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Making the Family and Medical Leave Act Work for All Californians

By Assemblymember Sandré Swanson

Family and medical leave laws are not meeting the everyday challenges that Californian’s are facing under our current system of health care. As Chair of the Assembly Labor Committee, I believe that the need to assist your family with personal or medical emergencies must be protected under California law and should never threaten your employment.

There is a two-way street that exists at the workplace – an employee agrees to be a hard worker and help the employer be more productive; and the employer agrees to provide the worker with a fair wage and benefits in an environment with dignity and respect. This is the social compact that should be supported between employee and employer.

However, under current law, California employers are not obligated to give families critical leave to support all of their family members during times of sickness.

For this reason, I am pleased to have the opportunity in the State Legislature to support three bills that expand protections for California’s working families.

My bill, AB 537, will directly impact the ability of family members to care for their loved ones. This bill will add seriously ill "grandparents," "grandchildren," "parents-in-law," "siblings," and “domestic partners” to the list of family members that an employee can take job-protected, unpaid leave to care for under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). It will also ensure that employees can take leave to care for their seriously ill independent, adult children.

While the original CFRA was well-intentioned, the language does not adequately reflect the reality of today's working families. The CFRA was enacted in 1991 and is the state law version of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act signed into law in 1993. Currently, the CFRA only authorizes employees to take leave to care for a "parent, spouse, or child" with a serious medical condition. In other words, employees may not take leave to attend to an ill sibling, grandchild, grandparent or parent-in-law. In addition, current law defines a "child" as either under age 18 or an adult dependent child. Therefore, an employee is prohibited from taking leave to attend to an adult child unless that child is officially a dependent of the parent.

At least 12 states have family leave laws that are more generous than the federal law, and five states use a more expansive definition of 'family member.’ I think most Californians would be shocked to discover that if, for example, they had a sister who was dying of cancer, the law would not protect their right to take leave to care for her. California should be at the forefront of ensuring that our family and medical leave laws accomplish the purpose for which they were intended.

I am also pleased to be supporting two of Senator Sheila Kuehl’s (D – Santa Monica) bills.

The first bill, SB 727, expands paid family leave to cover the same family ties as my bill, AB 537. SB 836 expands the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to prohibit discrimination against employees who care for their families by adding “familial status” to the list of prohibited bases for employment discrimination. SB 836 will especially protect mothers from being discriminated against at work. For example, research shows that mothers are often paid less and are less likely to be hired than non-mothers with the same qualifications. The bill also protects fathers and male employees who are often penalized at work when they seek to take an active role in caring for their children or other family members. In addition, SB 836 recognizes the diverse families and family care giving arrangements of California’s workforce. Studies show that families of color are most likely to be caring for elder relatives.

California's leave laws should reflect the reality of today's family dynamics. Sixteen percent of all California households include at least one person providing care to someone over the age of 50, and about half of these caregivers are in the workforce. California has the second highest percentage of multi-generational households in the country. Almost half of Californians are single, and their closest relative may be a sibling.

For many Californians, their closest relative or only relative may be a sibling, adult child, grandparent or other relative. The law must acknowledge the reality of those relationships and protect leave when families face medical emergencies.

Sandre Swanson was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2006 and represents the 16th Assembly District. The district includes the cities of Alameda, Oakland and Piedmont. He is the Chair of the Committee on Labor and Employment, and sits on the budget and other key committees of the Assembly.

Posted on July 19, 2007

Comments

I have had to take care of my brother who had a severe stroke and can not be left alone. I applied for the Paid Family Leave Benefits and now they are telling me that because my brother is a sibling I can not receive any money for the six weeks I have been taking care of him. Can you give me any information, I am going to file an appeal. I am a paralegal but this is an area I am not familiar with.

Please help me. Rose Montes

Posted by: Rose Montes at September 13, 2007 09:14 AM

Can you please direct me to some law that might help me with my appeal to the Disability Appeals board on their refusal not to pay me for Paid Family Leave Act. My brother is my family and he does not have a wife to take care of him. He suffered a severe stroke and was left disabled for a unknown extended time. I am his sister and his 3 children can not take care of him.

Posted by: Rose Montes at September 25, 2007 03:46 AM

My mother-in-law is seriously ill with cancer. When might this bill go into effect so that I can take FMLA to help my wife care for her? (The mother-in-law lives out of state and my wife and two girls are there taking care of her and needs my help).

Posted by: Jeff Adams at September 25, 2007 07:21 PM

hello rose.

we met at 400 mcallister
over the weekend. i fouind the realty agent who sole my families property illegally & even took a pictuer with kamal harris. sad partt mia ah to tell her i would have to serve her. her assistant live next door and help the criminals disrespect my family,police & courts

Posted by: malinka moye at October 9, 2007 09:33 AM

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