Balancing Family Care and Your Job

Family CareWorried about your job and balancing family care? Can you be fired for calling in sick at the last minute because your child is ill? Let’s say you were just on your way out the door when your little one experienced a disturbing flu symptom.  You can’t drop your child off at daycare under those circumstances, so you have no choice but to stay home to tend to him or her yourself. Your employer is understandably not thrilled; but can you actually lose your job?

Caring for Sick Family Members

Many Americans have dual roles of both breadwinner and caregiver. Sometimes juggling these responsibilities gets tricky.

  • 69% of caregivers report having to rearrange their work schedules at times;
  • Female caregivers are almost three times more likely than their male counterparts to take less demanding jobs in order to provide care;
  • 34% of caregivers wind up leaving a job due to inflexible work schedules.
SB 579

Under California law, employers who employ at least 25 employees and who provide any sick leave to employees must allow employees to use at least one-half of their time to care for sick family members, including children, parents, spouses and domestic partners, as well as the in-laws of the same. Even grandparents and grandchildren qualify for care under SB 579.  Employees cannot be threatened with demotions, suspensions, or firing based on the use of this leave.

Beyond this protected sick leave, the law may provide limits on an employers’ ability to require doctors’ notes for absences. Such a requirement may appear to be discriminatory or a form of retaliation against employees who use Protected Sick Leave.

Furthermore, the use of Protected Sick Leave should not be counted against employees in performance evaluations or when making determinations as to excessive absenteeism.

Additional Family Care Protections

SB 579 expands protections for employees who wish to take time off for child-related activities for children in grades k-12 or who are being cared for with a licensed care provider. This means employees may take time off of work to find and enroll a child in school or licensed day-care.  Moreover, if a parent is called due to a child’s behavior or discipline issues, time off must be allowed.

Who Qualifies as a Family Care Parent?

Parents are defined as biological parents, legal guardians, foster parents, stepparents, grandparents, and in loco parentis (one who is standing in and acting in the parenting role). [Read more…]

Paid Sick Leave, Breaks and Employer Responsibility

Paid Sick LeaveEmployees of all stripes have certain rights with regard to breaks and paid sick leave. When employers fail to provide the required breaks and/or leave, a knowledgeable employment attorney can help ensure you enjoy the benefits required by law.

Breaks During the Work Day

California labor law requires employers to provide an employee a meal period or rest period. A 2012 California Supreme Court ruling provided specificity to that law, ruling that employers are required to “…relieve employees of all duty, relinquish control over their activities, and permit them a reasonable opportunity to take an uninterrupted 30-minute break.”

The case involved Brinker Restaurant Corporation, Brinker International, Inc, and Brinker International Payroll Company, L.P. The claim was that Brinker either failed to provide breaks, or required employees to take “early lunching” followed by six to eight hours of shift work with no breaks. It resulted in Brinker paying out a $10 million settlement to employees who claimed to have suffered between 1999 and 2001.

While the court did require a work-free break be provided, it did not require employers to ensure that no work occurred during the break. In other words, if employees chose to work during a break it was not the employer’s responsibility to clamp down on that work.

Breaks must, however, allow for employees to leave the premises. Otherwise, the law does not consider it a legitimate break. The law provides for one hour’s pay at an employee’s regular wage for every missed off-duty break.

On the other hand, a voluntary agreement may be signed for on-duty meal breaks, provided the breaks are paid and the type of the work being done fits with criteria set out by the law. An employee may revoke this agreement at any time.

Mandatory Paid Sick Leave

In 2014, lawmakers in California determined that many California workers had inadequate paid sick leave. Hence, legislation was enacted to provide workers with paid time off to deal with the health care needs of themselves and their families. The rationale was that when workers had paid time off when ill, they would recover more quickly and would be less likely to spread illness to fellow workers and/or the public.

As of 2014, California employers are required to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, with no less than 24 hours of sick leave per year. Sick days may be used after 90 days of employment. The responsibility for enforcement of this law lies with the California labor Commissioner, who must investigate potential violations and impose fines on behalf of employers whose rights have been violated. [Read more…]

Disclaimer

The information on this website should not be considered to be legal advice, nor construed to be the formation of any manner of attorney client relationship. Prior to taking any form of legal action, please consult with an attorney experienced in the appropriate area of law germane to your situation. Case results and testimonials presented on www.californialaborandemploymentlaw.net or any of its related websites are germane to the facts present for each individual case and is not a promise of similar outcomes for any other cases. This website is not intended to solicit clients for matters outside of the State of California.