BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session SB 406 (Jackson) - Employment: leave. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: April 23, 2015 |Policy Vote: L. & I.R. 4 - 1 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: May 11, 2015 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: SB 406 would (1) extend permissive family and medical leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to include a seriously ill child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling or parent-in-law, (2) reduce the small business exemption from 50 employees in a 75 miles radius to 25 employees, and (3) require employers to grant 12 weeks of leave individually to parents, which are employed by the same employer, for leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care of a child? Fiscal Impact: The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) would incur increased General Fund costs of about $686,000 annually to implement the provisions of the bill. Background: Under current law, CFRA requires an employer with 50 or more SB 406 (Jackson) Page 1 of ? employees to allow an employee who has worked at least 1,250 hours to take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for their own serious medical condition, for the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for the serious medical condition of a child (under 18 years of age or adult dependent), spouse or parent. The current definition of a "parent" includes step-parents, as well as those individuals who stand in locos parentis to the child. Proposed Law: This bill would expand the family members covered under the CFRA, as follows: "Child" would include the son or daughter of a domestic partner and removes the provision regarding age and dependent status of the child. Permissible family and medical leave would be expanded to include leave to care for a sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or parent-in-law with a serious health condition. The bill would include parent-in-law in the definition of parent. The bill specifies permissible leave for a domestic partner with a serious health condition. The bill would reduce the small business exemption to an employer that employs 25 or fewer employees within 75 miles of the worksite where the employee is employed. The bill would remove an exception when both parents are entitled to leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care of a child and are employed by the same employer, thereby requiring the employer to grant each employee up to 12 weeks of leave individually rather than between both parents as in currently in statute. SB 406 (Jackson) Page 2 of ? Related Legislation: SB 770 (Jackson), Chapter 350, Statutes of 2013. Broadened the definition of family within the Paid Family Leave (PFL) program to allow workers to receive the partial wage replacement benefits while taking care of seriously ill siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and parents-in-law. Staff Comments: DFEH would require an augmentation of six positions and $686,000 to handle an assumed increased in CFRA complaints of about 24 percent created by the expansion of CFRA rights. DFEH would not receive any additional federal funds; its work share agreement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission excludes CFRA complaints. DFEH chose its growth factor of 24 percent based on a U.S. Census estimate that an equivalent proportion of the State's employers have 25-49 employees. Data from the Employment Development Department indicate that the share is a few percentage points lower, suggesting that the workload resulting from the bill could be less than the DFEH estimate. As a direct employer, the State generally provides the benefit associated with this bill; consequently the impact to state agencies is expected to be minimal. The Department of Developmental Services (DDS), however, notes that providers likely would ask for unanticipated rate adjustments as a result of the bill. DDS would likely grant the request, assuming the providers can document the bill's impact to their costs. Doing so would be difficult for the providers to estimate; thus, the resulting fiscal impact to DDS is unknown. -- END -- SB 406 (Jackson) Page 3 of ?