BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2393|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2393
Author: Campos (D)
Amended: 8/17/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-1, 6/15/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NOES: Huff
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 53-22, 5/19/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: School employees: sick leave: parental leave
SOURCE: American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
DIGEST: This bill requires K-14 classified school employees and
community college faculty on maternity or paternity leave to
receive differential pay for up to 12 workweeks of unpaid and
protected family and medical leave, as specified, and makes
clarifying changes to the statutory provisions regarding
differential pay for certificated employees.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Provides differential pay to certificated employees for
illness or accident. Specifically, it provides that, during
each school year, when a person employed in a position
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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.
Requires the school district to make every reasonable effort
to secure the services of a substitute employee. 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.
Specifies that an employee shall not be provided more than
one 12-week period per maternity leave or paternity leave.
Provides that 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.
(Education Code § 44977.5)
2) Requires that any employee has the right to use sick leave
and to obtain differential pay for absences necessitated by
pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and recovery. (Education
Code § 44978)
This bill:
1) Provides that, for certificated employees:
a) A certificated employee may use his or her sick leave
for up to 12 workweeks for purposes of parental leave
during each school year, and makes other conforming
changes, as specified.
b) In school districts that use the differential pay
system, as specified, when an employee 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 parental leave, that person shall be compensated at not
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less than 50 percent of his or her regular salary for
parental leave.
c) Parental leave taken shall run concurrently with
parental leave taken pursuant to Government Code Section
12945.2 and that the aggregate amount shall not exceed 12
workweeks in a 12 month period.
d) Employees are not required to have 1,250 hours of
service with the employer during the previous 12 month
period in order to take parental leave
2) Provides that a classified employee may use his or her sick
leave for up to 12 workweeks for purposes of parental leave
during each school year.
3) Specifies that in school and community college districts
that use the differential pay system, as specified, when a
classified employee or community college instructor has
exhausted all available sick leave, including all accumulated
sick leave, and continues to be absent from his or her duties
on account of parental leave the amount deducted from the
salary due him or her for any of the remaining portion of the
12 workweek period in which the absence occurs shall not
exceed the sum that is actually paid a substitute or
temporary employee employed to fill his or her position
during his or her absence.
4) Specifies that if a school or community college district
that use the differential pay system, as specified, when an
employee on parental leave who has exhausted all available
sick leave, including all accumulated sick leave, and
continues to be absent shall be compensated at no less than
50% of his or her regular salary for the remaining portion of
the 12workweek period of parental leave.
5) Specifies that the 12 workweek period shall be reduced by
any period of sick leave, including accumulated sick leave,
taken during a period of parental leave.
6) Specifies that an employee shall not be provided more than
one 12 workweek period for parental leave during any 12-month
period and that this parental leave shall run concurrently
with the parental leave take pursuant to Government Code
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Section 12945.2. Provides that the aggregate amount shall
not exceed 12 workweeks in a 12 month period.
7) Specifies that these provisions are applicable whether or
not the absence from duty is for a leave of absence granted
by the governing board of the school or community college
district.
8) Provides that the employee is not required to have 1,250
hours of service with the employer during the previous 12
month period in order to take parental leave, as specified.
9) Specifies that nothing in these provisions shall be
construed to diminish the obligation of a public school
employer to comply with any collective bargaining agreement
that provides greater parental leave rights to employees than
the rights established by this bill.
10)Defines "parental leave" as 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,
"classified employees and community college faculty who are new
mothers and fathers are only entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid
parental leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).
Most classified employees are not covered by State Disability
Insurance (SDI) and do not receive paid parental leave under
that program. In addition, classified employees are the lowest
paid employees working in our schools and are denied paid
parental leave while others are not. Paid parental leave helps
keep people in the workforce after they have children."
This bill provides classified school employees and community
college faculty with the same paid parental leave rights as
certificated employees.
Pregnancy disability leave. Existing law provides that it is
unlawful to refuse to allow a female employee disabled by
pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition to take
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leave not to exceed four months. The employee is entitled to
use vacation leave during this time. Once the vacation time is
exhausted, the employee can receive differential pay for the
remaining time, for up to five months.
Protected leave. Existing law also prohibits, except under
certain circumstances, the refusal to grant a request by any
employee with a certain amount of service to take up to a total
of 12 workweeks in a 12 month period for family care and medical
leave. The employer is required to provide the employee a
guarantee of employment in the same or comparable position upon
the termination of the leave. The law specifies that this
protected leave is separate and distinct from the pregnancy
disability leave. Once an employee is cleared to return to work
by a physician, the employee may take this protected leave.
The federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) 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 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
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necessity to receive compensation or elect to take leave without
pay.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified8/19/16)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(source)
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
Courage Campaign
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Family Coalition
First 5 California
LIUNA Locals 777
Moreland Teachers Association
National Council of Jewish Women-CA
Oak Grove Educators Association
Saratoga Teacher's Association
Service Employees International Union
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/19/16)
California School Boards Association
San Diego Unified School District
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 53-22, 5/19/16
AYES: Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, 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, Maienschein, Medina,
Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
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Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Dahle,
Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Jones, Kim,
Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Steinorth,
Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Mathis, McCarty, Weber, Williams
Prepared by:Lenin DelCastillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/19/16 19:25:14
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