BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 375
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Date of Hearing: May 27, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
375 (Campos) - As Amended May 4, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill expands the provision of differential pay to
certificated school employees for purposes of maternity or
paternity leave. Current law provides this benefit for leave
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related to illness or accident. Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies an employee shall not be provided more than one
five-month period per maternity leave or paternity leave.
However, if a school year terminates before the five-month
period is exhausted, the employee may take the balance of the
five-month period in a subsequent school year.
2)Specifies, to the extent that the changes made by this measure
conflict with a provision of a collective bargaining agreement
entered into by a public school employer and an exclusive
bargaining representative before January 1, 2016, the changes
made by this measure shall not apply until expiration or
renewal of that collective bargaining agreement.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Unknown Proposition 98/GF state mandated reimbursable costs
associated with the expansion of the existing Differential Pay
and Reemployment mandate (see comments).
2)This bill results in increased employer costs to provide
differential pay to employees not currently eligible for this
benefit. Employer costs based on the differential pay program
should not exceed what is normally paid to a school employee
who would otherwise be working; however, this bill may place
additional cost pressures on school district budgets to the
extent they no longer experience cost savings as a result of
not paying employees during a leave of absence due to
maternity and paternity leave.
COMMENTS:
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1)Purpose. The Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act (CFRA) is
the state-law equivalent of the federal Family and Medical
Leave Act (FMLA). Both acts provide for up to 12 weeks of
unpaid family and medical leave for public and private
employees. During this time, the certificated employee may be
able to use accrued sick leave, but once that time is
exhausted, the certificated employee is unpaid for the
remaining weeks. This bill would extend differential pay
through the 12 week leave period under FMLA for both mothers
and fathers.
Differential pay is calculated by subtracting the cost of a
substitute employee from the certificated employee's salary.
As an example, if the certificated employee made $50,000 and
the substitute cost $35,000, then the certificated employee
would be paid the difference of $15,000 during maternity or
paternity leave, after exhausting all accrued sick time.
The California Teachers Association (CTA) supports the bill
and states maternity leave is essential, not only for a
mother's full recovery from childbirth, but also to facilitate
a stronger mother-child bond. CTA notes when more workers are
able to take leave, they're more likely to choose to remain in
the labor market, and paid parental leave is associated with
higher employment in economies around the world.
2)Differential pay mandate. On July 31, 2003, the Commission on
State Mandates (CSM) adopted the Statement of Decision for the
Differential Pay and Reemployment program. The CSM found that
certain administrative activities around the provision of
differential pay constituted a new program or higher level of
service. Accordingly, the CSM approved a test claim for the
following reimbursable activities:
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a) When calculating differential pay, the sick leave,
including accumulated sick leave, and the five-month period
of differential pay shall run consecutively. (One-time
administrative activity for shifting the calculation of
differential pay from running concurrently to consecutively
with accumulated sick leave.)
b) When a certificated employee is not medically able to
resume the duties of his or her position following the
exhaustion of all sick leave and the five-month
differential pay period has been exhausted, place the
employee, if not placed in another position, on a
reemployment list for 24 months for probationary employees,
or 39 months for permanent employees. (This activity
includes the one-time activity of establishing a
reemployment list for this purpose, and ongoing activities
of maintaining the list.)
c) When the employee is medically able, return the employee
to a position for which he or she is credentialed and
qualified. (This activity includes the administrative
duties required to process the re-employment paperwork, but
not reimbursement of salary and benefits for the employee
once they return to work.)
This bill expands the provision of law that provides for
differential pay to also include leave related to injury,
maternity and paternity leave. This expansion could result in
increased cost claims related to this existing mandate. On
average, annual mandated costs were approximately $27,000 per
year. The Differential Pay mandate is currently included in the
K-12 Education Block Grant. Under the block grant, a school
district, charter school, or county office of education may
choose to receive a per-pupil allocation to conduct existing
K-12 mandated activities rather than receive full payment under
the existing claims process. The Legislature could face pressure
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to increase the mandate should this bill result in increased
cost claims.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081