An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 8 – Leaves And Absences

P. W HAT O BLIGATION D OES A S CHOOL H AVE T O K EEP R ECORDS P ERTAINING T O F AMILY C ARE A ND M EDICAL L EAVE ? 1. FMLA The FMLA provides that all schools shall make, keep, and preserve records pertaining to compliance with the Act, and such records shall be kept for not less than three (3) years. 1310 Medical certifications shall be maintained separately and treated as confidential medical records. 1311 For purpose of these requirements, Schools should maintain the following records:  Records identifying basic payroll and employee contact information;  Dates FMLA leave was taken;  Hours of leave (if taken on intermittent basis)  Copies of FMLA notices furnished;  Documents describing employee benefits or employer policies regarding the taking of paid and unpaid leaves;  Communications pertaining to the FMLA request and acceptance or denial, and the reasons therein. 2. CFRA Schools have no obligation under the CFRA to keep records pertaining to family care leave. Therefore, schools should follow the FMLA requirements regarding record keeping. Q. H OW A RE E MPLOYEES W HO R EQUEST L EAVE , O R O THERWISE A SSERT CFRA OR FMLA R IGHTS , P ROTECTED ? The FMLA and CFRA regulations set forth several provisions related to employee rights and school obligations when an employee requests leave. Basically, a school may not harass, discriminate against, or retaliate against an employee on the basis of a request for, or the taking of FMLA or CFRA leave. 1312 C ALIFORNIA P ARENT L EAVE A CT (N EW ) The recently enacted New Parent Leave Act requires employers with 20 or more employees within a 75 mile radius to provide employees with leave to bond with a child. 1313 While employers with fewer than 50 employees are generally not required to provide leaves provided by the FMLA or CFRA, as discussed above, the New Parent Leave Act requires employers who employ at least 20 employees within a 75 mile radius to provide employees with leave to bond with a new child (whether the child is a newborn, adopted, or placed with the employee for foster Section 5

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 303