Leo lookin’ scruffy at the Cutten Murphy’s Market. | File photo.
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Well, my fellow film nerds, looks like we’ll have to wait nearly a year and a half to watch Leonardo DiCaprio’s Humboldt County adventures on the big screen.
Warner Bros. has announced a release date for the latest project from master filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (“Boogie Nights,” “Punch Drunk Love,” “There Will Be Blood”), and it’s NOT SOON ENOUGH, if you ask me: Aug. 8, 2025.
What will we do in the meantime? Keep collecting information tidbits that emerge from the hive mind of cyberspace, I suppose. Below are some such tidbits, divided into two categories: “probably reliable” and “unconfirmed rumors.”
PROBABLY RELIABLE:
This will be the most expensive and most commercial movie of Anderson’s career thus far. With a reported budget of around $100 million, the project (still known only under the working title of “BC Project”) will be an “event film” summer blockbuster, with a dedicated release in IMAX theaters, of which Humboldt County has zero, unfortunately. The nearest ones are in Sacramento and the Bay Area.
The multi-star cast includes DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Alana Haim, Wood Harris and newcomer Chase Infiniti.
Anderson is writing, directing and producing the film, his 10th feature.
In addition to the confirmed Humboldt County locations (Cutten, outside Eureka High, Trinidad, Arcata), the production went on to film scenes in Sacramento County. A minor controversy flared up when a homeless encampment in Cesar Chavez Park was cleared to make way for filming. Other locations include Ronald Reagan’s former mansion in East Sacramento and the Fab 40s neighborhood, where a simulated explosion was shot. Anderson has said that other shooting locations will include Texas and Mexico.
UNCONFIRMED RUMORS:
The plot. We still don’t know what this thing is about. While many signs point to it being an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland,” other signs (including the contemporary setting) point elsewhere. The latest rumor, reported by movie gossip site World of Reel, is that Anderson is very loosely adapting “Vineland” while updating the book’s Reagan-era plot to set the events “in an alternate reality America” where hippies do battle with Trump/MAGA types, possibly even including batshit Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Anderson previously adapted Pynchon’s novel “Inherent Vice.”
Sean Penn’s character is rumored to be the head of a white supremacist group who’s out to eliminate an interracial child he had with Regina Hall’s character. In this rumor, DiCaprio plays the child’s adoptive father.
The budget could be as high as $175 million — this according to World of Reel.
Anyone else have any tasty rumors? Let us know. Just 497 days left to speculate.
Press release from Congressman Jared Huffman’s office:
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02) announced that he secured $1,419,382.50 in federal funding to Humboldt County for roadway repairs as part of the Monument Road [Improvement] Project. Funds for this grant were awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and authorized under Section 428 of the Robert T. Stafford Act.
About the Project
In 2017, severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides created an immediate threat to the public health and safety of the state of California. Due to heavy rains a subsidence of approximately 4-feet vertical, damaged 15 feet of the roadway width for a length of 225 feet.
Version 0 (V0) awarded $467,473.00 at 75% federal cost share = $350,604.75 on 4/14/2028 to install a 4,100 square feet (SF) mechanically stabilized embankment (MSE) wall, 2,278 cubic yard (CY) wire wall structure excavation, 1,974 CY imported borrow, 228 CY class 1 permeable base, 68 CY class 2 aggregate base, 410 square yard (SY) cold plane, 69 tons HMA, 205 linear feet (LF) 8” perforated plastic pipe underdrain, 15 LF 8” non-perforated plastic pipe, 205 LF metal beam guard railing (metal posts), and two terminal end section (type SRT). Version 1 (V1) was created for an improved project to install a soldier pile wall, instead of a MSE wall, and restore the public roadway to pre-disaster function and capacity.
Cost for the improved project will be based on the MSE wall; FEMA reviewed the costs associated with installing a MSE wall estimate and increased the approved amount of funding. No insurance proceeds are anticipated for this project. No mitigation has been identified or utilized for this project. Work to be Completed cost (WTBC) is based on the cost estimate format (CEF) developed by the Applicant. The costs V1 are $1,892,510.00 (CEF) funded at a 75% federal cost share = $1,419,382.50. Total project cost is $467,473.00 (V0) + 1,892,510.00 (V1) = $2,359,983.00 at 75% federal cost share = $1,769,987.25 less $350,604.75 (V0 Award) = $1,419,382.50.
Joy Perrin, a mother of two children, testifies at the Budget Subcommittee on Human Services hearing in Sacramento March 20, 2024. With the help of CalWORKS, Perrin was able to secure housing for her and her family. Photo by José Luis Villegas for CalMatters.
Joy Perrin had been living in a van with her two children for several months when she walked into a welfare office in 2018. She had left an abusive partner and had failed her first semester at Laney College in Oakland.
A social worker told Perrin she qualified for the CalWORKS family stabilization program, which provides cash assistance, transitional housing and counseling to families experiencing crises such as domestic violence, substance abuse, or the risk of homelessness.
Five years later, Perrin spoke to lawmakers on March 20, trying to save the program that helped her find a safe home and achieve an associate’s degree in biology.
“This program gave me the opportunity to show my children that poverty doesn’t have to be our name,” said Perrin, who plans to study radiology. “Not only am I a testament of the power of this program, but my children will be able to share their stories and how it can change their path to their future.”
“This program gave me the opportunity to show my children that poverty doesn’t have to be our name.” — Joy Perrin, CalWORKS recipient
Because California faces a projected budget shortfall of $38 billion to $73 billion, Gov. Gavin Newsom in January proposed cuts that would wipe out funding for the family stabilization program and for another CalWORKS program that subsidizes jobs for low-income recipients.
Both cuts would undermine CalWORKS’ effectiveness, advocates say, and contradict the governor’s stated goals of helping move families out of poverty.
The family stabilization program serves more than 31,000 people. The extended subsidized employment program reaches about 8,000 participants a month. In total 354,000 households with 659,000 children receive CalWORKS benefits a year.
CalWORKS cuts
To shrink CalWORKS’ $7 billion annual budget, Newsom would take away what’s left of the $55 million from family stabilization this year and $71 million next year and $134 million each year from the expanded subsidized employment program — along with other cuts.
Some lawmakers are resisting.
Attendees watch the Budget Subcommittee on Human Services hearing at the state Capitol in Sacramento on March 20, 2024. Photo by José Luis Villegas for CalMatters
Assemblymember Corey Jackson, the Morena Valley Democrat who chairs the Assembly’s Human Services Committee, held the recent hearing to make clear how many people would be hurt.
He told CalMatters he opposes “a vast majority” of Newsom’s proposed cuts to CalWORKS and is seeking alternatives.
“The question is no longer whether something is a good program; the question is whether it is more important than another,” Jackson said. “CalWORKS is one of the most important programs that the state has. Very few can compete with it from a priorities perspective.”
Assemblymember Corey Jackson, chairperson of the Human Services Committee, at a hearing at the state Capitol on March 20, 2024. Photo by José Luis Villegas for CalMatters
State senators recently proposed shrinking the state budget shortfall by trimming current-year allocations. They agreed with Newsom’s plan to take back $336 million from CalWORKs, saying the money “is projected to be unexpended and should have no programmatic impact.”
But that doesn’t mean the cuts are set in stone. Newsom’s administration has proposed “a number of solutions across state government,” said H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for Newsom’s finance department, including some funding for both CalWORKS programs.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office is also recommending reducing CalWORKS funding to reflect “consistently unspent funds,” said Sonia Russo, a policy analyst there. Almost $40 million a year remains unspent in the subsidized employment program, she said, though the family stabilization program spends all of its funds each year.
A family’s lifeline
Part of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, generally known as welfare, CalWORKS requires recipients to get a job or participate in activities intended to lead to employment.
Its subsidized employment program helps people transition off public assistance by placing them into jobs and paying part of their wages.
At the height of the pandemic, the subsidized employment program’s caseload dropped, largely due to worksite closures and restrictions. But it began rebounding in 2021 and this year increased again, though still below pre-pandemic levels.
Lizbeth Paz Alegria at the Budget Subcommittee on Human Services hearing at the state Capitol in Sacramento on March 20, 2024. Photo by José Luis Villegas for CalMatters
Lizbet Paz Alegria, a program participant, said it’s a lifeline for many who need it.
Paz Alegria, a Mexican-born immigrant, sought CalWORKS help in 2022 because her husband at the time had lost his job. Bills were piling up and she and her three children needed to escape domestic violence, she said.
The subsidized employment program gave her a job at a San Mateo County resource center, where she helps other Spanish-speaking CalWORKS participants find employment.
“I was so grateful, because I was placed in a position to welcome families,” she told CalMatters, “and they see in me someone who has walked in their shoes, who knows that feeling of desperation.”
Paz Alegria is a permanent resident who immigrated more than two decades ago. Many other immigrants do not qualify for CalWORKS benefits because they are undocumented or have legal status but have lived fewer than five years in the U.S.
“I agree there must be cuts. The only question is where and whether we accomplish this through a just process.” — Assemblymember Corey Jackson, Democrat from Morena Valley
CalWORKS bases its grants on the number of eligible family members in a household. The average cash grant was $1,021 a month last year, though families living in high-cost coastal counties, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, received 5% more than families in inland counties, such as Shasta and Fresno.
In Fresno County, where poverty is nearly 19% higher than the rest of the state, more than 8,000 people received employment services from CalWORKS last year, said Maria Rodriguez-Lopez, the county’s deputy director of employment services.
The county contracts with the Marjaree Mason Center to help domestic violence victims. Last year the center handled 8,748 domestic violence cases, Rodriquez-Lopez said, and more than 500 people, including 257 children, participated in the family stabilization program.
“If funding is terminated, the risk of transitioning out of this contract is high,” Rodriguez-Lopez said. “However our department will make every attempt to mitigate the negative consequences to our families.”
A question of priorities
Jackson said the state has an obligation to prevent its vulnerable population from plunging further into a financial crisis. Last year California’s poverty rate grew from 11.7% in 2021 to 13.2%, with 5 million people living in poverty, according to the Public Policy Institute.
“I agree there must be cuts,” Jackson said. “The only question is where and whether we accomplish this through a just process.”
Jackson said he and other lawmakers have asked Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to “not rush the process so people are not hurt due to political theater.”
Attendees at the Budget Subcommittee on Human Services hearing at the state Capitol in Sacramento on March 20, 2024. Photo by José Luis Villegas for CalMatters
Advocacy groups and nonprofits wrote a joint letter to legislative leaders predicting the cuts won’t save money but will instead cost the state: “Every $1 in CalWORKs received by a family saves the state $8 by preventing increases in child protective services, worsened children and parents’ health, and reductions in future education, employment and earnings,” it said.
State Sen. Scott Weiner, the San Francisco Democrat who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, said it will release a budget package later this spring. “Our goal will be to protect our progress for California and mitigate any impact on core program improvements of recent years, including CalWORKS.”
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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
Tim Casey Sr. was born in Scotia on June 29, 1953.
He lived his entire life in Hoopa, taking many adventures hitchhiking around California, Oregon and Washington.
He graduated from Hoopa High School in 1971.
After meeting his first wife Nina Mcghie in Washington State, they had two children, Tim Casey Jr. and Christopher Casey.
Tim met Marcy Westphal Hunter, his second wife, in 1985. They married in 1988. Marcy had one son, Christopher Hunter, who Tim raised as his own.
He loved his boys.
Tim had several careers in his lifetime — logger, carpenter, meat cutter at Ray’s in Hoopa. Tim finally landed his dream job during Hurricane Katrina where while working for the Natives, fire support crew. He was hired as a firefighter and engine driver in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He returned to Hoopa and was hired by the Hoopa Wildland Fire Department. After many years with Hoopa Wildland, he retired as captain in 2017.
After retirement, he felt he still needed to work and was hired by Torres Contracting in Salem, Oregon. Tim felt he had found the job he dreamed of his entire life. Tim finally had to quit firefighting due to his health.
Tim was preceded in death by his father, John Casey Sr, his mother, Cleo Rae Quinn, his stepfather Glen E.Quinn, sister, Joy Casey, brothers John Casey Jr. and Ben Casey, his sons Christopher Casey, and Timothy Casey Jr.
Tim leaves behind his wife Marcy, stepson Chris Hunter, brothers Dan Spiess and Chris Behymer, daughters-in-law Corie Casey and Angelique Ownbey, stepmother, Ethel “Tinkie” Garcia, sisters Anna Myers, Evonne Downs, and Kelly Casey. Grandchildren, Chris Hunter Jr. (CJ), Kiera Fitzpatrick Casey, Chloe Hunter, Cadence Casey, Cali Casey, Jaxon Casey, Drake Hunter, Skylar Hunter and Aliyah Hunter, nieces Natalie Casey, Amber Casey, Valerie Casey and Stephanie Goodwin, Ashley Mack, Allissa Williamson, and Katie Olsen, sister-in-law, Sandra Kagay, and brother-in-law Lloyd Douglass.
Many other family members, too numerous to name, but all very much loved and appreciated. Family bonds are strong in his family.
Tim had so many good close friends and many stories to tell.
He loved hunting and fishing, traveling, but above all he loved his extended family, the community of Hoopa.
He will always be remembered as “Big Guy and Big Lou.”
Tim passed from stage 4 pancreatic cancer on March 14 at home with Marcy, CJ and Chloe by his side.
Tim was cremated and wanted his ashes spread along with both his sons at his favorite fishing hole, on the banks of the Trinity River in Hoopa.
Honorary Pall Bearers: Robbie Moon, Chris Hunter Jr., Loren Norton, George Moon, Harold Jones, Gary Jury, Richard Mitchell, JD Gerstner, Merwin Clark, Junior Moon, Ticmil Ashley, Brian McIntosh, Johnny Rodriques, Dayton O’Neil, Beau Goodwin, John Burr Rogers, Paul White, William Fraser, Raymond Vader, Paul Pack, Micheal Pack and Daniel Pack.
The family would like to thank everyone who came together to help make the family and Tim comfortable during his last weeks. We could not have done it without your support.
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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Tim Casey Sr.’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.
Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal watches as local attorney Andrea Sullivan delivers a presentation to reporters at a press conference held inside the former theater space of the Carson Block building. | Photos by Andrew Goff.
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Attorney Andrea Sullivan.
Local attorney Anakalia “Andrea” Sullivan today accused the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office of evidence tampering and using excessive force in a case involving Brandon and Jesse Widmark, half brothers whose alleged crime spree last April culminated in an officer-involved shooting on the streets of Eureka.
The Widmark brothers, who were shot and seriously injured during their showdown with law enforcement, are facing numerous felony charges including hit-and-run, child endangerment and attempted murder of a peace officer.
Sullivan, who is representing the younger Widmark brother, 19-year-old Jesse, delivered a multimedia presentation that included publicly released body camera footage from last April’s incidents alongside “raw” footage she obtained from the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office during the evidence discovery process preceding a preliminary hearing in the case.
The publicly released version of the footage in question starts around the 3:45 mark of the video embedded below:
Though nearly identical, the raw footage shown by Sullivan omits the blurring effects employed by the Sheriff’s Office to obscure Jesse Widmark’s face and the bloody wound in his leg.
Sullivan argued that by obscuring Jesse Widmark’s face, the Sheriff’s Office also obscured “the fact that he was prone on the ground with his hands in the air when law enforcement approached.”
She also highlighted the “near complete failure of the body-worn camera system,” noting that only one deputy turned his camera on during the incident, and that was by accident.
This one clip of video footage “only exists because the deputy that responded, [his] keys hit his phone and activated the body-worn camera system,” Sullivan said. “The deputies claim that my client was reaching for a weapon during this incident. Later, deputies testified that pursuant to HCSO policy and directions from the undersheriff, they were instructed not to prepare written reports.”
[ADDENDUM, March 29, 9:41 a.m.: Reached via email, Honsal provided this explanation:
Per our standard protocol, All deputies involved in the shooting, are interrogated by the CIRT investigators from EPD and the District Attorney. They provide complete voluntary statements in the interrogation which are transcribed and submitted into the investigation; thus a written statement is not necessary.
The CIRT investigation prepared by EPD and The Lead DA investigator was submitted to the District Attorney, and charges were filed based upon that information submitted. ]
Sullivan displays side-by-side still shots of body-worn camera footage.
While displaying a pair of video still shots side by side — the left version taken from the publicly released video and the right from the raw footage — Sullivan acknowledged that it’s unclear what the deputy is pointing his gun at, whether it’s her client’s prone body on the ground or his half brother Brandon, who is not clearly visible in either version of the video — or something else altogether.
But she said, “The deputies’ claim that my client was reaching for a weapon is contradicted by the raw body-worn camera footage.”
Following the press conference, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said it’s standard practice for his office to blur faces and injuries in such publicly released videos, explaining that un-blurred footage is “not the graphic images we want out in this community.”
He also disputed the suggestion that any deputy fired at Jesse Widmark while he was on the ground with his hands up. By the time the video footage begins, Honsal said, Jesse Widmark had already been shot in the leg by Sgt. Conan Moore. Moore had approached the scene in an unmarked patrol vehicle and discharged his firearm from inside his truck after he saw that Widmarks engaged in a shootout with other deputies.
Sheriff Honsal takes in Sullivan’s presentation.
According to Honsal, the video footage comes from the body camera of Deputy Chad Crotty, who is shown holding Jesse Widmark at gunpoint while Sgt. Moore arrives and then fires multiple rounds at Brandon Widmark, who was armed with a rifle and “tucked behind the rear driver’s side tire” of the red Ford pickup truck they’d been driving.
Sullivan played the video footage during the press conference.
As the clip rolls, Deputy Crotty’s body-worn camera pans to the right, leaving Jesse Widmark out of frame as Moore can be seen (and heard) firing a volley of gunshots in the direction of the red pickup truck.
The Widmarks had been traveling that Ford F-250 during a high-speed chase through Eureka that ended with a violent collision in the intersection of Dolbeer and Harris streets. The crash injured three civilians in another vehicle, with one of them, a 27-year-old woman, suffering serious injuries.
Two passengers were inside the Widmarks’ F-250: a 37-year-old woman and a two-year-old child.
According to the sheriff’s office, both of the Widmarks were carrying rifles and fired at least one shot, striking a patrol vehicle. The half brothers were both shot multiple times and taken to a local hospital before being arrested when they were discharged.
I asked Sullivan if she’s arguing thatthe Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office blurred out certain spots of the footage to deliberately misrepresent the incidents.
She said that while she can’t speak to intent, she believes that this “material manipulation” of the footage“alters the tenor and tone of the video.”
“From the original press release video, it is not clear that Jesse Widmark clearly surrendered before law enforcement approached,” she added.
Standing outside the building afterward, Honsal disputed those allegations.
“Everything that she had to say today did not represent excessive use of force and did not represent evidence tampering whatsoever,” he said. “I think she misrepresented the facts of this case to push a narrative that she wants in this community.”
In an earlier statement emailed to the Outpost, Honsal noted that the District Attorney’s Office has filed charges against both of the Widmarks in a case that’s now headed toward a jury trial.
“I cannot speak for the District Attorney; however, I believe [her office] would not have filed this case if they found there was unlawful force used against Jesse and Brandon Widmark,” Honsal said.
A multi-agency Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) led by the Eureka Police Department and the DA’s Office has conducted an investigation into the April 18 incidents, but Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery said the resulting report can’t be released to the public until the trial concludes.
Honsal, meanwhile, said his department’s deputies are victims in this case and also heroes.
“They stopped a crime spree that day,” he said. “And if [the Widmarks] didn’t get in that collision on Dolbeer and Harris — and I feel very bad for the community member that got struck; it was an absolute tragedy — but they were aiming right towards a hospital. They were going right towards a preschool. Who knows what would have happened if they would have stopped in front of preschool [or] if they would have ran into the hospital with two rifles?”
As for why only one officer had his body camera turned on, Honsal said that this model of camera was new at the time and deputies weren’t used to activating them.
“In this dynamic situation, they didn’t activate them because it wasn’t muscle memory at that point in time,” he said. “We have since made sure that deputies are following up with this to make sure that they are activating their body-worn cameras on every incident where it’s required by law. It’s our policy that they do so.”
Regarding the Widmarks incidents, Honsal said his deputies gave the them several opportunities to surrender and used “the reasonable amount of force necessary to overcome their resistance.”
The press conference was held inside the former theater space of the Carson Block building.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
On March 26, 2024, deputies with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) served a search warrant to investigate illegal cannabis cultivation in the Airport Road area of Fortuna. The California Fish and Wildlife and Department of Cannabis Control assisted in the service of the warrant.
Two parcels were investigated during the service of the warrant. The parcels did not possess the required county permit and state license to cultivate cannabis commercially.
During the service of the warrant, deputies eradicated approximately 2307 growing cannabis plants. Deputies seized and destroyed over 20 pounds of cannabis bud. Deputies also located and seized One AR-15 rifle with attached suppressor and an un-serialized Glock handgun.
Additional violations with civil fines are expected to be filed by the assisting agencies.
Corey Lee Ivy, 45 of Fortuna, was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on the following charges: HS 11358(c)- Cultivation of Commercial Cannabis, HS 11359- Possession for sale of cannabis, PC 591- Theft of utilities, PC 33410- Possession of a suppressor.
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
Corey Lee Ivy / Booking Photo Humboldt County Correctional Facility
Gov. Gavin Newsom stands with cheering fast food workers after signing legislation raising their minimum wage in Los Angeles on Sept. 28, 2023. Photo by Alisha Jucevic for CalMatters.
Say you work at a fast food restaurant or coffee shop that bears the name of a national chain. Under California law, you’re entitled to be paid at least $20 an hour starting Monday.
Say you work at one of those stores, inside a grocery store. The grocery store, your employer, is exempt under the law. You’ll keep getting your current wages.
But say you assemble burgers, scoop ice cream or prepare Frappuccinos at one of those stores, and it’s inside another store, but the bigger store isn’t a “grocery” because less than half of its revenues are made off groceries. What then?
According to the state of California, the store should be paying you at least $20 an hour, but only for the hours you work in the fast food portion of the store. If you spend part of your shift checking out customers or stocking the shelves in the rest of the store, you’re only entitled to the regular minimum wage of $16 for those hours.
That’s according to an 18-item FAQ the Department of Industrial Relations published in March as California businesses prepare for the fast food minimum wage to kick in on Monday.
It’s not the only situation that is confusing employers and workers alike.
To raise wages for fast food workers, the Service Employees International Union struck a deal last year with the International Franchise Association and California Restaurant Association that included owners of fast food chain locations but exempted those who operate independent restaurants.
The law covers all fast food restaurants that belong to chains with 60 or more locations nationally, roping in the unions’ targets: McDonald’s or Burger King and their franchise owners. More than 500,000 Californians — primarily women, immigrants and people of color — work in what’s known in the industry as “limited service restaurants.” Earlier this year SEIU estimated the law will apply to roughly 3,000 employers.
“The vast majority of fast-food locations in California operate under the most profitable brands in the world,” Joseph Bryant, SEIU’s executive vice president and a member of a new statewide fast food regulatory council, said in a statement today. “Those corporations need to pay their fair share and provide their operators with the resources they need to pay their workers a living wage without cutting jobs or passing the cost to consumers.”
But outside those national chains are numerous other food sellers and business arrangements, not all of which are directly addressed in the new law. Grocery stores and some bakeries are exempt, and this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a carve-out for fast food places at airports, convention centers and hotels.
According to emails obtained by CalMatters in response to a public records request, a range of employers have been trying to figure out if they must pay $20 ever since the law was signed late last September.
In October, the Department of Industrial Relations received two inquiries from franchise owners asking whether they must comply with the law. One employer ownedan Auntie Anne’s and a Cinnabon and believed selling pretzels and cinnamon rolls qualified them for the controversial bakery exemption. The other owned an ice cream parlor.
“This clarification is imperative as to whether or not we will be financially able to open more locations at the proposed wage increase to $20 an hour,” the ice cream store owner wrote.
Both were forwarded to the department with a request for legal guidance by a staffer for Assemblymember Chris Holden, the law’s author. In recent weeks, Holden has been unable to answer reporters’ questions about why certain exemptions — such a carveout for some bakeries — were included in the law.The department redacted responses to those emails under a public records exemption for attorney-client communications.
By December, employers were lawyering up.
Attorneys for the Honey Baked Ham chain asked whether it would qualify. They described the stores as “retail meat stores” where customers primarily buy cooked hams and other “bulk proteins” and sides to eat at home, but acknowledged they also sell sandwiches that customers can eat at the restaurants or take to-go.
Attorneys also sought clarification over whether their clients would have to pay $20 if they own a chain of Papa Murphy’s “take and bake” pizza shops.
In late December, attorneys for an unnamed retail chain asked the department whether they would have to pay $20 in the fast food restaurants or cafes that are inside some of its stores. The attorneys noted the company’s stores sometimes sell groceries, but not primarily, and employees who work the fast food counters are often also assigned to other parts of the store.
Department attorney Ehud Appel said it did not respond to individual inquiries, instead answering to the companies with the FAQ this month.
In the FAQ, the state said: businesses are not exempt for selling ice cream, even though a national industry classification system excludes some ice cream shops from the definition of fast food, or “limited service” restaurants. To count as a bakery, the state said, the bread sold must weigh at least half a pound. And workers at a “store within a store” must be paid $20 for the hours they work in the restaurant portions of the stores.
The answers apparently created new questions.
The FAQ stated fast food managers can only be exempt from California’s overtime pay laws if they make more than twice the minimum wage — a threshold that is now higher for fast food employees. But attorneys for the retailer wrote in another letter to the department in mid-March that the stores’ managers only manage the fast food counters part time.
It’s unclear how the state will handle the confusion going forward.
Its FAQ directs workers who believe they’re wrongly being denied $20 an hour to file a wage theft claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Office — a process that is so backlogged amid a staffing crisis for the office that complaints can take years to resolve. The department did not immediately respond today when asked for further clarification.
The new fast food council may also take up the concerns, or they could end up in the courts to decide.
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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
