CA bill would require employers to give three paid days off to parents with schoolchildren

Victor Skinner, eagnews.org

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Democratic California Assemblyman Mike Gatto thinks employers should give workers three days of paid time off to participate in activities at their child’s school.

Employees in California are already protected from termination for taking up to five days off each year for “school activities leave,” but legislation recently introduced by Gatto would require employers to pay workers for three of those days, Capital Public Radio reports.

“For a long time, everybody fought the notion that you should get paid to stay home when you have a cold,” Gatto told the news site. “So a lot of people came to work when they probably shouldn’t have, and you had a lot of very, very unhappy workers out there who probably weren’t that productive. We think this is in that category – it’s that important.”

Gatto said he expects opposition to his bill from groups that opposed a mandatory paid sick leave law approved by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014.

That opposition centered on concerns about the ability of some businesses to cover the added expense, which would continue to grow under Gatto’s bill, introduced last week, though the legislation would exempt businesses from complying if they employ fewer than 25 people, Fox 5 reports.

Assembly Bill 2405, which is currently in committee, is designed to help parents that typically cannot afford to take days off of work to help out at school, or for school-related emergencies. Gatto framed the issue as one of economic equality.

“Being involved in your child’s education shouldn’t be limited to your family’s income, and it shouldn’t come down to a choice between meeting with a teacher or volunteering in the classroom, versus paying the bills,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to be a cast member of the ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ to be involved in your child’s education.”

“We must stop passively bemoaning the state of our schools, and do something to engage families in the educational process and the school community. AB 2405 will allow parents to play an active role in their children’s success, without worrying about putting food on the table,” Gatto said.

At least one Los Angeles parent told ABC 7 they think the legislation is a good idea.

“You know, it was always family first, religion but now because of the hard time of the economy, we got to focus more on work and paying the bills,” father Darryl Morgan said.

The Christian Science Monitor highlights Department of Labor statistics that show “fewer than two thirds of private sector workers have paid sick leave; among the lowest-paid quartile, that drops to less than one third.

“Only 5 percent of workers in the lowest-paid 25 percent of US employees have paid family leave, while more than four times as many workers in the highest-paid 25 percent do.”

The news site also pointed to a 2006 study by Harvard University that shows the significant benefits of family involvement on students’ educational outcomes, particularly for minority and low-income students.