BILL NUMBER: AB 1397 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 17, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 12, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Veterans Affairs (Muratsuchi (Chair),
Chávez (Vice Chair), Atkins, Brown, Eggman, Grove, Salas, and Yamada)
MARCH 6, 2013
An act relating to military employment protections.
An act to amend Section 19792 of the Government Code,
relating to veterans.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1397, as amended, Committee on Veterans Affairs.
California National Guard and United States Military Reserve:
employment protections. State civil service: veterans
preference data.
The California Constitution requires civil service appointments to
be made under a general system based on merit ascertained by
competitive examination. The California Constitution allows the
Legislature to provide preference for veterans and their surviving
spouses. Under existing law, whenever any veteran achieves a passing
score on an entrance examination, the veteran is required to be
ranked in the top rank of the resulting eligibility list.
Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources
(department) to, among other things, review, examine the validity of,
and update qualifications standards, selection devices, including
oral appraisal panels, and career advancement programs.
This bill would additionally include the veterans preference
system among those selection devices.
Existing law requires the department to maintain a statistical
information system designed to yield the data and the analysis
necessary for the evaluation of equal employment opportunity within
the state civil service. Existing law requires the statistical
information to include specific data to determine the
underutilization of groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, and
disability.
This bill would additionally require that statistical information
to include specific data to determine the underutilization of groups
based on veteran status, as specified. The bill would also require
that data analysis to include specific information pertaining to
veteran status.
Existing federal law prohibits a person who is a member of,
applies to be a member of, or who performs, has performed, applies to
perform, or has an obligation to perform service in, a uniformed
service, from being subject to adverse employment actions on the
basis of that membership, application for membership, performance of
service, application for service, or obligation. Existing federal law
entitles any person whose absence from a position of employment is
necessitated by reason of service in the uniformed services to
reemployment rights and other benefits if certain requirements are
met.
Existing law prohibits, among other things, an employer from
discharging any person from employment because of the performance of
any ordered military duty or training or by reason of being an
officer or warrant officer, or enlisted member of the military or
naval forces of this state, or prejudicing or harming him or her in
any manner in his or her employment, position, or status by reason of
performance of military service or duty or attendance at military
encampments or places of drill or instruction.
Existing law entitles a member of the reserve corps of the Armed
Forces of the United States or of the National Guard or the Naval
Militia to a temporary military leave of absence while engaged in
military duty, and prohibits employers from restricting or
terminating any collateral benefit for employees because of an
employee's temporary incapacitation incident to duty in the National
Guard or Naval Militia.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to enhance, clarify, and strengthen the employment
protections afforded to members of the California National Guard or
the United States Military Reserve in California.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 19792 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
19792. The department shall do all of the following:
(a) Provide statewide leadership, designed to achieve equal
employment opportunity in the state civil service.
(b) Develop, implement, and maintain equal employment opportunity
guidelines.
(c) Provide technical assistance to state agencies in the
development and implementation of their equal employment opportunity
programs.
(d) Review and evaluate departmental equal employment opportunity
programs to ensure that they comply with state and federal statutes
and regulations.
(e) Establish programs to ensure equal employment opportunity for
all state job applicants and employees through broad, inclusive
recruitment efforts and other measures as allowed by law.
(f) Provide statewide training to departmental equal employment
opportunity officers who will conduct training on equal employment
opportunity.
(g) Review, examine the validity of, and update qualifications
standards, selection devices, including oral appraisal panels
and veterans preference systems, and career advancement
programs.
(h) Maintain a statistical information system designed to yield
the data and the analysis necessary for the evaluation of equal
employment opportunity within the state civil service. The
statistical information shall include specific data to determine the
underutilization of groups based on race, ethnicity, gender,
and disability , and veteran status . The
statistical information shall be made available during normal working
hours to all interested persons. Data generated on a regular basis
shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Current state civil service workforce composition by race,
ethnicity, gender, age, veteran status, department, salary
level, occupation, and attrition rates by occupation.
(2) Current local and regional workforce and population data for
groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, and age.
(i) The data analysis referred to in subdivision (h) above shall
include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Data relating to the utilization of groups based on race,
ethnicity, and gender compared to their availability in the relevant
labor force.
(2) Turnover data by department and occupation.
(3) Data relating to salary administration, including average
salaries for groups based on race, ethnicity, gender, and disability
and comparisons of salaries within state service and comparable state
employment.
(4) Data on employee age, and salary level compared among groups
based on race, ethnicity, gender, and disability.
(5) Data on the number of individuals of each race, ethnicity,
gender, and disability who are recruited for, participate in, and
pass state civil service examinations. This data shall be analyzed
pursuant to the provisions of Sections 19704 and 19705.
(6) Data on the job classifications, geographic locations,
separations, salaries, and other conditions of employment that
provide additional information about the composition of the state
civil service workforce.
(j) The data analysis referred to in subdivision (h) shall also
include, but not be limited to, all of the following pertaining to
veteran status:
(1) Data relating to the utilization of veterans compared to their
availability in the relevant labor force.
(2) Turnover data by department and occupation.
(3) Data relating to salary administration, including average
salaries for veterans and comparisons of salaries within state
service and comparable state employment.
(4) Data on employee age, and salary level compared among groups
based on veteran status.
(5) Data on the number of veterans who are recruited for,
participate in, and pass state civil service examinations. This data
shall be analyzed pursuant to the provisions of Sections 19704 and
19705.
(6) Data on the job classifications, geographic locations,
separations, salaries, and other conditions of employment that
provide additional information about veterans in the state civil
service workforce.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) (1) The jobs of the nation's citizen soldiers in the
California National Guard or the United States Military Reserve are
supposed to be safe while they are serving their country. Neither
federal nor state law authorizes employers to penalize service
members for attending to their military duties.
(2) In spite of existing legal protections, every year, thousands
of California National Guard or United States Military Reserve troops
returning from Afghanistan and elsewhere come home only to find they
have been replaced, demoted, denied benefits, or denied seniority.
(3) These adverse employment actions have contributed to
historically high rates of joblessness among returning California
National Guard or United States Military Reserve members.
(4) Many of those considering military service in the California
National Guard or the United States Military Reserve will be deterred
from entering the military absent a guarantee that their civilian
jobs will be safe on their return from active service.
(b) In light of the fact that members of the California National
Guard or the United States Military Reserve in California continue to
experience both overt and subtle forms of discrimination in
employment, it is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
to enhance, clarify, and strengthen the employment protections
afforded to them in California.