BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1562
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1562 (Gomez) - As Amended: April 1, 2014
Policy Committee: LaborVote:5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill expands eligibility for unpaid family and medical
leave to public and private school employees. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Defines an "eligible employee", for purposes of receiving
unpaid family and medical leave, as an employee with more than
12 months of service with the employer who complies with one
of the following:
a) Has at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer
during the previous 12-month period.
b) Is a public or private school employee who has served,
during the previous 12-month period, at least 60 % of the
hours of service that an employee who is employed full time
is required to perform in a school year.
2)Exempts public and private school employees from existing law
that allows an employer to refuse to reinstate an employee
returning from leave.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown but potentially significant P98/GF costs to school
districts and county offices of education (COEs) assuming
several thousand school personnel receive expanded leave
rights.
2)One-time minor, absorbable GF costs to the Department of Fair
Employment and Housing to distribute revised materials to
employers regarding expanded leave rights.
AB 1562
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According to 2011-12 data, there were nearly 284,000 teachers
and over 288,000 classified employees in California. The state
does not keep data on the number of part-time school
employees. Assuming 3% of teachers qualify for the California
Family Rights Act (CFRA) leave under this bill, LEAs could
incur costs of approximately $70 million. This does not take
into account the costs LEAs would also incur to maintain their
portion of health benefit costs during CFRA leave.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. This bill expands CFRA benefits to public and
private school employees who work 60 % of a full-time
schedule. According to California Teachers Association, the
length of the school year makes it difficult for school
employees to meet the specific 1,250 hour requirement of CFRA.
This bill would allow an employee to qualify for CFRA leave
if they meet the hour requirement in current law or work 60 %
of a full time schedule.
2)Background . The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) provides
employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid family and medical leave if
the employee worked for the employer for at least 12 months
and worked 1,250 hours during this period. The 1,250 hour
threshold under the CFRA generally represents 60 % of a
full-time schedule of an employee who works 40 hours-per-week
for 12 months.
Schools generally provide anywhere from 175 to 185 days of
instruction each year (In 2009, in response to budget cuts,
school districts were authorized to provide 175 days of
instruction.) The length of the school year makes it
difficult for teachers to meet the 1,250 hour requirement. For
example, a full time teacher who works 182 days and 7.25 hours
a day would work a total of 1,320 hours per year.
According to 2011-12 data, there were nearly 284,000 teachers
and over 288,000 classified employees in California. The state
does not track the number of part-time employees. This bill
AB 1562
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seeks to provide CFRA leave to all full time teachers and
part-time school employees that meet the requirements of the
bill.
3)Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and CFRA interaction . The
federal FMLA uses the same 1,250 hour threshold to determine
eligibility for 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Currently, many
school employees qualify for leave under FMLA pursuant to
regulations that allow for a "presumption of eligibility." In
the event that a school employer kept inaccurate records of
the hours worked, it is presumed that the employee has met the
hour requirements to qualify for FMLA. Many school districts
assume full-time employees meet the hour requirements for both
FMLA and CFRA. The bill primarily affects part-time
employees.
For most CFRA/FMLA leave qualifying events, the two leaves run
concurrently, however, there are some circumstances where
CFRA/FMLA leaves would not run concurrently. For example,
under the FMLA pregnancy is considered a serious medical
condition. Pregnancy is not considered a serious medical
condition under CFRA. Instead, in California, a female
employee is entitled to take up to 4 months of pregnancy
disability leave (PDL) if she is disabled by her pregnancy and
unable work. A pregnant employee who takes 3 months (12
weeks) of PDL exhausts her FMLA leave. However she still
would have up to 12 weeks of CFRA leave to take after her PDL
for baby bonding. Employers are also required to maintain
their portion of health benefit costs during all leave related
to FMLA/PDL/CFRA.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081