Question: August is here which means students are going back to school. As an employer, what are my legal obligations if an employee requests time off to go to their child’s school?
Answer: In California employers must allow unpaid time off to eligible employees for school related purposes as follows:
- School Suspension
An employee who is the parent or guardian of a child who has been suspended can take unpaid time off when the school requires the employee to attend a portion of a school day in the suspended child’s classroom. The employee must give their employer reasonable notice of the need to take time off for this purpose.
- School Related Activities
This second school related leave only applies to employers who have 25 or more employees at the same location. Eligible employees (parents, guardians, stepparents, foster parents, grandparents, or a person who stands in place of the child’s parent) can take up to 40 hours of unpaid leave each year to find or enroll a child in a school (K-12) or a licensed childcare provider, to participate in school (or childcare provider) related activities (time off for these purposes cannot exceed eight hours in a calendar month), or for any of the following reasons:
- Behavioral or discipline problems;
- Closure or unexpected unavailability of the school or childcare provider, excluding planned holidays;
- A natural disaster; or
- The school or childcare provider has requested the child be picked up, or has an attendance policy that prohibits the child from attending, or requires the child to be picked up.
The employee must provide the employer with reasonable notice before the planned absence. If time off is needed for any of the above-listed emergency situations, employees are required to give notice as soon as possible.
An employer may request the employee to provide documentation from the school or childcare provider as proof that the employee participated on a specific date and at a particular time in the permitted activity.
- Emergency Condition
A new law effective January 1, 2023 prevents employers from taking adverse action or threatening to take adverse action against an employee who leaves work or refuses to report to work during an “emergency condition,” which includes an order to evacuate the school of the employee’s child due to a natural disaster (excluding a health pandemic), or a criminal act. There are several categories of employees who are excluded from this new law, including first responders, disaster/emergency service workers, and health care workers providing direct patient care/emergency support services, among others.
When feasible, an employer is required to be notified by the employee of the emergency condition requiring their absence. If notice is not feasible, the employee is required to provide notice as soon as possible.
Employees cannot be discharged, demoted, suspended, or retaliated against for taking school related time off, or for being absent from work due to an “emergency condition” at the employee’s child’s school. Therefore, employers should make sure their Human Resources personnel, managers and supervisors are aware of the available school related leaves and ensure employees are adequately trained to recognize that an employee’s request for time off may be subject to the employee’s legal right to take the time off.