BILL ANALYSIS SB 549 Page 1 Date of Hearing: July 11, 2007 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Mark Leno, Chair SB 549 (Corbett) - As Amended: July 2, 2007 Policy Committee: Labor and Employment Vote: 5-2 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill gives employees in California the right to take four days of unpaid leave in the event of the death of certain relatives. Specifically, the bill: 1)Prohibits an employer from discharging, disciplining, or discriminating against an employee for requesting or taking up to four days of bereavement unpaid leave upon the death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or domestic partner. The bereavement leave can be taken up to 13 months following the death, and need not be on consecutive days. 2)Limits the right to bereavement leave to those who have been employed by their present employer for at least sixty days. 3)Permits the employer to require documentation of the death within 30 days of when the leave is taken. 4)Grants employees the right to recover actual damages if he or she is discriminated against for the exercise of bereavement rights, and specifies that the employee may either file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) or bring a civil action in a court. 5)Clarifies that bereavement leave for state employees remains subject to collective bargaining agreements. FISCAL EFFECT 1)Negligible impact on state government as an employer, to the SB 549 Page 2 extent that bereavement leave for state employees would remain subject to collective bargaining under the bill. According to DPA, all state employees currently receive 3 days of paid bereavement leave and may receive additional personal leave days for various purposes. 2)Minor, probably absorbable cost to DLSE for the review of potential employee complaints of discrimination related to their exercise of bereavement leave rights. COMMENTS 1)Background . Existing law provides employees the opportunity to take both paid and unpaid time away from work without fear of discharge or discrimination for a number of specified purposes, such as personal and family sick leave. Current federal and state laws do not provide protected leave for bereavement. 2)Rationale . Proponents indicate that everyone suffers the often-devastating loss of a relative at some point during their life, and that no one should have to choose between their employment and grieving the loss of a loved one. They assert that the bereavement policy contained in this bill is a legitimate, humane, and reasonable approach to this problem. 3)Opponents claim that the bill would impose an unreasonable expansion of an employer's liability for a new protected leave for employees, which would apply regardless of business necessity of the employer. They assert that the sanctions and rights-of-action against employers resulting from this bill will create further obstacles to business and job growth in this state. Analysis Prepared by : Brad Williams / APPR. / (916) 319-2081