Name that Section - Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts

Name that Section: Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts

2. F

AMILY

ICK

EAVE

(“K

ARE

”)

Labor Code section 233, subdivision (a), provides that any employer who provides sick leave for

employees shall permit an employee to use, in any calendar year, not less than half of one year's

annual accrued sick leave for diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition of, or

preventive care for, an employee or an employee's family member. All conditions and

restrictions placed by the employer upon the use by an employee of normal sick leave apply to

the use of family sick leave.

“Sick leave” under this section refers to compensated leave provided by an employer to an

employee as an employment benefit for use during an absence due to a physical or mental illness

or injury that precludes the employee from performing his or her duties; an absence to obtain

professional diagnosis or treatment for the employee’s medical condition; or an absence for other

employee medical reasons such as pregnancy.

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“Sick leave” does not include benefits provided

under an employee welfare benefit plan subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income

Security Act of 1974, insurance benefits, workers’ compensation benefits, unemployment

compensation disability benefits, or benefits not payable from the employer’s general assets.

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Employers are prohibited from denying an employee the right to use family sick leave, and may

not discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, or in any manner discriminate against an

employee for using, or attempting to exercise the right to use, family sick leave.

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An employee

whose rights under this section are violated shall be entitled to reinstatement and actual damages

or one day’s pay, whichever is greater, and to appropriate equitable relief.

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However, AB 1522 now puts a different spin on the Kin Care law as there is a broader definition

of “family member” under AB 1522, including grandparent, grandchild, sibling, and parent-in-

law. The end result of reading the AB 1522 and Kin Care obligations together is that an

employee's use of paid sick leave to care for a family member pursuant to AB 1522 will not

necessarily count towards the employee's Kin Care law entitlement; it will depend on which

family member the employee is caring for.

3. D

IFFERENTIAL

Classified employees who exhaust their sick leave are entitled to “differential pay” leave for up

to five months. The Education Code provides:

When a classified employee . . . is absent from his or her duties

on account of illness or accident for a period of five months or

less, whether or not the absence arises out of or in the course of

employment of the employee, the amount deducted from the

salary due to the employee for any month in which the absence

occurs shall not exceed the sum which is actually paid a

substitute employee employed to fill the employee’s position

during the employee’s absence.

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