BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 375|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 375
Author: Campos (D)
Amended: 7/8/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-1, 6/24/15
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NOES: Runner
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 58-22, 6/1/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: School employees: sick leave: paternity and
maternity leave
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires certificated school employees on
maternity or paternity leave to receive differential pay for up
to 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Specifies during each school year, when a person employed in a
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Page 2
position requiring certification qualifications has exhausted
all available sick leave, including all accumulated sick
leave, and continues to be absent from his or her duties on
account of illness or accident for an additional period of
five school months, whether or not the absence arises out of
or in the course of the employment of the employee, the amount
deducted from the salary due to him or her for any of the
additional five months, in which the absence occurs shall not
exceed the sum that is actually paid a substitute employee
employed to fill his or her position during his or her absence
or, if no substitute employee was employed, the amount that
would have been paid to the substitute had he or she been
employed. The school district shall make every reasonable
effort to secure the services of a substitute employee.
Specifies the following:
a) The sick leave, including accumulated sick leave, and
the five-month period shall run consecutively.
b) An employee shall not be provided more than one
five-month period per illness or accident. 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. (Education
Code § 44977)
2)Specifies that Section 44977 shall not apply to any school
district which adopts and maintains in effect a rule which
provides that when a person employed in a position requiring
certification qualifications is absent from his duties on
account of illness or accident for a period of five school
months or less whether or not the absence arises out of or in
the course of the employment of the employee, he shall receive
50 percent or more of his regular salary during the period of
such absence and nothing in Section 44977 shall be construed
as preventing the governing board of any district from
adopting any such rule. When a person employed in a position
requiring certification qualifications is absent from his
duties on account of illness for a period of more than five
school months, or when a person is absent from his duties for
a cause other than illness, the amount deducted from the
salary due him for the month in which the absence occurs shall
be determined according to the rules and regulations
established by the governing board of the district. Such rules
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and regulations shall not conflict with rules and regulations
of the State Board of Education. Nothing shall be construed
so as to deprive any district, city, or city and county of the
right to make any reasonable rule for the regulation of
accident or sick leave or cumulative accident or sick leave
without loss of salary for persons requiring certification
qualifications. This shall be applicable whether or not the
absence from duty is by reason of a leave of absence granted
by the governing board of the employing district. (Education
Code § 44983)
This bill:
1)Provides that, during each school year, when a person employed
in a position requiring certification qualifications has
exhausted all available sick leave, including all accumulated
sick leave, and continues to be absent from his or her duties
on maternity leave or paternity leave for a period of up to
twelve school weeks, whether or not the absence arises out of
or in the course of the employment of the employee, the amount
deducted from the salary due him or her for any of the twelve
weeks in which the absence occurs shall not exceed the sum
that is actually paid a substitute employee employed to fill
his or her position during his or her absence or, if no
substitute employee was employed, the amount that would have
been paid to the substitute had he or she been employed. The
school district shall make every reasonable effort to secure
the services of a substitute employee.
2)Specifies that the 12-week period shall be reduced by any
period of sick leave, including accumulated sick leave, taken
during a period of maternity or paternity leave, as specified.
3)Specifies that an employee shall not be provided more than one
12-week 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
12-week period in a subsequent school year.
4)Provides that an employee on maternity or paternity leave
pursuant to Section 12945.2 of the Government Code shall not
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be denied access to differential pay while on that leave.
5)Provides that these provisions shall be applicable whether or
not the absence from duty is by reason of a leave of absence
granted by the governing board of the employing district.
6)To the extent that the changes made by this bill 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, this bill shall not
apply until expiration or renewal of that collective
bargaining agreement.
7)Provides that for purposes of this section, maternity or
paternity leave means leave for reason of the birth of a child
of the employee, or the placement of a child with an employee
in connection with the adoption or foster care of the child by
the employee.
Comments
Need for the bill. According to the author's office, "Forcing
teachers and other certificated employees to take entirely
unpaid leave after only six or eight weeks of maternity leave,
or none in the case of a new father, can lead to several issues
for the employee, the school district, and society. Less
parental leave has been positively correlated with lower
cognitive test scores and higher rates of behavioral problems.
A lack of proper postpartum support in the form of reasonable
parental leave tends to lead to a delay in childhood
immunizations, a decrease in the duration and likelihood of
breastfeeding, increased financial hardship, and a higher chance
of postpartum depression." The author's office indicates that
six or eight weeks is insufficient time for a new parent to care
for and bond with their child. If a certificated employee wants
to take off more time to spend with their newborn, then they
must take unpaid leave.
Protected leave. The federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
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and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) provide certain
employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year
for the purpose of bonding with a child, care for a parent,
spouse, or child with a serious health condition, or due to an
employee's own serious health condition, and requires group
health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if
employees continued to work instead of taking leave. But there
is no pay associated with the FMLA and CFRA, other than what the
employee has earned in other accrued leaves that may apply. The
FMLA and CFRA are only employment protected leaves.
Paid Family Leave (PFL). The PFL program extends disability
compensation to individuals (male or female) who take time off
work to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, parent, domestic
partner, or to bond with a new child, or a child in connection
with adoption or foster care placement. The PFL program is a
component of the State Disability Insurance (SDI) program and
workers covered by the SDI program are also covered for this
benefit. The maximum benefit is six times the weekly benefit
amount, with no more than six weeks of PFL benefits paid within
any 12-month period. Employees may only be eligible for the PFL
program if they are covered by the SDI program through a
negotiated agreement with the State of California. If an
employee does not pay into the SDI program, he or she would not
be eligible to receive disability compensation under PFL. In
this scenario and assuming the employee is on leave for bonding
time, the employee would need to use vacation time, sick leave,
or personal necessity to receive compensation or elect to take
leave without pay.
Differential pay. Existing law authorizes that during the time
a certificated employee is on pregnancy disability leave after
the birth of a child, the employee may use sick leave and after
this is exhausted, can receive differential pay for the
remaining time. Once the disability leave period of six to
eight weeks is over, then the employee may start the 12-week
leave period under FMLA. 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 requires school employers to pay differential pay for
certificated employees who take the 12-week FMLA maternity or
paternity leave. Differential pay is calculated by subtracting
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the cost of a substitute employee from the certificated
employee's salary, e.g., if the certificated employee makes
$50,000 and the substitute cost is $35,000, then the employee
would be paid the difference of $15,000 during maternity or
paternity leave, after exhausting all accrued sick time.
Paid parental leave in other countries. A 2010 study by the
International Labor Organization of the United Nations found
that out of 167 countries studied, only four did not provide
paid maternity leave for women-Lesotho, Papua New Guinea,
Swaziland, and the United States. While these four countries
did provide some form of maternity leave, there was no
requirement that it be paid leave. As previously mentioned in
the analysis, the FMLA provides for up to three months of unpaid
maternity and/or paternity leave.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill
could result in the potential expansion of the existing
Differential Pay and Reemployment mandate for one-time
activities to modify current processes to include differential
pay for maternity and paternity protected leave which could
drive costs in the tens of thousands statewide. To the extent
this bill imposes a mandate, this could create pressure to
increase the K-12 mandate block grant.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/29/15)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Democrats for Education Reform
California Federation of Teachers
California Teachers Association
Future is Now
Luther Burbank Education Association
San Jose Teachers Association
South Bay Labor Council
South Bay Pride at Work
United Teachers of Santa Clara
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Page 7
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/27/15)
Association of California School Administrators
California School Boards Association
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 58-22, 6/1/15
AYES: Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia,
Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez,
Low, Mathis, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell,
Olsen, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang,
Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Jones,
Kim, Maienschein, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Patterson,
Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron
Prepared by:Lenin Del Castillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/31/15 8:54:56
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