny rights provided an employee to take leave as specified under the law. Senate Bill 299 amends existing law, prohibiting an employer from refusing to maintain and pay for coverage under a group plan for an employee who takes leave. These laws are effective January 1, 2012.

 

Occupational Safety and Health-Related: Assembly Bill 1136 requires an employer to maintain safe patient handling policies, as part of the injury and illness prevention programs required by existing regulations. Employers are required to adopt patient protection and health care worker back and musculoskeletal injury prevention plans. They must include a safe patient handling policy component to protect patients and health care workers in health care facilities. This law is effective January 1, 2012.

 

Credit Reports in Employment: Assembly Bill 22 restricts employer's use of credit reports in hiring and personnel decisions. Employers are prohibited from obtaining an employee's/prospective employee's credit report, with the exception of certain financial institutions, law enforcement, managers, and specified others. This law is effective January 1, 2012.

 

Health Insurance Discrimination in Regards to Domestic Partner Designation: Senate Bill 757 addresses equal health insurance coverage for domestic partners. Group health care service plan contracts and group health insurance policies are subject to the requirement to provide equal coverage for domestic partners as provided to spouses, as specified under the law. This law is effective January 1, 2012.

 

Organ Donation Leave: Senate Bill 272 provides that organ donation leave must be calculated by business days not calendar days. Employee policies may need to be updated to include important aspects of the law. This law is effective January 1, 2012.

 

Gender Identity and Expression and Discrimination Based on Genetic Information: Assembly Bill 887 and Senate Bill 559 affect employers. AB 887 amends the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), redefines the definition of gender, requires an employer to allow gender expression related dress, and prohibits gender-related employment violence, and related housing discrimination. Senate Bill 559 prohibits discrimination under the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the State Fair Employment and Housing Act with regard to genetic information. This bill expands the basis on which discrimination is prohibited under anti-discrimination provisions.

 

 

In Fellowship,

New Employment Laws Coming Soon to California

In the final week of California's 2010-2011 legislative session, a number of employment bills have been passed by the legislature and have been signed by Governor Brown or await his signature:

 

AB 240 (Liquidated Damages):  This bill, which has now been signed into law, permits an employee to recover liquidated damages of twice the amount of wages improperly withheld plus interest in proceedings before the Labor Commissioner involving claims for underpayment of minimum wage.  Basically, adds an additional incentive and affords workers an alternative administrative remedy through the Labor Commissioner to recover unpaid wages.

 

SB 559 (Genetic Information Discrimination):  This bill, which has now been signed into law, prohibits discrimination in employment (among other areas) on the basis of genetic characteristics.  This is California's version of the recently enacted federal law known as GINA (the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act).  However, the California bill offers broader protection than GINA by prohibiting discrimination based on genetic information in the additional areas of housing, business services, emergency medical services, licensing qualifications, life insurance coverage, mortgage lending, and participation in state-funded or state-administered programs.

 

AB 267 (Forum Selection Clauses):  This bill has been passed by the legislature but not yet signed into law by Governor Brown. If signed, it will prohibit forum selection or choice of law clauses in employment contracts or similar documents where an employee would be required to agree to a forum or law of a state other than California for resolution of disputes arising in California.  Agreement to such clauses will not be permitted to be required as a condition of employment.  However, an employee will be able to agree to such a clause if not a condition of employment and if independent consideration is provided to the employee.

 

AB 325 (Bereavement Leave):  This bill is still being considered by the legislature in the final days of session.  If passed, it will require employers to provide up to 3 days of unpaid bereavement leave to employees upon the death of specified family members.

 

AB 22 (Use of Credit Reports):  This bill is still being considered by the legislature in the final days of session.  If passed, the bill will prohibit the use of credit reports for employment purposes, except in limited circumstances.

 

In Fellowship,

Please feel free to take advantage of this FREE Employment section of the Newsletter to post current job openings you or your company may have open.  If you would like to place an ad, please contact Julie Brown, and indicate you would like to post a job in the SDIW Newsletter at: julie@sdistaffing.com  

or  call 888-528-8367

 

FREE Career Center, on-line at: www.insurancecareeronline.com. Sign-up and get free access to: "How to Write a Resume", "Interviewing Tips", "Review of Your Current Resume", "Personality Profile Tests", "Job Searches", and much more.

Click here to view current job postings Job Openings.

 

To inquire about any of the jobs or if you have any questions, please contact Sharlene Theakston at: www.sdistaffing.com or call 888-528-8367. 

Julie Brown 

 

3-9         Jen Doud

1-24       Sejal Friday

1-18       Ruth Hinckfuss

2-23       Bethany Lane

2-1         Dottie Ledesma

1-29       Lisa Rowsell

3-1         Barbara Schwartz

2-26       Nancy Trejo

3-7         Judie Victor

3-22       Terry Perry

3-1         Sandra Richardson

3-23       Patsy Whalvin

1-10       Hope Zamichieli 

SDIW Website 

 Click here for her information.

 For more information visit the Region VIII website