BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2294 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2294 (Gomez) As Amended August 18, 2016 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |51-26 |(May 12, 2016) |SENATE: |25-14 |(August 23, | | | | | | |2016) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 2294 Page 2 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 AB 2294 Page 3 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. AB 2294 Page 4 Analysis Prepared by: Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960 FN: 0004872