BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2294
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Gomez |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |May 9, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 8, 2016 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Lenin DelCastillo |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: The California State University: employees: leaves
of absence without loss of compensation
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California State University (CSU) to
grant an employee a leave of absence without loss of
compensation to serve as an elected officer of any CSU campus
public employee organization.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Establishes the CSU governed by the Board of Trustees
(Trustees) and provides that that the Trustees are
responsible for the rule of government of their appointees
and employees. (Education Code § 89500, et seq.)
2) Establishes the Higher Education Employer-Employee
Relations Act (HEERA) to provide a statutory framework to
regulate labor relations at the University of California,
the CSU, and Hastings College of Law and their employees
and provides the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB)
with the authority to enforce HEERA. (Government Code §
3560-3599)
3) Requires the governing board of a school district to grant
any employee, upon request, a leave of absence without loss
AB 2294 (Gomez) Page 2
of ?
of compensation for the purpose of enabling the employee to
serve as an elected officer of any local school district
public employee organization or any statewide or national
public employee organization with which the local
organization is affiliated. Provides that following the
district's payment of the employee for the leave of
absence, the district shall be reimbursed by the employee
organization of which the employee is an elected officer
for all compensation paid the employee on account of the
leave. (Education Code § 44987)
4) Requires the governing board of a community college
district to grant any employee, upon request, a leave of
absence without loss of compensation for the purpose of
enabling the employee to serve as an elected officer of any
local school district public employee organization or any
statewide or national public employee organization with
which the local organization is affiliated. Provides that
following the district's payment of the employee for the
leave of absence, the district shall be reimbursed by the
employee organization of which the employee is an elected
officer for all compensation paid the employee on account
of the leave. (Education Code § 87768.5)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Requires the California State University (CSU) Trustees to
grant any employee, upon a request that provides at least
30 days of notice before commencement, a leave of absence
without loss of compensation for the purpose of enabling
the employee to serve as an elected officer of any CSU
campus public employee organization or any statewide or
national public employee organization with which the
university campus organization is affiliated.
2) Provides that the leave shall include, but is not limited
to, absence for purposes of attendance by the employee at
meetings of the organization, as specified.
3) Provides that compensation during the leave shall include
retirement fund contributions required of the employer,
AB 2294 (Gomez) Page 3
of ?
including any amount necessary to pay any unfunded
liability cost for the retirement plan.
4) Provides that the employee shall earn full service credit
during the leave of absence and shall pay member
contributions as prescribed, and provides that the maximum
amount of the service credit earned shall not exceed 12
calendar years.
5) Provides that any employee who serves as a full-time
officer of a public employee organization shall not be
eligible for disability benefits under the Public
Employees' Retirement System while on the leave of absence.
6) Provides that following payment of the employee for the
leave of absence, the CSU or campus shall be reimbursed by
the employee organization of which the employee is an
elected officer for all compensation paid the employee on
account of the leave. Requires reimbursement by the
employee organization to be made within 10 days after its
receipt of the certification of payment of compensation to
the employee.
7) Provides that the leave of absence without loss of
compensation provided for by this bill is in addition to
the released time without loss of compensation granted to
representatives of an exclusive representative by Section
3569 of the Government Code.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author's office, "in
the state's K-12 and community college systems, employees
are routinely granted leaves of absence without loss of pay
to enable the employee to serve as an elected officer of a
union with which his or her labor union is affiliated.
Education Code Sections 44987 (K-12) and 87768.5 (community
colleges) specify that compensation during the leave
includes retirement costs while on the leave of absence. A
recent review of the California Education Code revealed
AB 2294 (Gomez) Page 4
of ?
that California State University (CSU) faculty lack
statutory parity for identical leaves of absence." The
author argues that legislation is necessary to ensure that
CSU employees have the right to take leave time to
participate in leadership roles with their union
affiliates. The author's office indicates that CSU faculty
participation in a union elected leadership position is
subject to the discretion of the CSU, under relevant
memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and local bargaining
agreements.
2) Consistency with K-12 school districts and community
colleges. Current law requires school districts and the
community colleges to grant employees a leave of absence
without loss of compensation to serve as elected officers
of a union. The districts are then reimbursed by the
employee organization of which the employee is an elected
officer for all compensation paid to the employee while on
leave, including any retirement costs. While each of the
CSU's 13 bargaining groups have agreements that provide
some level of leave for academic employees to work on
behalf of their union, the amounts may vary and are not
specified in statute.
3) Arguments in opposition. The CSU opposes this bill,
arguing that the measure sidesteps the collective
bargaining process where union leave requests are a
negotiated term of employment and therefore would impact 13
collective bargaining units. This would hinder the CSU's
ability to consider these leave requests in the context of
its impact on campus operations and instruction. For
example, CSU notes that under the current faculty agreement
there is a notice requirement and an opportunity to discuss
the impact of the release time on academic departments.
Additionally, the bill only provides a 30 day notification
blanket waiver for all requests, without reference to the
academic term. CSU indicates that a campus should be
notified before the academic terms begin so that students
taking a course with a faculty member that goes on leave
are not negatively impacted by mid-term changes in
instructors. For this reason, staff recommends that the
bill be amended to specify that "when possible, an employee
shall provide a notice of at least 30 days before the start
of the academic term during which the leave will occur."
AB 2294 (Gomez) Page 5
of ?
4) Technical amendment. The bill currently requires the
trustees of the CSU to grant the employee leave requests
that would be authorized, upon request. However, the CSU
believes that for practical purposes, the request should be
made to the CSU Chancellor's Office or campus rather than
the trustees. For example, the CSU indicates that "the
Board of Trustees only meets every other month for two days
and therefore it seems impractical for the Board to grant a
leave within the time constraints provided by this
measure." Therefore, staff recommends an amendment to
replace "trustees" with the "California State University."
5) Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would result in net minor costs or
savings to CSU. To the extent more employees take leave,
CSU could experience increased administrative costs to fill
the additional vacant positions. It is assumed that the
replacement employee would generally receive less, or at
most, the same compensation as the employee on leave, whose
compensation (salary, retirement contribution, health care
benefits) would be fully reimbursed by the union.
SUPPORT
California Faculty Association
California Labor Federation
California State University Employees Union
California Teachers Association
Service Employees International Union
OPPOSITION
California State University
-- END --