Employees

In a sign of heightened concern that the upcoming flu season could be severe, top national and local health officials warned Wednesday that employers should brace for worker absences and cautioned the public that as many as three shots this season may be needed to protect against the H1N1 strain and seasonal flu. In Washington, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke urged that common sense take precedence over "the Puritan work ethic." He joined two other Cabinet secretaries to tell business owners to prepare for losing key employees to swine flu for days at a time.

Several senior staff members of the Screen Actors Guild received substantial pay hikes in a year when Hollywood's largest actors union faced a nearly $6-million deficit, federal records show. The disclosures are likely to add fuel to an already heated guild election that has pitted so-called moderates who ousted the union's former executive director, Doug Allen, against the group that backed his yearlong contract standoff with the major studios. The moderates installed a new chief negotiator and tapped former general counsel David White as interim executive director.

A surgical technician convicted of firing a gun into an occupied car was back on the job last week at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, just days after being released from jail, despite vows by Los Angeles County officials to crack down on medical personnel with criminal records. Norris Smith, 53, had spent 169 days behind bars before pleading no contest to the felony charge Aug. 26. In exchange for the plea, a five-year state prison sentence was suspended. He was placed on probation and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment and abstain from alcohol, according to court records.

A storm of protest has erupted over the Schwarzenegger administration's push to require prospective home health aides for the elderly and disabled to begin undergoing criminal background and fingerprint checks next week. Social service chiefs in counties throughout the state have warned that they aren't ready to begin the time-consuming new application process -- and the delay could mean some elderly and frail patients would go without care. Advocates for the elderly and disabled say the administration's rush to begin the checks, part of an anti-fraud effort Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed during last summer's budget negotiations, seems to have an ulterior motive: dissuading new patients and providers from participating in the $5.5-billion government-funded home healthcare program.

Calpine Corp., the biggest U.S. producer of natural-gas-fueled power, said it fired 50 employees, or about 2.4% of its staff, after a cost-cutting review. Calpine, based in Houston and San Jose, had about 2,100 employees before the reductions.

The University of California and the union representing the system's 8,500 custodians, gardeners, cafeteria workers and drivers announced a tentative contract settlement Wednesday. The pact ends an 18-month dispute that triggered a five-day strike last summer and protest rallies at regents' meetings and elsewhere. Representatives of the service workers had said that many earned poverty-level wages at 10 UC campuses and five medical centers, generally making between $10 and $20 an hour.

Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. was sued for back wages by two ex-workers who claim that more than 800 employees were fired without required warning. The recreational vehicle and manufactured home maker violated the federal Warn Act by failing to give workers 60 days' notice of a mass layoff, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside, where Fleetwood is based. A Fleetwood spokesman said employees were given proper notice and authorities were notified.

Shakespeare & Company of Lenox is laying off seven employees and shifting others to part time to save nearly $1 million. The announcement came about two weeks after the group vowed to "produce more plays with less money." Shakespeare & Company says all year-round employees will take a 10% pay cut and its three founders will give up their salaries for two months.

A manager and service technician who worked for Southern California Gas Co. were found shot to death in their cars, which were parked in separate cities. The incidents prompted many employees to work in alternative locations Wednesday while police tried to piece together what happened. The technician was found first in an employee parking lot at 1919 S. State College Blvd. in Anaheim about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Anaheim police and company officials. The man, identified only as a Westminster resident in his late 30s, had just finished his shift and was in his car when he was shot, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Tim Schmidt.

A man who allegedly killed two Southern California Gas Co. workers before turning a gun on himself had blamed the victims and other employees at an Anaheim office for his resignation in 2007, police said. Phong Thuc Tran, 36, of Fountain Valley "believed he was forced to resign," said Sgt. Tim Schmidt of the Anaheim Police Department. Police suspect Tran shot and killed Hung Duy Dao, 37, March 17 in the parking lot of a Southern California Gas Co. facility in Anaheim. The next day, Tran allegedly killed Charles Santisteban outside his Pomona home.