Weststar is not leaving

Matt M Transportation Industry

Weststar is not leaving…

Weststar FlagContrary to popular belief, Weststar is not moving out of California. Weststar is committed to providing quality services to our local customers as well as our customers throughout the world.

A recent news piece from KGET in Bakersfield has led some people to believe that Weststar is leaving California. This is simply not true. Contact the Weststar office at 661-393-4453 for any other questions.

The story indicated that the owner of Weststar and Larry Jenkins, who owns B and L Casing in Bakersfield, were in Sacramento with Assemblywoman Shannon Grove at the introduction of AB 588. This is a bill designed to close loopholes in PAGA (the private attorney general act) in California.

During the interview, Mr. Jenkins indicated his plans to move his company out of California.

A little information about PAGA:

California enacted a new approach to enforcing the Labor Code several years ago, which we refer to as PAGA. This is the Private Attorney General Act of 2004 codified in Cal. Lab. Code § 2698, et seq. The law grants private attorneys the ability to act on behalf of the State of California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”) to pursue civil penalties normally only available to the State of California. These private attorneys need only find a current or ex-employee willing to allow the attorney to file on their behalf. Any resulting civil penalties are split between the LWDA and the employee with the LWDA receiving 75% of the penalties and the employee receiving 25%.  Cal. Lab. Code § 2699(i).

Some violations are ones that many businesses do not even know are violations, nor are they given a chance to correct them once they are pointed out. Some of the common PAGA violations these attorneys attempt to find in a business are:

212, 213(d)
Wages must be payable is a check drawn on a California bank and must be payable without cost to the employee. This is another major violation. If you have to pay a fee to cash your payroll check because the bank is out of state or the bank itself charges a fee (Wells Fargo does this), then this is a violation of this section.

226(a)
The employer must print ALL of the following information on your pay check stub:
(1) gross wages earned,
(2) total hours worked by the employee for all non-exempt employees
(3) the number of piece-rate units earned and any applicable piece rate if the employee is paid on a piece-rate basis
(4) all deductions, provided that all deductions made on written orders of the employee may be aggregated and shown as one item,
(5) net wages earned,
(6) the inclusive dates of the period for which the employee is paid,
(7) the name of the employee and his or her social security number,
except that by January 1, 2008, only the last four digits of his or
her social security number or an employee identification number other
than a social security number may be shown on the itemized
statement
(8) the name and address of the legal entity that is the employer, and
(9) all applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate by the employee.

This is another frequently violated statute by employers in that they do not print all the above information.

Logistics and Transportation

Shaen Transportation Industry

The U.S. Logistics and Transportation Industry

 

The logistics and transportation industry in the United States is highly competitive. By investing in this sector, multinational firms position themselves to better facilitate the flow of goods throughout the world’s largest consumer market. International and domestic companies in this industry benefit from a highly skilled workforce and relatively low costs and regulatory burdens.Shipping Port

Spending in the U.S. logistics and transportation industry totaled $1.33 trillion in 2012, and represented 8.5 percent of annual gross domestic product (GDP). Analysts expect industry investment to correlate with growth in the U.S. economy.

A highly integrated supply chain network in the United States links producers and consumers through multiple transportation modes, including air and express delivery services, freight rail, maritime transport, and truck transport. To serve customers efficiently, multinational and domestic firms provide tailored logistics and transportation solutions that ensure coordinated goods movement from origin to end user through each supply chain network segment.

Industry Subsectors

 

Logistics services: This subsector includes inbound and outbound transportation management, fleet management, warehousing, materials handling, order fulfillment, logistics network design, inventory management, supply and demand planning, third-party logistics management, and other support services. Logistics services are involved at all levels in the planning and execution of the movement of goods.

Air and express delivery services (EDS): Firms offer expedited, time-sensitive, and end-to-end services for documents, small parcels, and high-value items. EDS firms also provide the export infrastructure for many exporters, particularly small and medium-sized businesses that cannot afford to operate their own supply chain.

Freight rail: High volumes of heavy cargo and products are transported long distances via the U.S. rail tracking network. Freight rail moves more than 70 percent of the nation’s coal, 58 percent of its raw metal ores, and more than 30 percent of its grain. This subsector accounted for approximately one third of all U.S. exports.

Maritime: This subsector includes carriers, seaports, terminals, and labor involved in the movement of cargo and passengers by water. Water transportation carries about 78 percent of U.S. exports by tonnage, via both foreign-flag and U.S.-flag carriers.

Trucking: Over-the-road transportation of cargo is provided by motor vehicles over short and medium distances. The American Trucking Associations reports that in 2012, trucks moved 9.4 billion tons of freight, or about 68.5 percent of all freight tonnage transported domestically. Motor carriers collected $642 billion in revenues, or about 81 percent of total revenue earned by all domestic transport modes.

* This information is taken directly from the selectusa.commerce.gov website. Please visit them for more information.