BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 675
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 675 (Fong)
As Amended June 10, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |70-0 |(January 23, |SENATE: |32-0 |(June 26, |
| | |2014) | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY : Allows a California Community College (CCC) faculty
member to count a leave of absence, as specified, to his or her
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 bargaining
representative of the faculty member.
The Senate amendments :
1)Specify that the paid or unpaid leave of absence may include,
but is not limited to, any of the following:
a) Leave for reason of the birth of and bonding with a
child or bonding with an adopted or foster child;
b) Leave to care for a parent, spouse, or child with a
serious health condition; and,
c) Leave because of an employee's own serious health
condition.
1)Stipulate that a CCC faculty member may be deemed to have
completed other contract years, as specified.
2)Make minor clarifying 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% of the first academic year (Education Code
Section 87605).
AB 675
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill. According to the author, current law is
silent as to the 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.
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% 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 Section 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, 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% of an academic term that equates to 26.25
weeks of instruction leaving 8.5 weeks for maternity/paternity
leave with job protection.
This measure provides that a faculty member who is on a leave of
absence for specified reasons, including paternity or maternity
AB 675
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leave or care for a parent, spouse, or child with a serious
health condition, to be deemed to have completed a contract
tenure year if he or she has served sufficient time during the
year.
Protected leave. Federal FMLA and CFRA provide certain
employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year
for the purpose of bonding with a child, care for a parent,
spouse, or child with a serious health condition, or due to an
employee's own serious health condition, and requires group
health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if
employees continued to work instead of taking leave. But there
is no pay associated with the FMLA and CFRA, other than what the
employee has earned in other accrued leaves that may apply. The
FMLA and CFRA are only employment protected leaves.
Related legislation. AB 1606 (Ch�vez) of the current
legislative session, which is pending in the Senate, would allow
CCC academic and classified employees to use up to 30 days of
leave, as specified, for the purpose of bonding with a new
child.
Analysis Prepared by : Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0003949