BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 579
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Date of Hearing: June 24, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Roger Hernández, Chair
SB
579 (Jackson) - As Amended June 2, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 38-1
SUBJECT: Employees: time off.
SUMMARY: Expands the authorized reasons for which an employee
can take job-protected time off from work under the Family
School Partnership Act and specified "kin care" sick leave
provisions of existing law. Specifically, this bill:
1)Expands the currently authorized reasons for which an employee
may take job-protected time off work without the fear of
discrimination or discharge under the Family School
Partnership Act to allow workers to take time off to (a) find,
enroll, or reenroll his or her child in a school of with a
licensed child care provider, and (b) to address a child care
provider or school emergency, as defined.
2)Defines "child care provider or school emergency" to mean that
an employee's child cannot remain in school or with a child
care provider due to one of the following:
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a) The school or child care provider has requested that the
child be picked up, or has an attendance policy, excluding
planned holidays, that prohibits the child from attending
or requires the child to be picked up from the school or
child care provider.
b) Behavioral or discipline problems.
c) Closure of unexpected unavailability of the school or
child care provider, excluding planned holidays.
d) A natural disaster, including, but not limited to, fire,
earthquake or flood.
3)Revises provisions of existing "kin care" law to be consistent
with the provisions under recent paid sick days legislation to
clarify that "family member" includes the individuals already
covered in existing law and that the worker can take sick
leave for the reasons currently specified in law.
4)Prohibits an employer from denying sick leave or
discriminating against an employee for attending to an illness
or the preventive care of a family member.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Prohibits an employer who employs 25 or more employees
working at the same location from discharging or
discriminating against an employee who is a parent, guardian,
or grandparent having custody of a child in a licensed child
day care facility or in kindergarten or grades 1 to 12,
inclusive, for taking up to 40 hours each year of time off
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(not exceeding eight hours in any calendar month of the
year), to participate in activities of the school or licensed
child day care facility of any of his or her children.
(Labor Code §230.8)
2) Requires the employee, prior to taking the time off, to give
reasonable notice to the employer of the planned absence of
the employee.
3) Requires an employee to provide documentation regarding
these activities upon request by an employer.
4) Requires the employee to utilize existing vacation, personal
leave, or compensatory time off for purposes of the planned
absence.
5) Authorizes the employee to utilize time off without pay for
this purpose, to the extent available by his/her employer.
6) Provides remedies to employees discharged, demoted, or in
any other manner discriminated against as a result of his/her
exercise of this right.
7) Provides that starting on July 1, 2015, an employee who
works in California for 30 or more days within a year from
the commencement of employment is entitled to paid sick days
at the rate of not less than one hour per every 30 hours
worked (to be taken after the 90th day of employment).
8) Allows employers to limit the use of paid sick days to 24
hours or three days per year.
9) Requires, upon the oral or written request of an employee,
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an employer to provide paid sick days for:
a) Diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health
condition of, or preventive care for, the employee or the
employee's family member (defined as a child, parent,
spouse, registered domestic partner, grandparent,
grandchild and sibling).
b) For specified purposes, as defined, for an employee
who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or
stalking.
10)Prohibits an employer from denying an employee the right to
use accrued sick days, discharge, threaten to discharge,
demote, suspend, or in any manner discriminate against an
employee for using accrued sick days, attempting to exercise
the right to use accrued sick days, filing a complaint with
the department or alleging a violation of the law,
cooperating in an investigation or prosecution of an alleged
violation of the law, or opposing any policy or practice or
act that is prohibited by the law.
11)Requires an employer to permit an employee to use half of
the employee's accrued and available sick leave entitlement
to attend to the illness of a child, parent, spouse, or
domestic partner of the employee and prohibits an employer
from denying an employee the right to use sick leave or
taking specific discriminatory action against an employee for
using, or attempting to exercise the right to use, sick leave
to attend to such an illness.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS: According to the Institute for Women's Policy
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Research, parents who used paid sick days were much less likely
than other workers to use it for their own health, with more
than half taking time to care for their children. Mothers were
particularly likely to use paid sick days to care for their
children and particularly unlikely to use it for their own
health needs. Additionally, the study found that one in ten
parents reported using paid sick days to care for both a child
and an older relative. (IWPR, "San Francisco's Paid Sick Leave
Ordinance: Outcomes for Employers and Employees," February
2011) The Institute for Women's Policy Research concluded that
these findings suggest that many employees make trade-offs when
using paid sick days and tend to use this time to care for
others, perhaps using less time for their own health needs.
Existing law allows workers the ability to take time off to
participate in activities of the school or licensed child day
care facility of his/her child; however, this time must be
either unpaid or taken using a vacation, personal leave, or
compensatory time off. Existing law allows workers to use,
beginning in July of this year, paid sick days for the
diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition
of, or preventive care for, the employee or the employee's
family member (defined as a child, parent, spouse, registered
domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild and sibling).
However, the author and proponents of this bill believe that
more flexibility is needed in the use of both the time off to
attend to child care or school activities and the new paid sick
day's law.
According to the author, most children live in households where
all parents work, and one-third of families with children are
headed by single parents. Yet, many parents risk losing their
jobs when they face a child care emergency; or, cannot have time
off to engage in child care or school selection. The author
argues that existing law does not provide sufficient protections
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leading to parents being forced to choose between their job and
whether to enroll/provide for the welfare and education of their
child. This bill allows parents to use leave to care for a
child during a child care or school emergency, and to take
job-protected time off from work to find (and enroll) child care
or school for their children. This bill also amends the Kin
Care law to more closely align with the Healthy Workplaces
Healthy Families Act by allowing parents to use their sick days
to take their family members to a preventative health
appointment. The author argues that this bill does not increase
the amount of time off parents are entitled to under these laws,
but rather expands the permitted use of those laws to cover
child care emergencies and enrollment.
Supporters argue that parents need assurance they will not lose
their job when they must leave work to attend to the well-being
of their child. They believe that by allowing working parents to
take time-off for these important reasons, the Legislature will
strengthen its support for working mothers and fathers by
helping them keep their jobs while fulfilling their parental
obligations. Supporters argue that this bill also benefits
employers by strengthening employee morale and job retention for
working parents.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Applicants' Attorneys Association
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California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Employment Lawyers Association
California Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
California School Employees Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
California Women's Law Center
Child Care Law Center
Consumer Attorneys of California
County of Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors
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Disability Rights Legal Center
Engineers & Scientists of California
Glendale City Employees Association
International Longshore & Warehouse Union
Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
National Council of Jewish Women California
Organization of SMUD Employees
Professional & Technical Engineers
Roots of Change
San Bernardino Public Employees Association
San Diego County Court Employees Association
San Francisco Breastfeeding Promotion Coalition
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San Luis Obispo County Employees Association
UNITE HERE, AFL-CIO
Utility Workers Union of America
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916)
319-2091