BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1999 (Brownley) - Employment: family caregiver status
protection.
Amended: April 30, 2012 Policy Vote: Judiciary 3-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012 Consultant:
Bob Franzoia
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1999 would amend employment provisions of the
Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to prohibit
discrimination based on the family caregiver status of an
employee.
Fiscal Impact: Estimated $140,000 annually to the General Fund
to investigate employment discrimination complaints filed with
the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Background: The FEHA protects persons against discrimination in
employment, housing, public accommodation, and business services
based on specified personal characteristics. These
characteristics include sex, race, color, national origin,
marital status, religion, sexual orientation, age and
disability.
Proposed Law: This bill adds family caregiver status to the list
of protected classes with respect to employment discrimination.
For purposes of the employment sections of the FEHA, family
caregiver status refers to an employee's responsibility for care
or support of a family member.
Related Legislation: AB 1001 (Skinner) 2009 proposed including
"familial status" as an additional basis upon which the right to
seek, obtain, and hold employment cannot be denied. That bill
would, for employment purposes, define "familial status" as
having or providing care for a child, domestic partner,
grandchild, grandparent, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, or
spouse. AB 1001 was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee. The estimated fiscal impact of that bill was up to
$740,000 annually from the General Fund.
AB 1999 (Brownley)
Page 1
Staff Comments: A study by The Center for Worklife Law,
Caregivers as a Protected Class? noted that at least 26 family
responsibilities discrimination jurisdictions authorize a
private right of action whereby an employee who believes he or
she has experienced familial status discrimination at work may
seek relief in court. About two-thirds of these jurisdictions
allow the employee to go directly to court without exhausting
any administrative requirements or in addition to pursuing an
administrative process. The remaining jurisdictions require
exhaustion of some administrative process before the employee
can seek relief in court. The administrative requirement may be
as simple as filing a certified compliant and obtaining a right
to sue letter.
This analysis estimates the DFEH will have annual costs of
$138,750 to add 1.5 personnel years ($62,500 for salary and
$29,600 benefits for a total of $92,500) to investigate
additional complaints (170) anticipated to be filed if this bill
is enacted. This estimate is significantly lower than estimates
for SB 836 (Kuehl) 2007 or AB 1001 (Skinner) 2009 because the
DFEH has implemented case processing innovations and is
currently transitioning to a cloud based electronic case
management system that have significantly reduced caseloads and
made case processing much more efficient. Additionally, this
bill is much narrower in scope than the above noted bills.
The 170 additional complaints estimated to be filed annually
will generate investigations but are not anticipated to generate
significant prosecution. Regardless of protected basis or
alleged harm, most complaints filed for investigation do not
reach the DFEH's legal division because the investigations are
settled or closed for lack of merit.