This reminds me of what Acting Labor Commissioner Robert Jones did to a DLSE attorney...but what Jones did was no 'mistake'

Very few things are more repulsive than to have someone in public (government) service be placed in a high position of trust, and then to watch that person abuse that trust repeatedly.

What Robert Jones did to Miles was repulsive.

What Robert Jones did with California's meal & rest periods is repulsive.

What Robert Jones isn't doing with CMS is repulsive.

The people of California deserve better than Robert Jones. The taxpayers of California deserve more than his resignation: they deserve their money back from CMS.

Will Victoria Bradshaw allow Robert Jones to be nominated & confirmed as Labor Commissioner????

That's pretty scary. Bradshaw's been anti-union since Pete Wilson brought her to state service. She loses Livadas v. Bradshaw (9-0, US Supreme Court), and then the Governator promotes the anti-union loser to Labor Workforce Development Agency Secretary. She brings Robert Jones on board after Donna Dell resigns...right before she submits that idiot precedent decision about meal & rest periods being a penalty (going back only 1-yr.) instead of a wage (going back 3-yrs.). The same morons that lost Livadas are the same morons that hired Dell and Jones. Doesn't that scare the crap out of the unions? I heard that Robert Jones is now trying to make nice with the unions, in hopes of obtaining their support for Jones' successful nomination as Labor Commissioner.

Unless the unions have taken complete leave of their senses, I don't see this playing out they way Robert Jones thinks it will play out. After Victoria Bradshaw tried to screw them over with Livadas v. Bradshaw, how will Jones be able to separate himself from the Bradshaw administration...especially when it was her & Rea that brought him to DLSE? Will he brag to the unions that he was secretly supportive of the recent 3-yr. meal & rest period wage, and that it was all Donna's fault for making her precedent decision a 1-yr. penalty?

Let me try and get this straight: he bends over for Sprawl Mart, and Sprawl Mart is anti-union....what does that make Jones: pro or anti union? Bradshaw is definitely anti-union, and it's Jones' job (as a political appointee) to suck up to those that got him hired. He certainly doesn't do anything for the people of California...look at the CMS disaster, look at his political priority serving employers (not employees), and finally, look at the way he treated the only guy that correctly called the meal & rest periods a wage...Jones fired him in hopes of paving the way for an unopposed pro-employer, anti-union Bradshaw administration.

CMS Headquarters

Miscellaneous Housekeeping

DLSE lost another good employee (John Roldan), who left the division. It's hard to believe that the DLSE picked Butter Face instead of Roldan for supervisor. Butter Face has almost zero people skills but has a propensity to suck up to management, so Butter Face got promoted.

People who diligently do their job are pushed into a corner where they collect dust. There's this one DLSE employee who was promised by management that a temporary assignment would only last ninety days...several years later, the DLSE employee's still stuck in that hole. The manager doesn't give two shi*ts about keeping their word because the employee does a good job, so why should the manager keep their word? The employee feels shafted, so does anyone really think that the employee is providing their very best service to the public?

This is how sh*tty management decisions affect the bottom line. It doesn't take an industrial organization psychologist to translate crappy employee morale into underperforming service.

Chief DLSE Desk Donkey Robert Jones loses again: meal & rest periods are wages/going back 3 years...Miles Locker vindicated

Robert Jones tried to pick up where Donna Dell left off: to systematically screw over the working Californian with their bullsh*t interpretation of meal & rest period violations (was it considered a penalty or a wage?). The California Supreme Court called it: meal & rest period violations are wages, and it goes back 3 years. Miles Locker, the DLSE attorney who called it correct years ago, knew long ago that meal & rest periods were wages.

Stay with me, because this is where it gets tricky, and one needs to understand why this legal decision has a huge impact on Big Business. For example, let’s take SprawlMart: it’s determined that they screwed their workers over and failed to give them lunches and breaks. Instead of the class action lawsuit looking at a 1-year penalty of $60 million dollars, they would now be looking at a 3-year $180 million dollar penalty. If the DLSE’s snakeoil was swallowed, then SprawlMart would have saved themselves $120 million dollars. This legal decision is huge. As much as the Governator wants companies to do business in California, I don’t think it’s unfair to ask them to just obey the laws on the books.

California doesn’t need political appointees like Robert Jones to rape the labor code at the behest of Big Business. I couldn’t imagine anything more pathetic than being a whore for Big Business: that’s not the accomplishment I want engraved on my tombstone. Ever hear of the The Midas Touch fable? It’s a story where this king had the power to turn everything into gold with his touch. King Midas touched a loved one and guess what?

At the DLSE, we have the exact opposite, where we have The Robert Jones Touch, where everything he touches turns to sh*t. He fired one of the best attorneys working for the people, he tried to sell everyone his CMS snakeoil, he delegates his staff to terminate some lame-ass blogger, and he tried to shiv the working Californian with his “meal & rest periods are just a penalty” crapola. How can any DLSE attorney (except Anthony Mischel, Richard Munoz, and other suck-up flunkies) not laugh at Robert Jones when they see him? If everyone who sees Robert Jones could ask him when he expects Miles Locker to return, then that might go a long way in getting an incompetent & inefficient attorney to leave state service. The public has a right to know that political appointees at DLSE do not work for the collective good; it's special interests all the way.

It would be less subtle if John Rea & Vicky Bradshaw just placed a dog collar and a leash around Robert Jones' neck, because it would show true ownership.

How to successfully dispose of a Robert Jones-CMS excuse/delay update memo

When will Robert Jones tell the world how much CMS is costing California taxpayers? When will he tell the world how much he's spent in dealing with the Blogger? How many attorney hours devoted to the Bloger versus the CMS failure?

Leaders stand up for their staff, and managers bend over for their keepers. How long will Mr. Jones continue to grab his ankles?

DLSE Acting Labor Commissioner Robert Jones named as a "Person of Interest" in CMS debacle/delay

LWDA Secretary Vicky Bradshaw's politically-appointed DLSE Acting Labor Commissioner Robert Jones has failed to bring a multi-million dollar computer system (CMS) to fruition. Excuse after delay after excuse after delay. Is the problem his inability to meet deadlines, or is it his inability to obtain legitimate & efficient services for the public?

How to determine if DLSE Chief Counsel & Acting Labor Commissioner Robert Jones is inferior to serve the people of California...

It's been recently announced that CMS, the multi-million dollar DLSE government contract abortion, will not be ready until mid-August. As the DLSE Chief Counsel, a considerable amount of resources are being squandered to squish the blogger, and this diversion of state resources (can't even) be justified as furthering the mission of the DLSE.

A much tougher DLSE opponent, the people that allow this unfixable CMS train wreck to continue, are not being touched. Why? Because it's easier for Robert Jones to go after a little bug than huge government contractors, and that is what makes him inferior to serve the people of California as the DLSE Chief Counsel. It's easier for him to use taxpayer-paid resources to extinguish the blogger (not furthering DLSE's mission) than it is for him to sue those who have brought CMS to DLSE's doorstep (furthering DLSE's mission).

Like I've said before, Robert Jones is just a bully with only a law degree: he doesn't have the grapes to go after the CMS players, but he will leave no stone unturned in going after the blogger.

CMS Fiasco, Part Four

As if Lupe's memo wasn't enough, DLSE's Chief Desk Donkey Acting Labor Commissioner Robert Jones sends us his update. He explains why this CMS nightmare will not be ready. Strictly within the confines of CMS, it seems that his piehole can only spew excuses and delays.

CMS Fiasco, Part Three

Here's a memo from Lupe Almaraz discussing the delays. What a shocker that CMS sux so bad and costs taxpayers so much waste. Why on earth would this bureaucrat use an exclamation point at the end of his "go live" announcement?

The only people who are excited about CMS are the ones who made money off this contract. Maybe this bureaucrat's CMS cheerleading got him the Deputy Chief promotion, maybe he's excited about writing a memo, or maybe he's just trying to re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

CMS Fiasco, Part Two

Here's their second (and last) newsletter that could be found. It seems that the desk donkeys quietly slipped back to their cubicles and started to scratch their heads in amazement as they why this POS (Piece of Sh*t) didn't work to their specs.

Robert Jones, the DLSE's Chief Desk Donkey Acting LaborCommissioner, spends his time trying to fire the blogger and to keep terminated attorney Miles Locker from getting his job back...yeah, Jones is a real stand up guy.

CMS Fiasco, Part One

CMS has been a nightmare for quite a long time. Here's their cheerleader newsletter dated 16 months ago...and it's still not functional.

What is Robert Jones doing about it? He has his flunky lawyers fighting the blogger's First Amendment instead of suing these clowns into the ground. Maybe it's all well and good that the DLSE doesn't sue the CMS contract...they'd probably cost the taxpayers more money with a lost court case.

Complaint about CMS? Click, print, & send to Senate Labor & Industrial Committee Chair: Carole Migden

This is for those who have concerns about CMS, both as a cost to the taxpayer in time and money. Click on the picture, print, then mail or fax.

Before CMS, work permits took 2 minutes: now they don't.

Was this the CMS contract application expo?

Greg Rupp still looking to get rid of Lotts, more taxpayer funds wasted to fly Bob Brock (from San Francisco) to LA

Greg Rupp loves to play daddy at DLSE. Back in the day, Diana Chen whined about this guy named Myke (not real name), so they bounced Myke to Van Nuys. Then, Lazell (not real name) said that he was looking at porn on his computer, so they bounced Myke to Long Beach. To my knowledge, Myke never complained and he never asked what was going on. Daddy Rupp had a job to do, and that was to play daddy. Daddy Rupp made a similar play with Harmida's (not real name) career who is (probably) still laughing at Rupp; how's Harmida doing, Rupp? How's that working for you?.

For the first time in DLSE history, Rupp is now investigating a complaint is less time that it took to file. Never mind the fact that the complainant has a criminal record (drugs/booze who knows), never mind the fact that the complainant has a history of filing lawsuits, and never mind the fact that the complainant requested a new hearing (that the DLSE refused to give her)..."the complaint against Lotts must be true, and hell's bells, we won't even interview the lawyers that participated in the complainant's conference." Bob Brock, from San Francisco-HQ Personnel, flies down to participate. Something that could have been resolved at 1st-level supervisor/Jorge Gomez's level is now being dispatched from DIR, OD-Legal.

In a normal complaint investigation, supervisor Jorge Gomez does the investigation & sends his findings up the chain. In a Lotts complaint investigation, OD Legal takes charge and makes every attempt to sustain the charges against Lotts. I guess that the allegation involved something serious, but nothing so serious as to give the complainant a new hearing.

Previously, DLSE supervisor Jorge Gomez received a complaint that one of his employees beat up a member of the public. Now in my world, that's a fairly serious allegation. Even that didn't warrant OD-Legal's attention because they didn't complain about Lotts. Rupp never interviewed that DLSE employee, and Bob Brock certainly never flew his ass down to LA to ask some employee as to whether or not the employee beat up the one making the allegation. You can bet your ass though, if Lotts accidentally sneezed in the guy's direction...Anthony Mischel's & Greg Rup's fat asses would be moving at light speed at hang anything on Lotts.

Daddy Rupp harassed Ed Voveris until he left, but somehow Daddy Rupp doesn't have to grapes to take on David Dorame. David's got too much juice at the command level, so Daddy Rupp leaves Dave well enough alone. Daddy Rupp harassed Rowene, but she sued his ass & the DLSE had to pay. As in the case with any bully, the weak are harassed...not the strong.