BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 675
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Date of Hearing: January 7, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Das Williams, Chair
AB 675 (Fong) - As Amended: March 19, 2013
SUBJECT : Community colleges: employment of faculty.
SUMMARY : States that a faculty member shall be deemed to have
completed the second, third, or fourth contract year, as
appropriate, if the faculty member provides service for a
percentage of the academic year as is required in an agreement
between the governing board of the community college district
and the exclusive representative of the faculty member.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that time spent on paid leave of absence, including
but not limited to, paid or unpaid maternity leave, shall be
included in computing service if the faculty member serves
sufficient time during the year to allow for the evaluation of
the faculty member as required by any negotiated evaluation
procedure.
2)Makes minor and technical changes to existing law.
EXISTING LAW stipulates that the governing board of a district
shall employ faculty for the first academic year of his/her
employment by contract and that a faculty member shall be deemed
to have completed his/her first contract year if he/she provides
service for 75 percent of the first academic year (Education
Code � 87605).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Need for the bill . According to the author, current
law is silent as to service percentage faculty need to complete
in their second, third, and fourth years of the tenure process.
Additionally, current law provides no protection for faculty who
utilize sick leave or other types of leave, including unpaid
leave to extend maternity or paternity leaves. Said types of
leaves are subject to collective bargaining. To note, faculty
are also eligible for job protection through the federal Family
Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the California Family Rights Act
(CFRA), and the California Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) law.
AB 675
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The author states, "Nevertheless [regarding the aforementioned
protections], faculty who avail themselves of these rights are
currently subject to setback in their tenure process should the
leave impinge upon the 75 percent of service requirement, or
whatever other threshold a community college district might
set."
Background . Maternity and/or paternity leave, taken by
community college faculty while under the four-year tenure
review process, may lead to the loss of a service year.
Education Code � 87661 defines "academic year" to mean a period
between the first day of a fall semester or quarter and the last
day of the following spring semester or quarter, excluding any
intersession term that has been excluded pursuant to an
applicable collective bargaining agreement.
According to the sponsors of this measure, Faculty Association
of California Community Colleges (FACCC), community colleges in
California are required to provide at least 175 days of
instruction in an academic calendar year (excluding summer
sessions). One hundred and seventy-five days of instruction
equals 35 weeks per year. If a tenure track faculty member is
required to teach 75 percent of an academic term that equates to
26.25 weeks of instruction leaving 8.5 weeks for
maternity/paternity leave with job protection.
However, what should be the practice is not being instituted
and/or applied at all of our community college districts.
CFRA and FMLA . California's Family Rights Act and the federal
FMLA allow up to 12 weeks of leave with job security. This
measure seeks to align state and federal law with the tenure
review process, which (as stated above) only allows for 8.5
weeks of leave.
Committee considerations . Should the measure be extended to
include other eligible reasons as defined in CFRA, including
bonding with an adopted or foster child, care for a parent,
spouse, or child with a serious health condition, or for the
employee's own serious health condition?
Should time spent on maternity leave be automatically included
in the review process, or should the tenure review committee be
required to extend the review period in sufficient time to allow
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for alignment with FMLA and still assess competency for tenure?
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960