The Brief

California workers will be guaranteed five days off after a miscarriage, stillbirth, and other types of reproductive loss under legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed earlier this month.

The law, which goes into effect in January, applies to companies with five or more employees, and mandates that they give leave in the event of a “reproductive loss.”

Current state law allows for five days of bereavement leave in the event of the death of a family member, such as a child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or domestic partner.

The new measure creates a separate category of leave specifically for “reproductive loss,” which also includes failed adoption, failed surrogacies, and failed assisted reproductions, and extends to spouses and domestic partners.

“It’s overdue, and I say that from my own experience,” said Cynthia Swaminathan, an Irvine mother and attorney who lost her daughter Nina, who was stillborn in 2020.

Varying leave policies prior to the measure

Swaminathan carried her pregnancy to full-term until a day past her due date when she went into labor. But once she and her husband got to the hospital, they learned something was wrong.

“They couldn’t find her heartbeat, and I had to go through an emergency C-section,” she said. “She had suffered an umbilical cord accident and she died during labor.”

Nina died at 40 weeks and one day.

Swaminathan said she was able to get bereavement leave through her employer, but knows that’s not always the case for families who’ve experienced a loss.

“To go through a loss of this magnitude and still be concerned about whether you're going to also lose your job on top of it because you have to — you're on survival mode.," she said. "It’s just cruel.”

Back to work ‘as if nothing happened’

Before being pregnant with Nina, Swaminathan also had suffered a miscarriage of twins. She remembers completing the miscarriage on a Sunday, and returning to work the next day. “Emotionally, you're just so fragile, and then you have to go back to work as if nothing happened.”

Kristyn von Rotz, founder of Forever Footprints, an Orange County based nonprofit that co-sponsored the bill, said she’s talked to women who’ve miscarried in the bathroom at work before returning to work.

“Many people don't feel comfortable going into their company and saying ‘I'm not physically able to come into work because I'm actively having a loss,’” she said.

Von Rotz said she hopes the new law will not only give families the time to grieve, but raise awareness with employers about pregnancy and infant loss and lessen the stigma associated with it.

A further push for leave

While Swaminathan was able to get short-term disability after giving birth to her Nina, she wasn’t entitled to maternity leave. Her co-workers donated their own sick leave time for her to be able to take some extended time off, but is hoping this bill is one step toward allowing parents who’ve had stillborn children to be able to take family leave.

“I don't have my kid, but the entire house is ready for this baby. I am lactating. I had a C-section… I don't have a baby and then I call my job and they say I don't even have the right to maternity leave. It's a lot,” she said.

It’s what made her and her husband, Aditya Swaminathan, who’s on the board of Forever Footprints, decide they wanted to do something about the current leave laws, an effort that helped result in the new five-day leave program.

“This is now the new baseline. And I think that's a very good thing,” Aditya Swaminathan said. But he says he’ll continue to work to allow for family leave for parents who’ve experienced an infant loss like his. While he was able to take five days off after Nina’s death for bereavement, he returned to work right after.

“It’s very personal and I do it in Nina’s name,” he said. “In my world, this is the ‘Nina’ bill, and we’ll continue to build on this.”

A slow leak from a chemical tank smeared an orange cloud across the sky of a Southern California neighborhood on Tuesday, but authorities said they quickly got it under control.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said authorities responded to a business that makes cleaning products after receiving a call shortly before noon about the cloud. Police evacuated a nearby middle school as a precaution, Katon said.

They do not yet know what the chemical was, but all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, he said. The regional air quality management district has deployed staff to the area to investigate, said Connie Villanueva, a spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The company, Shepard Bros., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Three company employees reported minor respiratory irritation and declined further treatment, Katon said.

The leak occurred in the city of La Habra near a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial warehouses about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Anaheim.

Keary Godinez, who works in a nearby restaurant, said she saw what appeared to be a dark yellow cloud spread across the sky. The 20-year-old said she watched students across the street board buses to evacuate, but police told her the eatery could remain open.

“It looked like pollen dust,” Godinez said, adding she didn’t detect a smell from the cloud. “It just kind of smeared in the sky and started going away.”

La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano had urged residents to shelter in place and said some streets were being evacuated.

Luis Gomez, who manages a nearby pickleball program, said earlier Tuesday he saw the cloud, called police and was told anyone within a mile radius of the location was under an evacuation order.

The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of former coach Phil Jackson outside their downtown arena next year.

The Lakers announced the plan Tuesday to honor Jackson, who led the Lakers to five championships and seven NBA Finals appearances during two stints totaling 11 seasons as their head coach.

The statue will be unveiled April 9 before the Lakers’ home game against Minnesota.

After his famed tenure leading Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls to six championships, Jackson joined the Lakers in 1999 and immediately began another era of major success for the 17-time NBA champion franchise.

His first three teams in Los Angeles won championships behind the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers added two more titles in 2009 and 2010 led by Bryant and Pau Gasol. His Lakers also made the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2008.

Jackson set the Lakers franchise record for coaches with 610 victories while leading his teams to the playoffs in every year of his tenure, which ended in 2011.

“Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “His masterful approach to coaching brought out the best in some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. After he accepted my dad’s invitation to join the Lakers, Phil’s unmatched creativity and commitment to excellence restored our championship legacy, bringing five titles and setting a standard of excellence for generations to come. It is a great joy to be able to mark that achievement with the statue he so richly deserves.”

Jackson will be the ninth person associated with the Lakers to be honored with a statue in Star Plaza outside their arena. He joins Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bryant, O’Neal, broadcaster Chick Hearn and former coach Pat Riley, whose statue was unveiled earlier this year.

Jackson’s 11 championships as a head coach are the most in NBA history. The North Dakota native and former New York Knicks forward is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.