July 19, 2016  

Can I Be Fined for not Carrying Workers Compensation Insurance?

Answer: Yes, you can be fined for not carrying workers’ compensation insurance and more. If the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (state labor commissioner) determines an employer is operating without workers’ compensation coverage, a stop order will be issued. This order prohibits the use of employee labor until coverage is obtained, and failure to observe it is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to 60 days, or by a fine of up to $10,000, or both. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement will also assess a penalty the greater of (1) twice the amount the employer would have paid in workers’ compensation premiums during the period the employer was uninsured, determined according to subdivision (c), or (2) the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) per employee employed during the period the employer was uninsured. [Labor Code section 3722(b)].

frustrated

Additionally, if an injured worker files a workers’ compensation claim that goes before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and a judge finds the employer had not secured insurance as required by law, when the dispute is resolved the uninsured employer may be assessed a penalty of $10,000 per employee on the payroll at the time of injury if the worker’s case was found to be compensable, or $2,000 per employee on the payroll at the time of injury if the worker’s case was non-compensable, up to a maximum of $100,000. [Labor Code Section 3722(d) and (f).]

Finally, as noted in answer to a previous question, failure to secure workers’ compensation insurance is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, or by a fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or by both that imprisonment and fine. (Labor Code Section 3700.5)

If you need help with quotes for workers’ compensation insurance for your business, contact me today. We can market this with numerous carriers to find the best coverage and price.

-JK

July 2, 2016  

Ballast Point Opens In Long Beach

Ballast Point, Long Beach’s latest brewery, officially opened Thursday Alamitos Bay Landing. The Ballast Point Tasting Room & Kitchen at the south end of the retail center (the former Khoury’s location). It’s their first location in Los Angeles County.

Joanelle and I met some friends for the Opening. This location alone is everything you could hope for and they did a great job with the design and set-up so you can enjoy the views. There are plenty of taps to serve but it was slammed for opening night at all 3 bars. This is a massive space and you can tell they plan to fill it daily. They have to fine tune the serving process, however and get used to the crowds. People aren’t going to want to wait 30-40 minutes every time they order a beer.

Nevertheless, I love the location. You can check out the waves inside the Seal Beach jetty, watch all kinds of sailboats glide in from the sea, and watch Hawaiian outrigger paddlers practice all within the cozy confines of the upper patio. We ventured downstairs for a bit to scope out the accommodations, but again being opening day, it was too crowded. I will be back, and soon. This is huge for Long Beach.

Here are some pictures from Thursday night:

Jimmy, Joanelle, and friends
Good Beer
Downstairs corner bar
Main Bar
Upper Deck Bar
Upper Deck. Views for days
Upper Deck Bar

 

-JK

June 29, 2016  

Port of Long Beach Boat Tour

Along with the Long Beach Young Professionals we took a boat tour of the second busiest port in the United States tonight…..the Port of Long Beach. It was crazy to see the massive cargo ships front and center. It’s hard to convey how huge these behemoths really are. This video and picture don’t do it any justice:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHQ6SjOhIGU/

Each year, the Port handles:

  • More than 6.8 million 20-foot container units (TEUs)
  • Cargo valued at $180 billion
  • 82.3 million metric tons of cargo
  • 2,000 vessel calls

The Port’s loaded containers account for:

  • 1/3 moving through all California ports
  • 1/4 moving through all West Coast ports
  • nearly 1 in 5 moving through all U.S. ports

Port-related employment

  • 30,000 jobs (about one in eight) in Long Beach
  • 316,000 jobs (or one in 22) in the five-county Southern California region
  • 1.4 million jobs throughout the U.S. are related to Long Beach-generated trade

Thank you to the Long Beach Chamber and Long Beach Young Professionals for putting this on.

-JK

June 16, 2016  

Insurance For Taco Bell Building

I post pictures of commercial buildings that I insure often here on my site. Of all the various commercial insurance risks I write, my favorite are commercial buildings, whether it be apartment complexes, retail strip malls, warehouses, or office buildings. I’d definitely consider it my main niche. I know all the best carriers for these and the appropriate coverage needed for building owners.

This is a building I insure in Lynwood, CA.

Taco Bell Building

The owner was referred to me by a local banker in Palos Verdes a few years ago. They were in a rush to get the building insured practically on the spot to close a loan. As you can see, Taco Bell is the tenant of the building. The building is in beautiful shape and totally renovated. This allowed me to get coverage in place the same day.

It’s not a big flashy skyscraper, but it’s nice when you drive around town and see various businesses and properties that you insure.

The owner of this building and the banker who referred me couldn’t have been happier when we wrote this several years ago. We just renewed the property & general liability package policy in March. And hopefully we’ll be renewing for years to come representing the building owner.

-JK

 

June 9, 2016  

Get Long Beach Emergency Info On You Cell Phone

During an emergency you need information in order to protect yourself, your family, and your property.

Alert Long Beach is a free service designed to keep everyone who lives or works in Long Beach informed – before, during and after a major emergency or disaster. And now, Alert Long Beach messages are now available in accessible formats for registered users who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, and deaf/blind.


To get emergency alerts in American Sign Language, English, Spanish, or Tagalog, sign up at the City’s website: http://www.longbeach.gov/

-JK

May 4, 2016  

Sharefest 13th Annual Community Workday

This past Saturday, April 30th, a small crew from our office participated in Sharefest’s 13th Annual Community Workday. Sharefest Community Development is an organization dedicated to creating an imprint of lasting positive change in the South Bay and Harbor areas of LA County. The organization does this by partnering with churches, businesses, civic leaders, schools, and residents.

The Sharefest Annual Workday is a community-building and service day that brings together volunteers of all ages to donate their time and talents to beautify and meet tangible needs at schools, churches, and nonprofit organizations in the South Bay and L.A. Harbor areas.

This year, 300+ projects were completed at 50 sites across the South Bay and Harbor areas. Posts were shared on social media from the various work sites using #SFWorkday.

Here’s a few pictures from our participation at Jane Addams Middle School in Lawndale, CA:

See more on the Sharefest Facebook Page

-JK

May 2, 2016  

Participating On A Panel for Cyber Crime

This past Wednesday I was part of a panel for an educational workshop to discuss innovative ways to protect small businesses from cyber crime.

On the panel was an FBI Special Agent who shared FBI insights on fighting cyber crime. Akilah Kamaria from Blue Fields Digital Intelligence shared strategies organizations can use to prepare for and respond to a cyber incident. I shared information on cyber liability and data breach insurance and its role in helping to protect companies from cyber crime losses.

Special thanks to Akilah Kamaria for allowing inviting me to participate. Also, to Gal-A Photography for the professional photos:

Thank you for putting on such an important and great event!

-JK

 

April 28, 2016  

Tipping With Magic @ Domenico’s Belmont Shore

A longtime server at Domenico’s Italian Restaurant in Belmont Shore, Long Beach, was gifted with more than $2,000 in tips from a magician who captured the event with hidden cameras.

The waiter, Edgar Guzman, who has worked at Domenico’s in Long Beach for more than a decade. He works two jobs to provide for his wife and family.

My favorite part in the video is when Edgar reads a note from his family. The note states “What you put out will come back to you. Put out good into the world.” It’s something I personally believe so much. The video currently has 600,000+ likes on YouTube.

Watch the video here:

Credit: Grunion Gazette

-JCK

March 14, 2016  

OSHA On-site Consultation Program

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants to assist small- and medium-sized businesses with their compliance and safety initiatives through their On-Site Consultation Service. This program offers confidential advice in all states across the country, with priority given to high-hazard work-sites. Consultation services are totally separate from enforcement and do not result in penalties or citations.

Using a free consultation service largely funded by OSHA, employers can find out about potential hazards at their work-sites, improve their occupational safety and health management systems and even qualify for a one-year exemption from routine OSHA inspections. The service is delivered by state governments using well-trained professional staff. Most consultations take place on-site, though limited services away from the work-site are also available. This safety and health consultation program is completely separate from the OSHA inspection effort presently in place. No citations are issued or penalties proposed during the consultation appointment.

Your name, your firm’s name and any information that you provide about your workplace, plus any unsafe or unhealthful working conditions that the consultant uncovers, will not be reported routinely to the OSHA inspection staff. Your only obligation will be to commit the organization to correcting serious job safety and health hazards; a commitment which you are expected to make prior to the actual visit, and carry out in a timely manner.

Getting Started
Since consultation is a voluntary activity, your organization must contact OSHA to request it. The consultant will discuss your specific needs with you and set up a visit date based on the priority assigned to your request, your work schedule and the time needed for the consultant to adequately prepare to serve you. OSHA encourages a complete review of your firm’s safety and health situation; however, you may limit the visit to one or more specific problems.

For more information on the OSHA On-Site Consultation Program, visit HERE

Benefits of On-Site Consultation

Knowledge of your workplace hazards and ways to eliminate them can only improve your own operations and the management of your firm. Your organization will get professional advice and assistance on the correction of workplace hazards and benefit from on-site training and assistance provided by the consultant to you and your employees. The consultant can help you establish or strengthen an employee safety and health program, making safety and health activities routine considerations rather than crisis-oriented responses. This program provides incentives and support to smaller, high-hazard employers to develop, implement and continuously improve effective safety and health programs at their worksite(s). The program recognizes employers who have demonstrated exemplary achievements in workplace safety and health by receiving a comprehensive safety and health consultation visit, correcting all workplace safety and health hazards, adopting and implementing effective safety and health management systems and agreeing to request further consultative visits if major changes in working conditions or processes occur that may introduce new hazards.

-JK

 

February 22, 2016  

Cyber Security: Anatomy of a Main Street Hack

Two former FBI agents from Travelers Insurance Investigative Services hack into a typical business website and download sensitive data in a matter of minutes to demonstrate how quickly a cyber attack can happen:

Research shows that cyber criminals and hackers are attacking smaller “Main Street” companies who are often less prepared to prevent and respond to an attack.

Cyber insurance can protect companies before an event takes place by helping supply them with risk management tools and advice and access to other professionals in the data security community that can help with their information security.

Check out the full story: http://travl.rs/1WvPHQq

Have questions about cyber insurance? Interested in learning more about the various coverage’s included within a cyber insurance policy? Want to see what it would cost you to pick up cyber insurance for your business? Contact your insurance broker or me today to talk more.

-JK

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