California Rules - Time off for School Appearance or School Activity

We often get questions regarding providing time off for employees to go to their children’s school. There are two laws in California relating to time off for school-related issues:

1. School Activities leave applies only to employers with 25 or more employees.
2. School Appearance leave applies to all employers, regardless of size.

The School Activities leave applies to employees who are the parents, guardians or custodial grandparents of children in kindergarten through grade 12, or of children in a licensed child day care facility.

Eligible employees may take time off to participate in school activities. The time must not exceed 40 hours per year, nor 8 hours in a calendar month. The employee must give reasonable prior notice of the planned absence and must provide documentation of participation.

The School Appearance Leave requirement provides that employees and who give reasonable advance notice to their supervisor will be granted time off without pay to:

• Appear at their child’s school or child care provider when the parent is required to do so by the school or child care provider, or up to 40 hours per year to visit the school or child care provider of their child(ren). An employee will be granted a maximum of eight (8) hours per month of time off under this policy.

• Under this provision, an employer cannot in any way discriminate against an employee who takes time off to appear at school in conjunction with a child’s or ward’s suspension from a class or school.

As a result, you should not stop your employee from leaving work to go to her child’s school, nor could you take disciplinary action against the employee for taking the time off.

The law does not require you to pay the employee for the time away from work, so on the day that the employee leaves early to go to her son’s school, you need to pay her only for the actual time they spent in the office working.

Lauren Sims is the article author and the Director of Human Resources Consulting for eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no-obligation consultation.

eqHRSolutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

New California Parental Leave Act Affects Small Employers

New Parental Leave Act - Effective January 1, 2018

Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law the New Parent Leave Act. The bill will require that California small businesses (20 to 49 employees) offer workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected family leave to bond with a new baby or child.

The eligibility for this leave is like the current California Family Rights Act (CFRA) provisions which offers the same parental leave protections to new parents who work for an employer with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius:

• The employee has worked for the employer for at least 12 months.
• The employee has at least 1,250 hours of service during the previous 12-month period.
• The employee works at a worksite that employs at least 20 employees within a 75-mile radius.

Further, the law states that an employer must adhere to the following guidelines:

• The employer would be prohibited from refusing an eligible employee protected family leave.
• The employer would be prohibited from refusing to maintain and pay for coverage under an eligible employee's group health plan if the employee takes leave.
• The bill would also authorize, but not require, an employer to grant simultaneous leave to two employees for the same birth, adoption, or foster care placement.
• The employer would be prohibited from refusing to hire, discharge, fine, suspend, expel, or discriminate against an employee for exercising the right to parental leave provided by the bill, or giving information or testimony as to his or her own parental leave, or another individual's parental leave, in an inquiry or proceeding.

The law goes into effect January 1, 2018. Employers should ensure they update their Labor postings and Employee Handbooks to comply with the new law.

Lauren Sims is the article author and the Director of Human Resources Consulting for eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no obligation consultation.

eqHRSolutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.

It’s Official - Asking for Prior Pay History in CA is Now Illegal

California Governor Signs AB168

We’ve written about it previously and now it’s law. Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 168 into law. Now California joins Delaware, Puerto Rico, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York City, Philadelphia San Francisco in "prohibiting employers from asking job applicants for “salary history information.” This term includes both compensation and benefits.

Section 432.3 will prohibit employers from asking about or relying on prior salary information in deciding whether to offer a job and in deciding how much to pay, however, it will give employers a pass when an applicant, “voluntarily and without prompting,” discloses salary history information. In that case, the law will not prohibit the employer from relying upon the volunteered information in setting the applicant’s starting salary. Remember though that the California Fair Pay forbids employers to rely on prior salary, by itself, to justify any disparity in pay.

California will be the first jurisdiction in the country to require that employers provide applicants with the pay scale for a position, upon “reasonable request.”

This law applies to “all employers”—both private and public—and will become effective January 1, 2018.

As a reminder, here are some tips for ensuring your procedures comply with the requirement and to aid in defense if you are accused of discrimination:

• Do not ask salary history from applicants;
• Document all factors that contribute to an initial pay determination including, but not limited to, educational history, degree, prior employment experience, special skills and expertise, individual candidate negotiations, market factors, and other position-specific factors;
• Document how each factor contributed to pay and the specific reasons for the rate of pay chosen;
• Periodically evaluate whether initial differences in pay should be reduced over time when employees have substantially similar job duties and responsibilities.

Lauren Sims is the article author and the Director of Human Resources Consulting for eqHR Solutions.

Whenever you require professional Human Resources or Payroll guidance to navigate the ever-changing landscape of California and Federal Employment Laws & Regulations, contact us for a no-obligation consultation.

eqHRSolutions offers professional, tactical and strategic, human resources support, ADP payroll product implementation/training and payroll processing services for businesses throughout Southern California.