You Heard it Right: There is a New California Leave Requirement

You Heard it Right: There is a New California Leave Requirement

You did read that correctly.this is an employer paid leave of absence. The provisions of the Donation Protection Act were added to the California Labor Code (California Labor Code 1508, et seq.) and requires employers with 15 or more employees to grant as much as 30 days paid leave within a one year period for employee organ donors and 5 days paid leave within a one-year period for employees who donate bone marrow.

Employers may require employees to use up to 2 weeks only accrued paid leave (including vacation time) for organ donations and up to 5 days accrued paid leave only for bone marrow donation. However, if an employer does not offer any paid time off and/or the employee has no accrued time available at the time of the donation, the employer is required to pay the employee for the time they are out of work for an organ or bone marrow donation. An employer may require the employee to provide written verification that the employee is an organ donor or bone marrow donor and there is a medical necessity for the donation of the organ or bone marrow. Employers are prohibited from interfering with an employee availing themselves of this leave, nor can an employer retaliate against an employee for taking a leave of absence to be a donor. The Donor Protection Act provides employees with the right to sue to enforce the rights provided by this new leave act.

In addition, this leave provides for reinstatement rights for the employee and an employer cannot count the time taken off, to be a donor, as a break in service when it comes to an employee's seniority and related items such as salary consideration, paid time off accruals, etc. Upon return to work at the conclusion of a donor leave, employees must be restored to the same or an equivalent position. The employer must also maintain the employee's health care benefits in the same fashion prior to the leave of absence. One final item is the time taken off under the Donor Protection Act cannot be counted as FMLA/CFRA leave.

The Donor Protection Act is only the second paid leave enacted by the State of California. The California Elections Code Section 14001, et seq. requires California employers to provide up to two hours of paid time off to employees who do not have sufficient time outside working hours to vote. It is important to note that the city or county you do business in may have some additional leave requirements such as the San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (Chapter 12W of the San Francisco Administrative Code) which requires that all employers accrue one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked for all employees beginning 90 days after hire.

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