Collective Bargaining

AB 195 (Hernandez) – Oppose
As Amended on March 21, 2011

AB 195, by Assembly Member Roger Hernandez, would codify existing Public Employment Relations Board regulations which set forth under the Meyers-Milias Brown Act. AB 195 would additionally expand upon existing regulations by prohibiting public agencies from providing employee organizations with “inaccurate information.” This differs from current unfair labor practice language under the similar Education Employment Relations Act, which specifies “inaccurate information” as pertaining to financial resources. 

AB 195 will be heard in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee on April 13, 2011.

Workers’ Compensation

AB 335 (Solorio) – Support
As introduced on February 17, 2011

AB 335, by Assembly Member Jose Solorio, would implement recommendations from the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC) related to mandatory workers’ compensation benefits notices.

In July 2010, CHSWC released its Report on Benefit Notices and Recommendations (Report), a culmination of work performed by a broad stakeholder group convened to examine ways of improving workers’ compensation benefit notices. The Report put forth recommendations and the necessary legislative steps to implement them. 

AB 335 would require the Administrative Director for the Division of Workers’ Compensation to work with CHSWC to develop new benefit notices that are sent by employers to injured workers. The notices must be written in easily understandable language. The Administrative Director would also be required to work with CHSWC to prepare a booklet that would describe the workers’ compensation claims process and the rights and obligations of both employers and employees. AB 335 will be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on April 13.

AB 584 (Fong) – Oppose
As Amended on April 4, 2011

AB 584, by Assembly Member Paul Fong, would require any physician or psychologist who conducts utilization review in workers’ compensation cases to be licensed in the State of California. CSAC and a broad coalition of public employer advocates oppose this measure because it would substantially limit the number of doctors available to perform utilization review services, thereby creating a logjam of cases that need to be reviewed. This limitation would drive up the cost of utilization review services.

AB 584 will be heard in the Assembly Insurance Committee on April 13.

AB 1168 (Pan) – Support
As Introduced on February 18, 2011

AB 1168, by Assembly Member Richard Pan, would require, on or before January 1, 2013, the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation to adopt, after public hearings, a fee schedule that establishes reasonable maximum fees paid for services provided by vocational experts. This bill would prohibit a vocational expert from being paid, and prohibit the appeals board from allowing, vocational expert fees in excess of those established in the fee schedule.

AB 1168 will be heard in the Assembly Insurance Committee on April 13.

Employee Rights

AB 325 (Lowenthal) – Oppose
As Amended on April 7, 2011

Assembly Bill 325, by Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal, would provide employees (including temporary, seasonal and part-time) a right of up to four days of unpaid bereavement leave for the death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or domestic partner with a 13-month time allotment to complete the leave allowance.

AB 325 would pose a problem for In-Home Supportive Services employees who do not work a traditional scheduled work week and because of the guarantee that bereavement leave can be used for up to 13 months, which is not typical of current leave policies and has the potential to conflict with policies for employees already receiving bereavement leave.

AB 325 will be heard in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on April 13.


AB 400 (Ma) – Oppose
As introduced on February 15, 2011

AB 400, by Assembly Member Fiona Ma, would establish the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2011. It would entitle an employee in California to paid sick days if he or she works seven or more days in a calendar year. 

Sick days would accrue at the rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked. The employee would be able to use such sick days beginning on the 90th calendar day of employment. AB 400 also defines an employer to include public authorities, specifically In-Home Supportive Service Providers, and adds accrued sick leave to the list of required items an employer must provide as part of an employee’s wage statement.

Under AB 400:

• An employer is not required to provide additional paid sick days if the employer has a paid leave policy or paid time off policy and the employer makes available an amount of leave that satisfies the accrual requirements of the bill and that may be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions as specified in the bill.
• An employer is not required to provide compensation to an employee for accrued, unused paid sick days upon termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation from employment, however if an employee separates from an employer and is rehired by the employer within one year, previously accrued and unused paid sick days shall be reinstated. The employee shall be entitled to use those paid sick days and to accrue additional paid sick days upon rehiring.
• A rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation is established if an employee files a complaint with the Labor Commissioner or in court or cooperates in an investigation of an alleged violation of this article.
• Employees covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement are excluded if the agreement expressly provides for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of employees, and expressly provides for paid sick days or a paid leave time off policy that permits the use of sick days for those employees, final and binding arbitration of disputes concerning the application of its paid sick days provisions, premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked, and regular hourly rate of pay of not less than 30 percent more than the state minimum wage rate.
• An employer is required to provide written notice of the requirements of this bill in English, Spanish, Chinese, and any other language spoken by at least five percent of the employees.
• An employer is required to keep five years of records documenting the hours worked and paid sick days accrued and used by an employee.
• A public authority is authorized to satisfy the requirements of AB 400 by entering into a collective bargaining agreement that provides an incremental hourly wage adjustment in an amount sufficient to satisfy the accrual requirements of the bill.
• AB 400 will be heard in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on April 13. 

CalPERS Announces Structural Reorganization

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) announced Wednesday that it has reorganized its internal reporting structure, an action it says will enhance risk management and fiscal accountability, improve customer service to its members and employers and expand its capabilities for policy development and research. The new structure will go into effect this week and includes the following new areas:

•  Financial Office: the financial office will manage CalPERS’ financial processes to maintain a high level of transparency and internal controls.
• Benefit Programs, Policy and Planning: this area will address health care and retirement security public policy issues.
• Customer Service and Support: the responsibilities of this area include account management, service, disability and death retirements and marketing and education support.

CalPERS notes that the new organizational structure will not affect the functions of investments, information technology, operations, legal and external affairs.