Would make CA first in nation to expand job-protected baby bonding leave to caring adults other than the parent
SACRAMENTO – Building on Governor Gavin Newsom’s commitment to expand paid family leave, State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) legislation to strengthen California’s family leave laws and ensure that more employees who pay into the Paid Family Leave Program can use it without losing their jobs, passed the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee on a 4 to 1 vote today. The bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“No one should be forced to choose between caring for a newborn or a seriously ill loved one and keeping their jobs,” said Senator Jackson, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Women, Work and Families. “And yet, for years, due to inequities in our leave laws, too many Californians have not been able to access the Paid Family Leave benefits they pay for because of the size of their employer and other arbitrary and unnecessary barriers. Senate Bill 135 will fix inequities and inconsistencies in our family leave laws and bring California toward the promise of a 21st century Paid Family Leave Program.”
Senate Bill 135 will give newborns a greater chance to receive their strongest developmental start, while ensuring our leave laws reflect the reality of California’s multigenerational working families today.
It will simplify and strengthen the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), the California law which provides 12 weeks of job-protected leave for caregiving and serves as the job-protection foundation for California’s landmark Paid Family Leave Program, and ensure it applies to more employees and more caregiving situations while reducing unnecessary barriers.
Currently, 2.8 million Californians who pay into the Paid Family Leave Program could lose their jobs for taking time off to bond with a newborn, and 5.6 million Californians could lose their jobs for taking time off to care for a seriously ill family member because of the inadequacy of job protected leave laws.
The bill would:
- Ensure that employees who work for employers of five or more and have worked for an employer for at least six months are able to take 12 weeks of job-protected time off to bond with a newborn, care for a seriously ill family member or take time off for their own serious illness within a 12-month period. Current law limits job protected caregiving leave under CFRA to those who work for an employer of 50 or more and job protected baby bonding leave to an employer of 20 or more after a year and 1,250 hours of work.
- Expand the Paid Family Leave Program and job-protected baby bonding leave to allow for care by an adult other than a parent, such as a grandmother or aunt. This helps ensure that more infants are able to receive individual, nurturing care during their first six months, a goal articulated by Governor Gavin Newsom. It would make California the first in the nation to provide this flexibility. An estimated 35-40% of California infants are born to single parents.
- Expands the definition of family members for the purpose of caregiving to include a grandparent, grandchild, sibling, parent-in-law, child-in-law, or “designated person,” and make corresponding changes to the Paid Family Leave Program, to allow for diverse caregiving needs and multigenerational families. As California’s aging population grows, this flexibility recognizes the diverse web of support aging adults often rely on for caregiving, including the assistance of friends, roommates and neighbors.
- Expand the California Family Rights Act to allow job-protected time off to care for needs arising from the overseas military deployment of a spouse, domestic partner, parent or child.
Fifteen years ago, California enacted the nation’s first Paid Family Leave Program, an entirely employee funded program that provides six weeks of partial wage replacement to bond with a newborn or care for a seriously ill family member. However, there is no job protection directly associated with the Paid Family Leave Program. California’s separate job protection law, the California Family Rights Act, has never aligned perfectly with the Paid Family Leave program.
Family Leave saves businesses money. Turnover, recruitment and training costs for new employees cost roughly 20% of the original worker’s salary. Employees who can take protected leave to bond with their newborns are less likely to leave their jobs, which then reduces the burden to their employers. According to the Department of Labor, wage costs per worker and turnover rates went down on average after Paid Family Leave was introduced in California. In addition, small businesses have reported that Paid Family Leave has had either a “positive effect” or “no noticeable effect” on productivity (89%), profitability/performance (91%), turnover (92%), and morale (99%).
Jackson represents the 19th Senate District, which includes all of Santa Barbara County and western Ventura County.