Vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that expands medical leave protections for workers during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Highlights:

• Prohibits any employer to refuse to grant a request by any employee with more than 12 months of service with the employer, and who has at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the previous 12 month period or who provides care to a vulnerable family member, to take up to a total of 12 work weeks in any 12 month period for family care and medical leave (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that requested family care and medical leave will not be deemed to have been granted unless the employer provides the employee, upon granting the leave request, a guarantee of employment in the same or a comparable position upon the termination of the leave (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes employers to refuse to grant a request for family care and medical leave by an employee if the employer employs less than 50 employees within 75 miles of the worksite where that employee is employed (Sec. 1).

• Expands the definition of “family care and medical leave” to include leave because of an employee’s inability to work or telework due to a state of emergency involving any of the following circumstances (Sec. 1):

• Being subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order, including a shelter-in-place or stay-at-home order;

• Being advised to self-quarantine by a healthcare provider due to exposure to the disease that is the subject of the state of emergency;

• Experiencing symptoms of the disease that is the subject of the state of emergency and seeking a diagnosis;

• Being a member of a vulnerable population at high risk of severe illness from the disease that is the subject of the state of emergency according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and

• Living with or being responsible for providing care for a family member who is a member of a vulnerable population and is at high risk of severe illness from the disease that is the subject of the state of emergency according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• Prohibits an employer from requiring a certification from a health care provider if the employee takes emergency leave due to a state of emergency and obtaining medical certification is not feasible (Sec. 1).

• Requires an employer, in the case of a public health emergency, to provide each employee with at least 56 hours or 7 days of paid sick leave, or for part-time workers an amount that is equivalent to the amount of time they regularly work or are scheduled to work for 7 work days regardless of hours worked or tenure with the employer (Sec. 3).

• Expands the circumstances in which an employer provides paid sick days to include (Sec. 4):

• For an employee who is subject to or caring for a family member who is subject to a federal, state, or local public health order related to a public health emergency;

• For an employee to care for a child or family member for whom the employee is responsible for providing care if the child or family member’s school or place of care has been closed, or the child or family member’s care provider is unavailable, due to a state of emergency;

• For an employee whose place of employment is closed by the employer or by a public health official due to a state of emergency; and

• For an employee who is subject to a federal, state, or local evacuation order related to a state of emergency.

• Defines “eligible employee as any individual (Sec. 5):

• Whose primary place of employment is at an enterprise subject to a change in control;

• Who is employed directly by the incumbent employer, or by an employer who has contracted with the incumbent employer to provide services at the enterprise subject to a change in control; and 

• Who has worked for the incumbent employer for at least one month prior to the execution of the transfer document. “Eligible employee” does not include a managerial, supervisory, or confidential employee.

• Defines “enterprise” as a hotel, event center, airport hospitality operation, or the provision of building service to office, retail, or other commercial buildings (Sec. 5).

• Requires an employer to offer its laid-off employees all job positions that become available after the effective date of this section for which the laid-off employees are qualified (Sec. 5).

• Requires an incumbent employer, within 15 days after the execution of a transfer document, to provide to the successor employer the name, address, date of hire, and employment occupation classification of each eligible employee (Sec. 5).

• Requires the successor employer to maintain a preferential hiring list of eligible employees from the list in the previous highlight, and to hire from that list for a period beginning upon the execution of the transfer document and continuing for 6 months after the enterprise is open to the public under the successor employer (Sec. 5).

Full Bill Text