BILL NUMBER: AB 2536	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  JULY 3, 2014
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 14, 2014
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 3, 2014
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 28, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Mullin

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act to amend Section 230.3 of the Labor Code, relating to
employees.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2536, Mullin. Employees: emergency rescue personnel.
   Existing law prohibits an employer from discharging or in any
manner discriminating against an employee for taking time off to
perform emergency duty as a volunteer firefighter, reserve peace
officer, or emergency rescue personnel. Existing law defines
emergency rescue personnel to include an officer, employee, or member
of a political subdivision of the state, or of a sheriff's
department, police department, or a private fire department. Existing
law further requires the employer to reinstate and reimburse an
employee who is discharged or in any other manner discriminated
against in his or her employment in violation of these provisions.
Under existing law, any employer who willfully refuses to rehire,
promote, or otherwise restore an employee, as specified, is guilty of
a misdemeanor. Existing law exempts a public safety agency or
provider of emergency medical services from these provisions if, as
determined by the employer, the employee's absence would hinder
public safety or emergency medical services.
   This bill would require an employee who is a health care provider,
as defined, to notify his or her employer at the time the employee
becomes designated as emergency rescue personnel and when the
employee is notified that he or she will be deployed as a result of
that designation.
   This bill would expand the definition of emergency rescue
personnel to include an officer, employee, or member of a disaster
medical response entity sponsored or requested by the state. By
expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 230.3 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   230.3.  (a) An employer shall not discharge or in any manner
discriminate against an employee for taking time off to perform
emergency duty as a volunteer firefighter, a reserve peace officer,
or emergency rescue personnel.
   (b) An employee who is discharged, threatened with discharge,
demoted, suspended, or in any other manner discriminated against in
the terms and conditions of employment by his or her employer because
the employee has taken time off to perform emergency duty as a
volunteer firefighter, a reserve peace officer, or emergency rescue
personnel shall be entitled to reinstatement and reimbursement for
lost wages and work benefits caused by the acts of the employer. Any
employer who willfully refuses to rehire, promote, or otherwise
restore an employee or former employee who has been determined to be
eligible for rehiring or promotion by a grievance procedure,
arbitration, or hearing authorized by law, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
   (c) (1) Subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section shall not apply
to any public safety agency or provider of emergency medical services
if, as determined by the employer, the employee's absence would
hinder the availability of public safety or emergency medical
services.
   (2) An employee who is a health care provider shall notify his or
her employer at the time the employee becomes designated as emergency
rescue personnel and when the employee is notified that he or she
will be deployed as a result of that designation.
   (d) (1) For purposes of this section, "volunteer firefighter"
shall have the same meaning as the term "volunteer" in Section 50952
of the Government Code.
   (2) For purposes of this section, "emergency rescue personnel"
means any person who is an officer, employee, or member of a fire
department or fire protection or firefighting agency of the federal
government, the State of California, a city, county, city and county,
district, or other public or municipal corporation or political
subdivision of this state, or of a sheriff's department, police
department, or a private fire department, or of a disaster medical
response entity sponsored or requested by this state, whether that
person is a volunteer or partly paid or fully paid, while he or she
is actually engaged in providing emergency services as defined by
Section 1799.107 of the Health and Safety Code.
   (3) For purposes of this section, "health care provider" means any
person licensed or certified pursuant to Division 2 (commencing with
Section 500) of the Business and Professions Code, or licensed
pursuant to the Osteopathic Initiative Act, or the Chiropractic
Initiative Act.
  SEC. 2.   No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.