BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1606
AUTHOR: Chavez
AMENDED: March 4, 2014
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: May 14, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lenin Del Castillo
SUBJECT : Community college employees: leaves of absence.
SUMMARY
This bill would allow community college academic and
classified employees to use up to 30 days of leave, as
specified, for the purpose of bonding with a new child.
BACKGROUND
Under current law, the governing board of a community college
district must provide for a leave of absence from duty for
any academic employee of the district who is required to be
absent from duties because of pregnancy, miscarriage,
childbirth, and recovery therefrom. The length of the leave
of absence, including the date on which the leave began and
the date on which the employee shall resume duties, shall be
determined by the employee and the employee's physician.
Current law also provides that this section of law shall be
construed as requiring the governing board of a community
college district to grant leave with pay only when it is
necessary to do so in order that leaves of absence for
disabilities caused or contributed to by pregnancy,
miscarriage, or childbirth be treated the same as leaves for
illness, injury, or disability. (EC § 87766)
Current law allows every academic employee employed five days
a week by a community college district to be entitled to 10
days leave of absence for illness or injury and any
additional days that the governing board may allow for
illness or injury, exclusive of all days he or she is not
required to render service to the district, with full pay for
a college year of service. (EC § 87781)
Current law also authorizes the governing board of a
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community college district to adopt rules permitting academic
employees of the district to use illness leave earned in
cases of compelling personal importance, but provides that
the additional sick leave time, together with any other leave
for personal necessity, as specified, shall not exceed six
days in any single school year. (EC § 87781.5)
Current law provides that any days of leave of absence for
illness or injury may be used by an academic employee, at his
or her election, in cases of personal necessity. The
governing board of each community college district is
required to adopt rules and regulations requiring and
prescribing the manner of proof of personal necessity for
these purposes. No such accumulated leave in excess of six
days may be used in any school year for personal necessity.
(EC § 87784)
Further, current law provides that every classified employee
employed five days a week by a community college district
shall be entitled to 12 days leave of absence for illness or
injury, with additional days as allowed by the governing
board for illness and injury (EC § 88191).
Current law also allows a contract or regular employee for a
community college to use any days of absence for illness or
injury earned, as specified, in cases of personal necessity,
including any of the following:
1) Death of a member of the employees immediate family
when additional leave is required beyond what is already
provided;
2) Accident involving the person or property of the
employee or of a member of his or her immediate family;
3) Appearance in any court or before any administrative
tribunal as a litigant, party or witness under subpoena
or any order made with jurisdiction; and
4) Any other reasons the governing board may prescribe.
Current law requires each governing board of each community
college district to adopt rules and regulations requiring and
prescribing the manner of proof of personal necessity for
these purposes and specifies that earned leave in excess of
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seven days may not be used in any college year, except under
specified conditions, including the condition in which a
number of days in excess of seven is provided in an agreement
between the exclusive representative of the employees and the
community college district. (EC § 88207)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Allows community college academic and contract or
regular employees to take up to 30 days of leave in a
school year, less than any days of leave authorized for
sick leave and personal necessity, in either of the
following circumstances:
a) A biological parent may use leave within
the first year of his or her infant's birth.
b) A nonbiological parent may use leave within
the first year of legally adopting a child.
1) Provides that if the provisions of the bill are in
conflict with the terms of a collective bargaining
agreement in effect before January 1, 2015, the
provisions of the bill would not apply to the public
employer and public employees subject to that agreement
until the expiration or renewal of the agreement.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author's office,
it is importance to establish a work-life balance.
However, when bonding with their newborn or newly
adopted child, many community college employees and
faculty only receive the minimum days allowed by current
law (six days for faculty and seven days for classified
employees) and are not given the opportunity to bond
with their children. This bill expands the minimum
allowed for family bonding time to 30 days and provides
that the time off will be paid from employees' accrued
sick-leave. The author states, "Providing paid leave to
our families is critical to strengthening the bond that
forms between parents and children. That bond is vital
to the long-term health and well-being of children as
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they grow, and helps build strong families. This is a
common sense measure that will improve the lives of
children and help our communities."
2) Protected leave . The federal Family Medical Leave
Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA)
provide certain employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid,
job-protected leave a year for the purpose of bonding
with a child 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.
3) Paid Family Leave (PFL) . The PFL program extends
disability compensation to individuals (male or female)
who take time off work to care for a seriously ill
child, spouse, parent, domestic partner, or to bond with
a new child, or a child in connection with adoption or
foster care placement. The PFL program is a component
of the State Disability Insurance (SDI) program and
workers covered by the SDI program are also covered for
this benefit. The maximum benefit is six times the
weekly benefit amount, with no more than six weeks of
PFL benefits paid within any 12-month period. Employees
of community college districts may only be eligible for
the PFL program if they are covered by the SDI program
through a negotiated agreement with the State of
California. It is unclear how many employees of the 72
community college districts buy into the SDI program.
If a community college employee does not pay into the
SDI program, he or she would not be eligible to receive
disability compensation under the PFL program. In this
scenario and assuming the employee is on leave for
bonding time, the employee would need to use vacation
time, sick leave, or personal necessity to receive
compensation or elect to take leave without pay.
However, there are limitations in current law on the
number of days of sick leave and personal necessity that
an employee can use (6 days for an academic employee and
7 days for a classified employee) while on maternity or
paternity leave, even if the employee has a sick leave
balance.
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4) Collective bargaining . Many collective bargaining
agreements allow the use of sick leave and personal
necessity for purposes of illness and injury. What
constitutes sick leave and personal necessity leave is
mostly left to local discretion and it is unclear if
taking leave for child bonding always qualifies. By
expanding the minimum number of sick days that an
employee can use for family bonding time, this bill
could be in direct conflict with existing local
bargaining agreements that do not recognize bonding time
as an appropriate use of sick leave. However, the bill
provides that if it is in conflict with the terms of a
collective bargaining agreement in effect before January
1, 2015, the bill would not apply until the expiration
or renewal of the agreement. Regardless, one could
argue the bill would circumvent the local bargaining
process with regards to the use of an employee's accrued
sick leave balance for family bonding. On the contrary,
it would not affect the amount of leave time taken for
family bonding because the federal Family Medical Leave
Act already provides employment protection for up to 12
weeks of leave a year for this purpose.
SUPPORT
California Teachers Association
OPPOSITION
Community College League of California