BACKDROP
Small employers typically do not have the same level of in-house HR Management expertise as do their large corporate counterparts. Also, they do not usually have the financial resources to engage law firms specializing in employment law.
- As a result, many small employers in California may not be aware that they need to comply with California Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383), which became effective January 1st, 2021.
This “compliance blind spot” occurs because these small employers were not previously required to provide either:
- 1) Family care and medical leave under the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”)
- nor
- 2) “Baby bonding” leave under the State’s New Parent Leave Act (NPLA)
LOWERING THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES FOR AN EMPLOYER TO BE OBLIGATED TO COMPLY
SB 1383 repealed CFRA and NPLA and expanded the obligation to provide leave to small employers not covered before. The law requires employers with at least five employees to:
- 1) Provide up to 12 workweeks of unpaid job-protected leave during any 12-month period
- 2) Maintain and pay for the employee’s coverage under a group health plan for the duration of the leave at the level and under the conditions coverage would have been provided if the employee had continued in employment continuously for the duration of the leave.
ADDITIONAL COVERED FAMILY MEMBERS AND EXPANDED REASONS FOR LEAVE
SB 1383 also expands the covered family members and potential reasons for which an eligible employee may take leave. Under it, eligible employees may take leave to:
- 1) Bond with a new child of the employee
-
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- It requires an employer that employs both parents of a child to grant up to 12 weeks of leave to each employee. Under pre-existing law, the employer only had to grant both employees a combined total of 12 weeks of leave.
- OR
- 2) Care for themselves or a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner.
- Under the prior CFRA statute, leave for purposes of caring for a family member was available only if the family member was the employee’s child, a parent, spouse, or domestic partner.
COVERAGE DUE TO EMPLOYEE EXIGENCY
- 1) The law also requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave during any 12-month period due to a qualifying exigency related to the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of an employee’s spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent in the Armed Forces of the United States.
- 2) It does not permit an employer to refuse reinstatement of “key employees” as was previously allowed by the CFRA under qualifying circumstances.
Under SB 1383, employees will still need to meet eligibility requirements, including 12 months of service and 1,250 hours worked for the employer in the previous 12-month period, to qualify for family and medical leave.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TRINITY’S TEAM OF CONSULTANTS CAN HELP YOU WITH PEOPLE-RELATED MATTERS:
- Email Trinity at info@TrinityHR.net
- Visit our website at www.TrinityHR.net
- Call us at 856.905.1762 or Toll Free at 877.228.6810
You have HR questions…Trinity has answers!