BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2307
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2307 (Butler)
As Amended March 22, 2012
Majority vote
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES 4-2
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|Ayes:|Pan, Allen, Ma, | | |
| |Wieckowski | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Mansoor, Harkey | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Provides that classified employees in school and
community college districts are permanent employees once having
passed a prescribed period of probation. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Revises "permanent" as used in the phrase "permanent employee"
to mean an employee who has served a prescribed period of
probation with the school employer regardless of the
classification.
2)Specifies that a permanent employee who is placed on a
reemployment list and subsequently reemployed by the same
district, remains a permanent employee regardless of the
classification.
EXISTING LAW requires the governing boards of school and
community college districts to grant permanent employee status
to classified employees who have passed a specified probationary
period, not to exceed one year, in a classification.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : According to supporters, "In a recent appellate
court decision, CSEA v. The Governing Board of the Eastside
Union High School District (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 540, the court
held that a classified employee who has attained permanent
status in a classification with the school district, but who has
been laid off and reemployed in a different lower position, does
AB 2307
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not have permanent status with the district. The court held
that permanent status is attained in a position or class: when
a permanent employee on a reemployment list is reemployed in a
new position in which the employee did not attain permanence,
the employee is a probationary employee with no right to notice
or hearing before he or she is terminated.
"As a result of the decision in the Eastside case, a district
may require an employee to service a probationary period, and
may release the employee from probation without affording the
employee due process rights that permanent classified employees
have. Districts may also attempt to use this case in other
situations, such as those where employees take a voluntary
demotion in lieu of layoff to a position not previously held.
Accordingly, this bill is necessary to protect the rights of
classified employees who have attained permanent status within a
district by clarifying when such status is attained."
According to information received by the Assembly Public
Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee, in the
Eastside case, a School Community Liaison with nearly 20 years
of experience and permanent status was laid off in June 2008 and
placed on the 39-month reemployment list in a non-merit school
district. In August 2008, the district posted an opening for a
Campus Monitor position. The district hired her in the new
position and informed her that she would be on probationary
status for the first six months. Five months later, the
district released her from her probationary position as a Campus
Monitor. The Court found that permanent status in the former
position did not carry over to reemployment in the lower
classification.
Opponents state, "AB 2307 would establish a new condition of
'permanent" employment status for classified public school
employees, whereby classified employees would be considered
'permanent employees' once they pass a single probationary
period. This status would apply even if an employee is laid off
and re-employed in a classification or position he or she had
not previously held or in which he or she has not yet
demonstrated competence."
Opponents conclude, "Absent the ability of school employers to
ensure that they can place candidates in positions for which
they are qualified and in which they can succeed, AB 2307 may in
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fact have a chilling effect on school hiring practices. Such an
unintended consequence serves neither the purpose of supporting
our mission to provide quality educational programs to our
students nor employ and retain the qualified staff to service
them."
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957
FN: 0003454