Growing up, I remember being told to take on an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. Although I disregarded this advice and became an attorney, the lack of work ethic plaguing the newest generation of America’s workforce strikes me as amazing.
When this work ethic is coupled with the incredible number of leave of absence laws bestowed upon employees by our legislature, it could be considered miraculous that employees have to work at all.1 It’s not that the leave of absence laws are philosophically a bad idea. But because the legislative assumption appears to be that all “employers” are massive corporations surrounded by cadres of lawyers providing them advice at every turn, the state takes really no reasonable efforts to notify employers of their obligations to provide these leaves.2
Beyond the “big three,” which most employers have at least heard about (worker’s compensation, family and medical leave, and disability accommodations), here’s a very brief summary:
Military leave. State and federal law provide up to five years off for individuals called up to active duty in any of the uniformed services. So long as the individual is honorably discharged and applies for reinstatement within the timeframes required by law, reinstatement (including any benefits and seniority he3 would have been entitled to had he not taken the leave of absence) is, with minor exceptions, mandatory.4
Voting time off. Employers must provide up to two hours of paid time off for an employee to go vote if the employee would not have sufficient time to vote outside of working hours. (In California, the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.) The employer may require the time off be taken at either the beginning or end of the workday to minimize disruptions to operations.
Military spousal leave. Employers with 25 or more employees must provide up to 10 days leave for the spouse of any active duty or reserve military personnel on leave from service in a combat theater. (See “And Now, Conjugal Visits,” Dec. 2007.)
Adult literacy leave. Every employer who regularly employees 25 or more people must provide reasonable accommodation and assistance to any employee who reveals a literacy problem and requests assistance to enroll in adult literacy program. The only exception is if the accommodation would constitute an “undue hardship” upon the employer. Generally, short-term leaves of absence or shorter shifts so an employee may attend classes will constitute a reasonable accommodation.
Witness and jury duty leave. All employers must provide time off to employees who are subpoenaed as a witness or to serve as a juror. There’s no limit to the amount of time off required.
Domestic violence leave. All employers must allow time off to obtain judicial relief to prevent domestic violence, to employee or the employee’s child. In addition, employers with 25 or more employees have time off obligations in the event the employee needs to seek medical attention for injuries, obtain services from a shelter, crisis counseling program or rape crisis center, or obtain psychological counseling related to domestic violence. The leave is limited to 12 weeks per year.
Volunteer emergency services personnel. Employees who serve as volunteer firefighters, reserve peace officers, emergency rescue personnel such as government firefighters, police or sheriff’s officers, or in a private fire department must be given time off for the performance of their duties. There’s no limit to the amount of time that may be taken. In addition, employers with 50 or more employees must provide additional time off for firefighting or law enforcement training. The time that must be provided for this is up to 14 days.
School visit leave. All employers with 25 or more employees at the same location must provide time off to the “custodial parent, guardian or grandparent” of children in kindergarten through 12th grade, for the purpose of visiting the child’s school. The time is limited to eight hours per month, to a total of 40 hours per year. If both parents work for the employer, the first one to ask on any particular occasion is the one that gets to go.5
School disciplinary leave. This leave applies to any employee who is asked by the school to sit in on a portion of the school day because of certain offenses by their child. Those offenses include: Committed an obscene action or engaged in habitual profanity or vulgarity; or disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties.6 An employee need only give “reasonable” notice of the need to go the school, and there’s no limit on the amount of leave an employee may take for this purpose.7
1Reason number 142 why I propose a constitutional amendment requiring that all would be legislators profitably operate a business with between 5 and 75 employees for at least three years to be eligible for election. We can debate the wisdom of allowing those businesses to use interns.
2How about a simple pamphlet or flyer provided to every business that registers with the EDD? How hard could that be? Give businesses a fighting chance.
3I mean no gender bias here. However, I have a word limit and decided not to use “he or she” at every turn.
4The Department of Labor has an excellent guide regarding military leave available for download at www.dol.gov.
5I envision parents racing down the halls to their supervisor, seeing who can get there first.
6This sounds a lot like my grade school résumé!
7In other words, parents with “problem children” can take more time off work than parents with kids involved in sanctioned activities.
