The SB1383, Family Leave Act

As of January 1, 2021, Californians who work for companies with as few as five employees have added protections for keeping their jobs should they need time off to care for a sick family member or even themselves. Up to this time, family leave policies only covered companies that have 50 or more employees, which left a lot of citizens in jeopardy of losing their jobs if they had to take off to care for someone who was sick. Because of COVID-19, more people have been taking advantage of federal and state family leave policies already on the books, but the state recognized that this wasn’t enough for a lot of workers.

The SB1383, family leave policy does a few things that the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) do and ensures that workers’ jobs will be protected if they need to take up to 12 unpaid weeks of leave to take care of a sick family member or even to bond with a newborn. Before this law went into effect, a full 40% of the workers in California, or a total of around seven million people, would’ve found their jobs in jeopardy if they had taken off to care for someone who was ill.

Because of COVID, it has become even more important to guarantee workers’ jobs when they choose to take off for a while because of a family leave need. In addition to making the coverage accessible to more workers by lowering the number of employees a business has to have before the policy is required, SB1383 also expands the definition of who workers can take off to care for. In the past, family leave policies covered only very-near relatives such as spouses and children, but thanks to SB 1383, a worker can now take off to care for a grandparent, parent-in-law, grandchild, sibling, or even a domestic partner without fearing the loss of their jobs.

Policies Can Run Concurrently

The SB1383, family leave policy does not cancel out either the CFRA or the FMLA, but instead can work alongside these two laws so that workers’ rights to return to their job are fully protected. Conceivably, workers could utilize one of the older laws to take care of a sick child, then utilize the SB 1383 law to take care of themselves if they get COVID. That being said, since most workers are unable to take a full 12 weeks off at a time and not get paid for them, the law is very unlikely to be overused or cause too many disruptions in the workplace.

What it does do, however, is protect the growing number of people who find themselves the sole breadwinner of the home because of COVID, with no way to have their jobs protected should they decide to take some time off. The state of California recognized that thanks to COVID-19, the rules have now changed and even more working families have the need to take time off to care for someone they love. SB 1383 is an attempt to take care of those families so that they can take the time off they need without having to worry about what will happen to their jobs when they’re gone.

The SB 1383, family leave policy is indeed a huge win for working families, especially workers who are in the low-income level and people of color. These people pay into the family leave program with every paycheck, just as everyone does, yet most of them are unable to take advantage of the law because they work for smaller companies. The new law does a great job of making it much more possible for these workers to take off the time they need without fearing that their jobs won’t be there for them once they return.

Not Just SB 1383

In addition to SB 1383, two more policies also went into effect on January 1. The first one is AB 1867, which protects workers who don’t qualify under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act and who have to take leave because they are quarantined or have been exposed to COVID. The second is AB 3216, which ensures that workers in very hard-hit industries are able to return to their jobs if their companies do in fact open after the COVID pandemic is over.

The SB 1383, family leave policy and both AB 1867 and AB 3216 are important not just because they protect workers’ jobs while they’re at home taking care of their family, but also because they help keep all workplaces, as well as all employees, much safer during the pandemic. This is crucial because it helps the state create a much safer work environment for everyone, and if you need to know more about this all-important policy, contact us for the details you need.

Employment Laws Family Leave SB1383

The SB1383: Family Leave Act affecting Employers with 5+ Employees