From CalChamber:
Even in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and a historic economic shock, the Legislature is considering legislation to increase the cost on employers of maintaining workers on the payroll. That is why these bills have been tagged as Job Killers.AB 3216 (Kalra) proposes to expand several existing leaves, including leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), pregnancy disability leave, and sick leave, and create paid emergency leave. AB 2999 (Low) proposes to create a new 10-day leave of absence for bereavement leave. Supporters claim that the leaves of absence are generally “unpaid” (except for sick leave and the new emergency leave) and therefore should not be a burden on employers. Just because a leave is “unpaid,” does not mean there is not a cost. Usually left out of the discussion is the method of enforcement, which is one of the biggest cost factors. And, these proposed leaves cannot be viewed in isolation, but must be considered as a part of the existing leaves California already offers. ...Currently, there are four bills pending that will expand or create a new leave of absence on employers with at least a single employee:
- AB 3216 (Kalra) – 12 weeks of leave under CFRA a year, 4 months of pregnancy disability leave, 80 hours of emergency leave/year, and at least 3 days of paid sick leave/year
- AB 2999 (Low) – 10 days of bereavement leave per year
- SB 1383 (Jackson) – unlimited time off from work for a school closure or day care closure
- AB 2992 (Weber) – protected time off for an employee who is a victim of a crime or a family member who is a victim of a crime ...
These proposed leaves of absence are in addition to the existing leaves of absence California already has in place:Pregnancy Disability Leave: Applies to employers with 5 or more employees, 4 months of protected leave;Military Spouse Leave: Applies to employers with 25 or more employees and allows an employee to take up to 10 days to spend time with a military spouse who has been deployed in military conflict;Organ Donation Leave: Applies to employers with 15 or more employees and provides eligible employees with up to 60 days of protected leave in a year to donate an organ;Bone Marrow Leave: Applies to employers with 15 or more employees and provides eligible employees with up to one week of paid protected leave in a year to donate bone marrow;Paid Sick Leave/Kin Care: Applies to employers with one or more employees and requires 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Half of all accrued sick leave must be used to care for a sick family member;School Activities Leave: Applies to employers with 25 or more employees and provides eligible employees with up to 40 hours of leave per year to participate in school activities with their children;School Appearance Leave: Applies to any employer with one or more employees and requires them to provide employees with time off in order to appear at school on a child’s behalf with regard to school suspension;Domestic Abuse/Sexual Assault/Stalking Leave: Applies to any employer with 25 employees or more and requires an employer to provide an indefinite leave of absence to an employee who is seeking services or medical attention as a result of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking;New Parent Leave Act: Applies to employers with 20 or more employees and requires a 12-week protected leave of absence for bonding with a new child.
Full story.
