Employee Rights

AB 1522 (Gonzalez) - OPPOSE
As Introduced January 16, 2014

Assembly Bill 1522, by Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez, would entitle an employee in California to paid sick days if s(he) works seven or more days in a calendar year. The leave would accrue at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked and the employee would be permitted to start accruing the leave on the 90th calendar day of employment. AB 1522 also defines an employer to include public authorities.

Counties will recall substantially similar legislation from 2011. AB 400 (Ma, 2011) and AB 1000 (Ma, 2010), both which failed to make it through the legislative process due to strong opposition from private and public employers.

AB 1522 will be heard in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on March 19.

AB 2030 (Campos) - OPPOSE
As Introduced on February 20, 2014

Assembly Bill 2030, by Assembly Member Nora Campos, would expand provisions of the Family School Partnership Act, a California law that allows parents, grandparents and guardians to take time off from work to participate in their children’s school or child care activites. The Act allows the affected employee to use existing vacation time, personal leave or compensatory time off for such activities or time off without pay if permitted by the employer.

AB 2030 would eliminate the requirement that the affected employee utilize existing leave unless otherwise provided by a collective bargaining agreement entered into before January 1, 2015 and prohibits the entitlement of employees to the bill’s provisions from being diminished by a collective bargaining agreement agreed to on or after January 1, 2015.

AB 2030 is awaiting assignment to a policy committee.

Collective Bargaining

AB 2126 (Bonta) - OPPOSE
As Introduced on February 20, 2014

Assembly Bill 2126, by Assembly Member Rob Bonta, would authorize either bargaining party in the collective bargaining process to request mediation if they fail to reach agreement (current law allows BOTH parties to agree to enter into mediation). 

Counties will recall that CSAC and other stakeholders were successful in removing the mandatory mediation provision from both AB 537 (Chapter 785, Statutes of 2013) and AB 646 (Chapter 680, Statutes of 2012), citing that such a requirement would lead to expensive and unnecessary delays in the bargaining process that would prove detrimental to both employers and employees. 

AB 2126 is awaiting a hearing date in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee.

CSAC President John Gioia to Speak at Webinar Aiding in Implementation of New “Ban the Box” Law, March 12

The California Reentry Council Network is co-sponsoring a webinar on Wednesday, March 12 with an expert panel of leading public officials, human resources and employment law specialists, and community leaders to learn about the basics of the new state law resulting from the passage of AB 218 and the best practices for implementation. 

AB 218 (Chapter 618, Statutes of 2012) was signed into law by Governor Brown and prohibits state agencies and cities, counties, and special districts from asking an applicant for employment to disclose information regarding their conviction history, including on any initial employment application, until the agency determines that the applicant meets minimum qualifications for the position. 

Click here for more information and registration.