On October 12, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 63—the New Parent Leave Act—into law. The Act requires employers with 20 or more employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected parental leave.
Who’s Covered?
Under the Act, an employer is “a person who employs 20 or more persons to perform services for wage or salary.” Eligible employees are employees who (1) have more than 12 months of service with the employer, (2) have worked at least 1,250 hours during the previous 12-month period; and (3) work at a worksite in which the employer employs at least 20 employees within 75 miles. The Act does not cover employees already covered under the state’s family care and medical leave law, i.e. California Family Rights Act (CFRA), and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
What’s Covered?
Leave under the Act is limited to “parental leave” to bond with a new child within one year of the child’s birth, adoption, or foster care placement. It does not include the entire range of employee and family member with “serious health conditions” for which leave is available under CFRA and the FMLA. The leave is unpaid; however, employees are entitled to utilize accrued vacation pay, paid sick time, other accrued paid time off, or other paid or unpaid time off negotiated with the employer, during the period of parental leave.
Employers must provide employees taking leave a “guarantee of employment” in the same or a comparable position following the leave. If an employer fails to provide such a guarantee before the leave begins, the employer will be deemed to have refused to allow the leave.
Employers must maintain and pay for continued group health coverage during the leave. The coverage must be at the same level and under the same conditions that would have been provided had the employee continued to work. Costs of maintaining the health coverage may be recovered from employees who fail to return to work following the leave because of a reason other than a serious health condition or other circumstances beyond the employee’s control.
If both parents are employed by the same employer, employers are not required to grant parents leave totaling more than 12 weeks. Employers are also not required to grant leave to both employees simultaneously.
Finally, the new law prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee for exercising his/her rights, or from restraining or denying any rights provided under the Act.
Coverage: California employers with 20 or more employees.
Effective: January 1, 2018
Action Required: We will be updating our model handbook policies based on the new law and will notify clients when the update is available. Please should also contact your Human Resources Business Partner if you have any questions.