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Employers may soon be able to require workers who make tips to share that money with other staff. It's part of a new regulation from the Department of Labor.The agency says the rule could help increase pay for back of house staff, like cooks and dishwashers who have historically been excluded from tip pools.The rule says pooling is only allowed if the tipped employee makes the full federal minimum wage.Federal law allows tipped workers to make .13 an hour, as long as they earn enough tips to match the minimum. State laws vary on that point, though.The rule also gets rid of a guideline that said tipped workers must spend at least 80% of their time doing tasks that earn them gratuity.The National Restaurant Association has praised the rule, calling it a win for the industry because it clarifies laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act.¡°Today¡¯s Department of Labor (DOL) final rule revising tipping regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a year-end victory for the restaurant industry and its workers after years of litigation," said the National Restaurant Association in a statement. "The changes in this rule bring much needed regulatory clarification for the small business owners and their employees about what the law allows and requires. At a time when the restaurant industry is faced with instability, this rule provides renewed sensible regulations on tip-pooling and tip-credit standards.¡±We spoke to an employment attorney named Louis Pechman who founded WaiterPay.com. He said there may be some clarification in the rule, but that's not the big issue.¡°Tips traditionally have been viewed by management as kryptonite. Don't touch the tips, servers' tips, stay away. That's my money. Now you have a whole situation where servers, it's my money. The tip was left for me. Why am I paying a cook in the kitchen?¡± said Pechman.The Economic Policy Institute has estimated the rule would let employers take 0 million from tipped workers each year. That's based on numbers before the industry suffered under the pandemic.As Pechman points out, some local laws are very protective of employee tips and will supersede federal regulations.¡°So, it's important if you're analyzing the issue, is there a state regulation, is there a city regulation which gives more protection to workers than the FLSA does?¡± asked Pechman.The rule is set to go into effect in 60 days. The Biden administration could still delay it and create its own rule. 2476

Europe is proposing a ban on single-use plastic items such as cutlery, straws?and cotton buds in a bid to clean up the oceans.The European Commission wants to ban 10 items that make up 70% of all litter in EU waters and on beaches. The list also includes plastic plates and drink stirrers.The draft rules were unveiled Monday but need the approval of all EU member states and the European Parliament. It could take three or four years for the rules to come into force.The legislation is not just about banning plastic products. It also wants to make plastic producers bear the cost of waste management and cleanup efforts, and it proposes that EU states must collect 90% of single-use plastic bottles by 2025 through new recycling programs.The European Commission estimates that these rules, once fully implemented in 2030, could cost businesses over €3 billion (.5 billion) per year. But they could also save consumers about €6.5 billion (.6 billion) per year, create 30,000 jobs, and avoid €22 billion (.6 billion) in environmental damage and cleanup costs.The Rethink Plastic Alliance -- an association of environmental organizations -- called the proposals "a leap forward in tackling plastic pollution" but criticized some perceived shortcomings.The proposals do not set targets for EU countries to reduce the use of plastic cups and food containers, it said."This could result in countries claiming they are taking the necessary steps as long as any reduction is achieved, regardless of how small," the alliance said in a statement.The proposal also faced criticism from the plastics industry.Plastics Europe, which represents manufacturers, said it supported the "overarching objective" of the proposal but said there must be more resources dedicated to "waste management" to ensure better collection of used plastic."Plastic product bans are not the solution," it said in a statement, and noted that "alternative products may not be more sustainable."On a global basis, only 14% of plastic is collected for recycling. The reuse rate is terrible compared to other materials -- 58% of paper and up to 90% of iron and steel gets recycled.Research shows there will be more plastic than fish by weight in the world's oceans by 2050, which has spurred policy makers, individuals and companies into action.Last month a group of more than 40 companies including Coca-Cola, Nestle, Unilever and Procter & Gamble pledged to slash the?amount of plasticthey use and throw away in the United Kingdom.Starbucks also announced in March it was launching a  million grant challenge to solicit designs for a cup that's easier to recycle. 2689

ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) -- The man accused of hitting and killing an Escondido bicyclist appeared in court Wednesday on unrelated charges. Jamison Connor, 41, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. The charges were unrelated to the deadly hit-and-run and were instead a result of parole violations in which Connor was found with a bag of methamphetamine and a loaded gun during a traffic stop. Also in the truck at the time of the stop was Connor's young son, prosecutors say. The District Attorney's office went into detail outside the courtroom about the arrest. "During their investigation, police noted several signs and symptoms the defendant was under the effect of controlled substances and alcohol," said Assistant DA Chris Campbell. RELATED: Grieving family learns of hit-and-run arrest on Thanksgiving holidayEscondido Police pulled Connor over Thanksgiving morning, driving with his four-year-old son. "When they took the defendant out, law enforcement searched the truck. They found a bag of meth in passenger side door and loaded 25 caliber firearm in glove compartment."After his arrest, police announced Connor as the suspect in a hit-and-run crash that killed 36-year-old Kevin Lentz. Lentz was cycling with a group along La Honda Road north of El Norte Parkway when he was hit head-on November 23. ¡°The driver of the car was on the wrong side of the road, traveling at high speed on a blind curve when he hit Kevin head-on, killing him instantly,¡± wrote Devin Rickey on a GoFundMe page set up for Lentz¡¯ family.RELATED: Friends mourn bicyclist killed in hit-and-run crashOfficers later found a dark Toyota sedan abandoned about a half-mile away from the crash on the 600 block of Aster Street. Police say the vehicle had significant damage to the windshield and roof. Lentz raced competitively for the TASCO MTB mountain bike team before scaling back his riding to spend more time with family and friends. He married his wife Lauren in 2016. 1968

ESCONDIDO (CNS) - A 57-year-old man in a pickup truck was killed at a head-on collision in Escondido with a Honda Accord, a police lieutenant said Saturday.The crash involving the 2005 Honda Accord and a 1996 Toyota Tacoma occurred on Valley Parkway, north of Beven Drive, said Escondido police Lt. Michael Kearney.The Honda was going west on Valley Parkway and the pickup truck was going eastbound on Valley Parkway, just north of Beven Drive, at the time of the crash, Kearney said.Police were dispatched to the scene at 11:30 p.m Friday, where the 57- year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene and paramedics rushed the motorist in the Honda, a 36-year-old man, to Palomar Medical Center, where he was being treated for non-life threatening injuries, he said.Escondido police asked witnesses to the crash to call them at (760) 839-4470. 851

Even the White House can't explain President Donald Trump's tweets suggesting California environmental laws have worsened wildfires raging in that state.On Tuesday, administration officials declined to offer any clarity on Trump's series of tweets claiming environmental laws and water regulations in California are hampering the state's ability to fight the wildfires. Wildfire experts and local officials say the President's claims simply don't hold up.Instead, some White House officials admitted to being slightly perplexed at where Trump may have gotten the notion that California's long-running water crisis and a debate over how to divide limited supplies are somehow related to the out of control fires.While Trump's tweets can sometimes be linked to segments on Fox News, there have been no correlating segments linking the two issues in recent days on the channel that frequently serves as presidential inspiration. White House officials also couldn't say whether Trump had discussed the issue with California lawmakers involved in the water debate.What Trump saidTrump launched his unfounded suggestions in a tweet on Sunday claiming: "California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized."He then claimed that the water is "being diverted into the Pacific Ocean."He reiterated those claims on Monday, calling on Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown to "allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else."Trump's claims are false, according to California officials and wildfire experts.What officials and experts have saidLocal officials have made clear they have not had any difficulty accessing enough water to fight the fires. A FEMA official also told CNN there is no water shortage or problem with access to water hindering firefighting efforts in California.Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift declined to comment on Trump's tweets: "We don't weigh in on the President's tweets. We let those statements speak for themselves."As for water "being diverted into the Pacific Ocean," while there is a debate raging in California about how much water should be diverted to coastal communities versus farmers in the central part of the state, water is not being intentionally flushed into the ocean."I was stunned when I read this this morning," Henri Grissino-Mayer, a climatologist and biogeographer at the University of Tennessee, told CNN in an email. "California does NOT divert water to the ocean. Ridiculous."Grissino-Mayer noted that water "is diverted to the coastal cities for a constant water supply but all such water is used by the coastal communities."What's the context?Trump's tweet comes after California water officials ignited a debate this summer by proposing a plan to limit the amount of water that can be drawn from the San Joaquin River for use in cities and farmlands.The proposal has pitted farmers against fisheries and environmentalists, but Trump's attempt to connect the debate to wildfires doesn't pass muster.Instead of environmental laws and water regulations, local officials and experts have said scorching heat and dry conditions have led to several of the worst wildfires California has ever seen.Experts say those conditions are being driven by climate change, which Trump has previously dismissed as a hoax.The-CNN-Wire 3544