BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
2294 (Gomez)
As Amended August 18, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |51-26 |(May 12, 2016) |SENATE: |25-14 |(August 23, |
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Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY: Requires the California State University (CSU) to
grant an employee a leave of absence to serve as an elected
officer of any CSU campus public employee organization.
The Senate amendments require, when possible, the employee to
provide the request for leave at least 30 days before the start
of the academic term during which the leave will occur; and,
would entitle that employee to reinstatement in the position he
or she held at the time the leave was granted, if it still
exists, or a comparable position, as specified.
EXISTING LAW: 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 Section 89500 et seq.). Establishes
the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) to
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provide a statutory framework to regulate labor relations at
University of California (UC), CSU, and Hastings College of Law
and their employees; provides the Public Employment Relations
Board (PERB) authority to enforce HEERA. (Government Code
Sections 3560-3599)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Though this bill requires the employment organization to
reimburse the CSU salary and benefits, including the CSU
retirement fund contribution, this bill could result in
one-time costs to recruit, hire, or train replacement
employees to fill in while the employee is on a leave of
absence. In some cases the replacement employee could be
compensated less than the employee on leave in which case any
upfront recruiting and training costs could be recovered and
ongoing savings could be achieved. However, to the extent the
CSU is unable to fill the temporary vacancy with an employee
at a lower compensation the CSU may incur some ongoing costs
to pay the employee's compensation while on leave, in addition
to the one-time costs.
2)According to the CSU's Web site there are 47,000 faculty and
staff employed at the university. CSU indicates that the
California Faculty Association is currently using two or three
of the 16 leaves available they have in their collective
bargaining agreements. To the extent this bill encourages
additional use of leaves and five employees go on a leave of
absence in a year resulting in costs of $10,000 per employee
to recruit a replacement, statewide costs could be about
$50,000. However, the effect of this bill on the number of
employees taking a leave of absence in the future is unknown.
(General Fund)
COMMENTS: Background. Pursuant to Education Code Section
44987, governing boards of a school district are required to
provide paid leaves of absence to employees serving on a local
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district public employee organization or affiliated statewide or
national employee organization consistent with the requirements
proposed by this bill. Similarly, Education Code Section
87768.5 requires the same accommodations for community college
district employees.
CSU policy governing faculty union leave is governed by the
CSU/California Faculty Association (CFA) Collective Bargaining
Agreement, which requires, upon the request of CFA, the CSU
shall grant in a timely manner union leave without loss of
compensation. Such leaves shall be granted up to the equivalent
of 16 full-time positions per year. An employee on such leave
shall continue to earn all campus service credit and retirement
credit. Vacation time, holiday time, and sick leave shall not
accrue during such leave. A faculty unit employee on such leave
shall have the right to return to his/her former position upon
expiration of the leave. CFA is required to reimburse CSU for
all compensation paid to the faculty unit employee on leave and
for any incidental costs, including the cost of benefits in an
amount equal to the cost of CSU contributions for Public
Employees' Retirement System (PERS) retirement and an additional
10% of salary. Additionally, the agreement reads, "whenever
possible, the foregoing shall be implemented only if the CFA
notifies the CSU of the names of faculty unit members requesting
leave 30 days before the start of each academic term during
which the leave will occur. The CFA agrees to meet with the CSU
to discuss concerns regarding how release time under this
provision impacts departmental instructional requirements."
Purpose of this bill. According to the author, this bill will
bring parity to the CSU it does not currently have with other
segments. 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 notes 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
Bargaining Agreements, and is not guaranteed in statute.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960 FN:
0004872