BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 406 (Jackson) - Employment: leave.
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|Version: April 23, 2015 |Policy Vote: L. & I.R. 4 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 11, 2015 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito |
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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
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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.
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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.
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