Amazon to pay nearly $4M to settle lawsuit alleging it took tips from drivers

• February 7, 2025

Amazon has agreed to pay nearly $4 million to settle charges that the e-commerce company subsidized its labor costs by taking tips its delivery drivers received from customers, District of Columbia Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb said Friday.

The settlement came four years after Amazon paid $61.7 million to resolve a complaint the Federal Trade Commission brought over similar accusations.

In 2022, the office of DC’s attorney general at the time followed up with a lawsuit alleging Amazon violated the District’s consumer protection laws by misleading residents about how tips paid digitally were used.

According to the lawsuit, the affected drivers were part of Amazon’s Flex business, which allows people to deliver Amazon packages with their own cars.

DC’s lawsuit said that after launching the program in 2015, the company represented to consumers that all tips added during check-out for Amazon Flex orders would go to drivers.

But both the District and the FTC alleged that Amazon changed its payment model in late 2016 to lower its costs but did not disclose the switch to either customers or drivers.

In particular, the FTC’s previous complaint alleged the company algorithmically reduced its own wages for drivers in different locations using data it collected about average tips in a specific area. Amazon then used the tips to make up the difference between its new base pay and the $18-25 per hour it had promised drivers, the complaint said.

The FTC said Amazon didn’t stop taking the tips until 2019, when the company found out about the agency’s investigation into the issue.

Amazon has denied the allegations and did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement announced Friday.

“Like any successful program, Amazon Flex has evolved over time, and this lawsuit relates to a practice we changed more than five years ago,” Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly said in a statement.

Under the terms of the settlement, the company will pay $2.45 million in penalties plus $1.5 million in legal fees. It must also disclose on its website and app how tips impact driver earnings.

​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland and Universal Studios offer free tickets for wildfire heroes

• February 7, 2025

Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood are offering free theme park tickets to first responders who tackled the devastating wildfires that destroyed swaths of Pacific Palisades and Altadena to thank them for their heroic efforts.

Universal Studios is offering a free one-day ticket to first responders and 50% off up to three more tickets for their guests now through April 10.

ALSO SEE: Walt Disney lecture series coming to Chapman University — and it’s free

Universal’s First Responder Heroes Ticket offer is good for all eligible firefighters, police officers, sheriff’s deputies, National Guard, paramedics and emergency medical technicians in the U.S.

The Universal Heroes tickets must be picked up in person at a dedicated ticket booth at the theme park entrance. Eligible first responders will need to show a valid government-issued photo ID and valid employee ID card.

ALSO SEE: What is Universal Fan Fest Nights? All about the first-ever fandom event

Disneyland is offering two free one-day Park Hopper tickets to first responders from May 5 through Aug. 7. First responders will need to make a theme park reservation in advance to use the free tickets that will be good on Mondays through Thursdays.

The Disneyland Heroes Ticket offer is good for California firefighters, Los Angeles law enforcement officers, Los Angeles emergency medical technicians and other mutual aid assistance departments who helped combat the Los Angeles fires in January.

Disneyland will send information in April directly to qualifying fire, police and sheriff’s departments on eligibility, verification and registration requirements.

ALSO SEE: Disney donates $15 million to Los Angeles wildfire relief efforts

Disney will donate $25 to the American Red Cross from the sale of every LA Strong T-shirt featuring Mickey Mouse to help those impacted by the Southern California wildfires.

The Walt Disney Company donated $15 million to fire relief efforts in the Los Angeles area.

Comcast NBCUniversal donated $10 million to support Los Angeles wildfire relief efforts.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump administration orders federal agencies to provide lists of underperforming employees

• February 7, 2025

By BRIAN WITTE, Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered all federal departments and agencies to provide lists of employees who are underperforming, as it seeks to shrink the workforce and awaits a court ruling related to its deferred resignation offers.

A memo sent by the Office of Personnel Management on Thursday directs the agencies to submit names of every employee who has received less than a “fully successful” performance rating in the past three years and to note whether the workers have been on performance plans.

The memo, which was viewed by The Associated Press, also emphasized that the agencies report any obstacles to making sure they have “the ability to swiftly terminate poor performing employees who cannot or will not improve.”

The memo seeks the employee’s name, job title, pay plan and other details, as well as whether that employee is “under or successfully completed a performance improvement plan within the last 12 months.”

The office also is asking if an agency has proposed or issued a decision in such cases, and whether any action is being appealed or challenged, as well as any outcome.

The data is due by March 7.

Charles Ezell, the acting director of OPM who sent the memo, wrote that the office is developing new performance metrics for evaluating the federal workforce, a standard that “aligns with the priorities and standards in the President’s recent Executive Orders.” To assist the office, Ezell wrote that all agencies should submit data regarding their performance management plans and policies, including those contained in collective bargaining agreements.

So far, 65,000 federal workers have opted into the deferred resignation program, according to a White House official who wasn’t authorized to disclose the latest figures and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The program is being challenged in court, and a federal judge scheduled a hearing for Monday afternoon to consider arguments over whether the plan can proceed.

Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers 2025 spring training position preview: bullpen

• February 7, 2025

Dodgers pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report for spring training on Monday. As we count down the days until camp begins, we are going through the various position groups to give a breakdown of where the roster stands. Today, we conclude with a look at the bullpen. Previously, the outfielders, the infielders, the starting rotation and the catchers.

2024 RECAP

The Dodgers would not have won their 2024 World Series championship without the performance of their bullpen. Due to the injuries that ravaged their starting pitching, the Dodgers leaned heavily on their relief corps throughout the season. Only four teams asked their relievers to cover more innings than the Dodgers (648). Blake Treinen (1.93 ERA) and Alex Vesia (1.76 ERA) were the most reliable, but 14 different pitchers recorded at least one save. That was during the regular season. In October, the relievers stepped up even more. During the Dodgers’ postseason run, relievers pitched 86⅓ innings, their three starting pitchers (Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto) combined for 55⅔. Nothing was more indicative of the importance of the Dodgers’ bullpen than Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres. Facing elimination, eight relievers combined to shut out the Padres in a bullpen game, part of a postseason record-tying stretch of 33 consecutive scoreless innings by Dodgers pitchers.

HOW IT LOOKS RIGHT NOW

It might be even better. To a core that includes Treinen (signed to a contract extension), Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia and Michael Kopech, the Dodgers added the two best relievers on the free-agent market this winter – left-hander Tanner Scott and right-hander Kirby Yates. Over the past two seasons, Scott held batters to a .186 average and struck out 188 in 150 innings. Among relievers with at least 50 innings last season, only Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase had a lower ERA than Yates (1.17), who converted 33 of 34 save chances for the Texas Rangers. The Dodgers will have four players who have had 20-save seasons in their 2025 bullpen – Phillips, Treinen, Yates and Scott – and they are likely to spread the closing duties around. Some health issues do follow the group into spring training. Phillips missed the World Series with a sore shoulder. Kopech has had forearm issues.

THE NEXT LAYER

Thirty-eight pitchers took the mound for the Dodgers at one time or another last season – plus position players Miguel Rojas and Kiké Hernandez. As strong as the bullpen seems to be heading into spring training, there will be the usual shuttle operating between Los Angeles and Triple-A Oklahoma City. Among the top candidates to make their way into the Dodgers’ bullpen are Giovanny Gallegos (an experienced veteran who spent time as the St. Louis Cardinals closer) and fellow non-roster invitees Julian Fernandez (a hard-throwing former Colorado Rockie) and lefty Jose Hernandez (a former Dodgers prospect returned to the organization), perennials Michael Grove and Brusdar Graterol, who underwent shoulder surgery in November and could return at some point late in 2025.

MOVES THEY COULD MAKE

The Dodgers’ front office is never done tinkering with its roster – particularly the bullpen. A year ago, they acquired well-traveled left-hander Anthony Banda for cash in May. Banda became a key member of the bullpen. And Kopech was added at the trade deadline.

​ Orange County Register 

3 in disabled pickup killed in 91 Freeway crash in Buena Park

• February 7, 2025

Three people inside a pickup truck were killed when it was hit by a tractor-trailer while stopped in lanes of the eastbound 91 Freeway in Buena Park Friday morning, Feb. 7, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol officers began receiving calls about the crash just before 4 a.m. ,just east of Valley View Street, CHP spokesman Officer Duane Graham said.

All three people inside the pickup truck were believed to be in their 20s and 30s, Graham said.

The GMC pickup was involved in what officers believe was a solo crash that disabled the truck in the lanes, Graham said, but the circumstances of that crash were not yet known.

The pickup was then hit by the tractor-trailer, Graham said.

It was not yet known whether wet road conditions, speed, or driving under the influence may have played a factor in the initial crash, the spokesman said.

​ Orange County Register 

What is the International Criminal Court and how will Trump’s sanctions impact it?

• February 7, 2025

By MOLLY QUELL

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court could jeopardize trials and investigations at the world’s only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide.

The order Trump signed Thursday accuses the ICC of “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” It cites the arrest warrant the ICC issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The Hague-based court condemned the move. “The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world,” the court said in a statement.

What is the International Criminal Court?

The court was created in 2002 to be a last stop for the most serious international crimes: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.

The United States and Israel are not members, but 125 other countries have signed the court’s foundational treaty, the Rome Statute. The ICC becomes involved when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes on their territory.

The court’s newest member, Ukraine, formally joined in January.

Judges at the court have convicted 11 people. Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga was the first, sentenced in 2012 to 14 years in prison for conscripting child soldiers.

A Congolese warlord known as “The Terminator” was convicted in July 2019 for atrocities committed during a brutal ethnic conflict in a mineral-rich region of Congo in 2002-2003. Bosco Ntaganda was given a 30-year prison sentence.

In 2021, the court convicted Dominic Ongwen of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including multiple killings and forced marriages in Uganda. Ongwen was a one-time child soldier who morphed into a brutal commander of a notorious rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army.

What will these sanctions do?

The exact impact is unclear. Trump’s executive order invokes emergency powers from several different laws to allow the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. State Department to issue specific sanctions.

The court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is a likely target, as is anyone involved in the Netanyahu investigation, including the three judges who issued the arrest warrants. The sanctions could also target the court itself, grinding its operations to a halt.

During his previous term in office, Trump imposed sanctions on former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her deputies over her investigation of alleged crimes in Afghanistan. The probe covered offenses allegedly committed by the Taliban, American troops and U.S. foreign intelligence operatives dating back to 2002. Trump’s sanctions blocked Bensouda from accessing any U.S.-based financial assets of court employees and barred her and her immediate family from entering the United States.

President Joe Biden lifted the sanctions when he took office in 2021.

Why has the court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu?

In November, a pretrial panel of judges issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid, and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Israeli officials deny the charges.

The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western power has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court. The decision makes Netanyahu and the others internationally wanted suspects, putting them at risk of arrest when they travel abroad and potentially further isolating them.

Do these sanctions jeopardize current trials?

The court is currently without a single trial ahead for the first time since it arrested its first suspect in 2006.

It has issued 33 unsealed arrest warrants. Those named range from Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony and Gamlet Guchmazov, a former government member of the breakaway region of South Ossetia in Georgia. Kony is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Guchmazov is accused of torture.

Three verdicts are pending. Former CAR football federation president Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona and Alfred Yekatom, alleged leaders of a predominantly Christian rebel group in the Central African Republic, are accused of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The trial of Ali Mohammed Ali Abdul Rahman Ali, who is accused of committing atrocities as the leader of the Janjaweed militia in Sudan, wrapped up last year.

For a few hours last month, the court appeared poised to take a Libyan warlord into custody. Instead, member state Italy sent Ossama Anjiem home. Also known as Ossama al-Masri, Anjiem heads the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a notorious network of detention centers run by the government-backed Special Defense Force.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump is targeting antisemitism in schools. Experts fear other civil rights will be ignored

• February 7, 2025

By COLLIN BINKLEY and BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal office that enforces civil rights at schools across the U.S. has been ordered to prioritize complaints of antisemitism above all else as it molds to President Donald Trump’s agenda, raising fears that other rights violations will go unpunished.

Trump’s new leader of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights told staff this week they will be expected to aggressively pursue complaints involving antisemitism and hew closely to Trump’s wishes, according to sources who were on the call with Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

Already there are signs of a hard turn on civil rights enforcement, including new actions focused squarely on anti-Jewish bias and transgender issues.

Responding to a White House order last week, the office launched new antisemitism investigations at five universities including Columbia and Northwestern. Days earlier, it opened an inquiry into Denver public schools over an all-gender bathroom that replaced a girls’ bathroom while leaving another one exclusive to boys. On Wednesday, Trump ordered schools that receive federal money to ban transgender girls from participating in women’s sports, promising the Education Department would investigate schools and colleges that don’t comply.

The office’s fleet of lawyers have mostly been sidelined while the new administration shifts priorities. Daily work has been frozen, which is typical when a new president takes office, but sources say there’s a new blackout on communication with schools, colleges or those submitting complaints. Questions about how to enforce Title IX go unanswered, leaving schools in the dark as they navigate a new memo from the agency last week.

The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

In the staff call, Trainor said the office must be more aggressive and faster than it was under former President Joe Biden. He accused the previous administration of neglecting its duty to fight antisemitism, leaving more than 100 cases open. Trump has called for a review of all antisemitism cases opened since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, including those resolved under Biden.

With a rigid focus on antisemitism and gender identity, there’s fear the office won’t give adequate attention to racial discrimination, mistreatment based on disability, or Islamophobia. The office is required to process all complaints it fields, but politics can play a role in setting priorities and choosing which cases to pursue.

Raymond Pierce, who led the office under Democratic President Bill Clinton, said focusing on antisemitism alone doesn’t fulfill the mission of the office — to enforce civil rights laws.

“Antisemitism is an issue,” he said. “But the Civil Rights Act is broader than just religion.”

In a statement, Trainor promised his office “will vigorously investigate all alleged violations of civil rights laws within its purview.”

Trainor had also warned staff of a coming “restructuring” and acknowledged that Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is examining the Education Department. It raised worries about staffing cuts in a civil rights office that has seen dwindling numbers even as it received a record 22,687 complaints last year.

Additionally, there’s concern Trump in his quest to shut down the Education Department will slash the office’s budget and move it to the Justice Department, as suggested in the Project 2025 blueprint created by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The impact of Trump’s changes are most likely to be felt by Black students and those who are disabled, according to lawyers and advocates. For decades, the Office for Civil Rights has worked to force equal access for marginalized students, said Derek W. Black, a law professor at the University of South Carolina.

If the office finds merit in a complaint, it has the power to withhold federal funding until schools or states comply.

“Are there local and state officials who want to do right by kids? Of course, there are,” Black said. “But are there districts that don’t think it’s a big deal or don’t want to do right by poor kids? Unfortunately, there are.”

Historically, most complaints to the department have involved disability discrimination, but last year accusations of sex discrimination surged to account for more than half of all complaints, according to an annual report. Disability discrimination accounted for 37%, while discrimination over race or national origin accounted for 19%.

In addition to its duty to investigate complaints, the office creates federal rules to interpret federal law for schools and colleges. That role has been at the center of a political tug-of-war over Title IX, with recent administrations repeatedly rewriting the rules governing investigations of campus sexual misconduct.

The Biden administration issued new rules last year expanding Title IX to protect transgender and LGBTQ+ students, and boosting victims’ rights. A federal judge overturned the rules in January, reverting to a previous set of rules from Trump’s first term.

In a memo to schools and colleges last week, the Office for Civil Rights emphasized that the earlier Trump rules would be enforced, but it created confusion about how to handle cases that were opened when Biden’s rules were in effect. With no communication from the department, there has been little clarity for schools.

There are also questions about how antisemitism investigations will change. Trump has used heated rhetoric to push for more aggressive action against colleges found to have tolerated antisemitism, and Trainor blasted the Biden administration for signing “toothless” agreements to resolve cases. No new guidance has been issued to lawyers who investigate cases.

As the office awaits orders to resume its work, it faces a growing backlog of complaints.

Before Trump took office, there were more than 140 open investigations involving shared ancestry, many of them dealing with antisemitism or Islamophobia. The Biden administration opened more than 100 investigations after Oct. 7, 2023. A flurry of schools reached deals to settle the cases before Trump took office amid fears that he would issue heavier sanctions.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

​ Orange County Register 

A federal judge is to consider whether to block DOGE access to the US Labor Department

• February 7, 2025

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge will consider Friday whether to block Trump adviser Elon Musk ’s team from accessing systems at the Labor Department, which has investigated the billionaire’s companies.

Three unions sued to keep DOGE workers out of the systems that they say contain sensitive information about workers, including those who have filed safety complaints about their employers.

The Labor Department also has information about investigations into Musk’s companies such as SpaceX and Tesla, as well as information about competitors’ trade secrets, the unions said in their suit.

The Justice Department said the unions are just speculating, and haven’t shown DOGE employees would get access to the information they’re worried about. Three DOGE employees have been detailed to the Labor Department to carry out its cost-cutting mission, they say.

U.S. District Judge John Bates, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, is hearing the case.

The suit comes as Musk, the world’s richest man, consolidates control over large swaths of the federal government with the blessing of President Donald Trump. Musk’s team, the Department of Government Efficiency, has gained access to sensitive Treasury Department payment systems, largely dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and offered financial incentives to millions of federal workers to resign.

“At every step,” wrote labor union lawyers represented by the advocacy group Democracy Forward, “DOGE is violating multiple laws, from constitutional limits on executive power, to laws protecting civil servants from arbitrary threats and adverse action, to crucial protections for government data collected and stored on hundreds of millions of Americans.”

The department is home to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has investigated and fined SpaceX and Tesla in connection with worker safety, the unions said in court documents.

Labor Department leaders told a union member this week that Musk and his team would be visiting and workers should let them do “whatever they ask, not to push back, not to ask questions,” the unions wrote.

The Justice Department says there’s no proof of wrongdoing and the judge shouldn’t issue “a sweeping, prophylactic order … based on plaintiffs’ rank speculation that DOL will violate the law.”

A different judge temporarily restricted DOGE access to Treasury Department systems that process trillions of dollars in payments per year to two employees with “read only” privileges. Thirteen states have also vowed to sue over DOGE access to federal payment systems.

​ Orange County Register