BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1304
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1304 (DeSaulnier)
As Amended May 18, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :22-13
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT 4-0 JUDICIARY 7-1
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|Ayes:|Swanson, Furutani, |Ayes:|Feuer, Brownley, Evans, |
| |Monning, Yamada | |Huffman, Jones, Monning, |
| | | |Saldana |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Knight |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires private employers to permit employees to
take paid leaves of absence, similar to those currently
available to public employees, for the purposes of organ and
bone marrow donations, and prohibits retaliation against
employees who take this leave, as specified. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Requires any business that employs 15 or more employees to
provide up to 30 days of paid leave for an organ donation and
up to five days of paid leave for a bone marrow donation.
2)Provides that, in order to receive a leave of absence, a
private employee be required to provide written verification
to his or her employer that he or she is an organ or bone
marrow donor, and that there is a medical necessity for the
donation of the organ or bone marrow.
3)Provides that any period of time during which a private
employee is required to be absent from his or her position by
reason of being an organ or bone marrow donor is not a break
in continuous service for the purposes of the employee's right
to salary adjustments, sick leave, vacation, annual leave, or
seniority.
4)Provides that during any period that an employee takes leave
for the purposes of bone marrow or organ donation, the
employer shall maintain and pay for coverage under a group
health plan for the full duration of the leave.
SB 1304
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5)Provides that a private employer shall, upon expiration of a
paid leave authorized by this bill, restore an employee to the
position held by him or her when the leave began or to an
equivalent position.
6)Prohibits a private employer from interfering with an employee
taking organ or bone marrow donation and from retaliating
against an employee for taking such leave or opposing an
unlawful employment practice related to organ or bone marrow
donation leave.
7)Authorizes an employee to bring a civil action in the
appropriate superior court to enforce the provisions of this
bill, including issuance of an injunction and other necessary
and appropriate relief.
8)Allows employers to require employees to take up to five days
of accrued sick or vacation leave for bone marrow donation and
up to two weeks of earned and unused sick or vacation leave
for organ donation, unless doing so would violate the
provisions of any applicable collective bargaining agreement.
9)Provides that bone marrow and organ donation leave shall not
be taken concurrently with any leave pursuant to the federal
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 or the California Family
Rights Act. Also, specifies that bone marrow or organ
donation leave may be taken in one or more periods.
10)States that the rights provided for under these provisions
shall not be diminished by a collective bargaining agreement
or employee benefit plan entered into on or after January 1,
2011.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides employees the opportunity to take both paid and
unpaid time away from work without fear of discharge or
discrimination for a number of specified purposes.
2)Allows state employees who have exhausted all available sick
leave to take a leave of absence with pay, not exceeding 30
days for the purpose of organ donation and not exceeding five
days for bone marrow donation.
SB 1304
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Megan Williams (Hoang Thu) of Walnut Creek proposed
this legislation after her daughter Michelle, passed away from
leukemia in 2009 when a matching bone marrow donor was not found
from the small pool of individuals of similar ethnicity.
The author states that while cancer impacts all of us, cancers
such as leukemia are particularly deadly to diverse, ethnic
communities due to the overwhelming small number of individuals
registered to donate bone marrow. When a bone marrow match
cannot be found within a family, individuals must reach out to
the bone marrow donation registry to find individuals of the
same ethnicity.
Nationally, the donor registry is 74% Caucasian and only 7.1%
Asian Pacific Islander (API). This overstates the donation and
match rate since a Korean cancer patient, for example, would
most likely need a bone marrow donation from a Korean donor,
rather than another donor of the API community.
The author also states that current law provides state employees
with a leave of absence to donate an organ or bone marrow if the
employee has exhausted all of their available sick leave.
Currently, private sector employees are not provided the same
benefit, which does not promote organ and bone marrow donation
contributing to the unnecessary loss of lives.
Additionally, the author believes this bill has been crafted to
ensure protected leave for a limited period and only for
companies that are large enough to afford providing such leave
to their employees thereby encouraging an increase to the size
and diversity of the bone marrow donation registry.
Analysis Prepared by : Lorie Erickson / L. & E. / (916)
319-2091 FN:
0005082