An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 8 – Leaves And Absences

D. C ONSEQUENCES A school who discharges or discriminates against an employee for taking leave under the Act, may be liable for lost wages and work benefits, as well as civil penalties. 1395

Section 15 M ILITARY L EAVE California’s military leave laws, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”), ensure that employees are not adversely affected in their employment after taking leave for military service. California also provides military family leave, and leave to volunteer in the Civil Air Patrol, as explained below. A. C ONSEQUENCES A ND R EMEDIES F OR V IOLATIONS California law makes it a misdemeanor to discriminate against members of the military because of their membership in the military.  Any person that discriminates against a member of the military is liable for actual damages and reasonable attorney’s fees incurred by the injured party.  A person alleging that a school has violated any provision of the federal law may commence legal proceedings against the school, either independently or with the assistance of the Attorney General.  An employee can recover any lost wages or benefits resulting from a school’s violation of USERRA.  A court can double the amount as liquidated damages if it finds that a school’s violation of USERRA was willful. For all these reasons, schools must be careful not to dismiss or fail to re-employ employees who are on covered military leave. B. D EFINITIONS The federal government defines military leaves as “the performance of duty on a voluntary or involuntary basis in a uniformed service under competent authority and includes active duty, active duty for training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty for training, full-time National Guard duty, and a period for which the person is absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an examination to determine the fitness of a person to perform any such duty.” 1396 The California Military and Veterans Code defines temporary military leaves as “leave of absence from public employment to engage in ordered military duty for a period which by the order is not to exceed 180 calendar days, including travel time for purposes of active military training, encampment, naval cruises, special exercises or like activity as a member of the reserve

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 316