BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 2039 (Swanson) - Family and medical leave.
Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: L&IR 5-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 16, 2012 Consultant:
Bob Franzoia
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: AB 2039 would increase the circumstances under
which an employee is entitled to protected leave under the
California Family Rights Act (CFRA).
Fiscal Impact: Minor, absorbable General Fund costs annually to
Department of Fair Employment and Housing (department) to
respond to an increase in complaint filings.
Unknown, potentially major General Fund and special fund
costs to state agencies annually.
Background: The CFRA requires employers of 50 or more employees
to grant qualified workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during
any 12 month period to bond with a child, care for a parent,
spouse or child with a serious illness, or because the employee
has a serious health condition.
Proposed Law: This bill would expand protected leave by (1)
eliminating the age and dependency elements from the definition
of "child," thereby permitting an employee to take protected
leave to care for his or her independent adult child suffering
from a serious health condition and (2) by expanding the
definition of "parent" to include an employee's parent-in-law
and permit an employee to also take leave to care for a
seriously ill grandparent, sibling, grandchild, or domestic
partner.
Staff Comments: The department estimates its caseload for denied
leave claims involving families may double from 400 cases to 800
cases annually. However, because the department has implemented
case processing innovations and is currently transitioning to a
cloud based electronic case management system that have
significantly reduced caseloads and made case processing much
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more efficient, the cost to process these claims is estimated to
be minor. The department would also incur minor costs one time
to develop and distribute materials to employers for
distribution to employees explaining employee rights under the
expanded CFRA.
It is estimated approximately 210,000 state employees would be
eligible for expanded CFRA benefits. At present, about 12,000
employees receive this benefit annually. If this bill resulted
in a ten percent increase (1,200) in utilization and the cost of
the added workload to hire, train, and manage a temporary
employee was $1,000 over three months, costs to the state would
be $1,200,000 annually. Both the need to hire a temporary
employee and the cost to train and manage that employee can be
expected to vary widely between state entities.
Compensation costs would vary based on the period of leave
(maximum of three month) thereby, increasing the probably of
temporary employees being needed. Depending on employee
workload, temporary employee compensation costs would also vary.
For example, assuming average total compensation of $90,000
($22,500 for replacement faculty or staff) California State
University costs could range up to $2.6 million annually if five
employees per campus were to avail themselves of the expanded
benefits.
Related Legislation: This bill is similar to AB 537 (Swanson)
2007 which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with the
following message:
This bill, along with two others I am returning without my
signature, would significantly expand California's workplace
leave laws. While some expansion of existing law may have merit,
these laws in combination are too expansive and also fail to
recognize the need for reforms to current law.
California has the strongest employment leave and workplace
protection laws in the country. While these laws have been
enacted with the best of intentions, they have also caused much
confusion for employers and employees. Unfortunately, many
California-only standards in areas such as family leave,
overtime, and meal and rest periods have been developed
haphazardly and have resulted in needless litigation that has
created a perception that California is not friendly to
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business.
Instead of expanding the confusing network of laws that
presently exist, employers and employees should be working
together to eliminate confusion and create a system of workplace
laws that protects workers, provides reasonable leave
requirements, and offers both employers and employees
flexibility to meet their respective needs.
This bill also is similar to AB 849 (Swanson) 2009 and AB 59
(Swanson) 2011, both of which were held in Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 1999 (Brownley) would amend employment provisions of the Fair
Employment and Housing Act to prohibit discrimination based on
the family caregiver status of an employee. That bill is on the
Suspense File.