Yahoo Extends Parental Leave Policy

Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer, who was caught in the crossfire earlier this year after axing Yahoo’s work from home policy, has expanded the company’s parental leave benefits.

Reuters reports that Yahoo’s expanded policy gives new mothers and fathers up to eight weeks of fully-paid leave, and if a woman gave birth to the baby, she’s entitled to an additional eight weeks of paid leave, for a total of 16 weeks paid leave. Moreover, new parents will receive up to $500 for expenses, like baby clothes.

Perks, such as extended leave benefits, are touted by Yahoo’s competitors, and Yahoo may be simply trying to keep up. Facebook, for example, reportedly offers four paid months of leave for both mothers and fathers and $4,000 “baby cash” to spend on a new baby per family.

Gail Cecchettini Whaley, CalChamber Employment Law Counsel/Content

Managing leaves of absence is confusing, especially because of California’s very unique leave laws. Join CalChamber’s employment law experts for a live seminar, Leaves of Absence: Making Sense of It All, on May 9, 2013, in Sacramento, to learn about some of the most common and more difficult-to-resolve questions related to leaves of absence, including:

• What benefits apply whether the leave is paid or unpaid?
• What are the eligibility requirements for various leaves?

Here’s a seminar sneak peek.

 

What Employers Should Know as Election Time Nears

The General Election is on November 6, 2012. Employees have certain rights to take time off to vote, and employers have posting obligations.

Time Off To Vote
If an employee does not have sufficient time outside of working hours to vote in a statewide election, the employee may, without loss of pay, take up to two (2) hours of working time to vote. The time off must be taken at the beginning or end of the regular working shift, whichever gives the employee the most free time for voting and the least time off from working.

You and the employee may mutually agree to a different part of the working shift when the time off can be taken. The employee must notify you at least two (2) working days in advance to arrange a voting time.

Posting Obligations
Employers must display a poster describing voting leave requirements at least 10 days before every statewide election. For a copy of the voting leave poster, and all required posters and notices, see the Required Posters for the Workplace page on HRCalifornia and visit the CalChamber store to purchase.

Sharing Information With Employees
Employers are within their rights to communicate with employees about issues, regulations, legislation or ballot measures that will have an impact on the workplace, jobs, the economy and the employees themselves.

But employers may not take certain actions: no paycheck stuffers; no coercion; no rewarding or punishing employees (or threatening to do so) for their political activities or beliefs.

For more guidelines on political communications to employees, see this brochure prepared by the CalChamber. Note the distinction between internal communications (to employees, stockholders and their families) and communications to external audiences (such as non-stockholder retirees, outside vendors, customers or passersby).

CalChamber Urges Members to Register to Vote for November Elections
The California Chamber of Commerce is urging its members to register to vote for the November 6 General Election before the October 22 deadline.

An online link to register is available this CalChamber site. Voter registration information is available at the Secretary of State website.

The last day to register to vote for the November 6 election is October 22, 2012. To register to vote, you must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age, a resident of California, not in prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony and have not been judged by a court to be mentally incompetent to register and vote.

See the CalChamber’s positions on November ballot measures.

Vacation Reminders

Paid vacation leave constitutes a form of wages. Because the right to accrue paid vacation vests as the employee renders services, employees “earn” a portion of their annual vacation accrual each day they work.

Companies should make certain that their vacation policies are clear. In California, employers may not implement “use it or lose it” vacation-time policies, but employers can place reasonable caps on vacation.

To learn more about paid and unpaid leaves of absences, join us Thursday, June 21, at 10 a.m. for our live webinar: Paid or Unpaid—Leaves of Absence for California Employees. We will cover paid time off (PTO), sick, vacation and holiday leaves, plus much more.

Gail Cecchettini Whaley, CalChamber Employment Law Editor/Staff Counsel

Time Off For Employees To Vote

California’s presidential primary election will happen on June 5, 2012. Your employees may be entitled to time off for voting.

If an employee does not have sufficient time outside of working hours to vote in a statewide election, the employee may, without loss of pay, take off up to two hours of working time to vote.

The time off must be taken at the beginning or end of the regular working shift, whichever allows the most free time for voting and the least time off from working, unless otherwise mutually agreed. The employee must notify you at least two working days in advance to arrange a voting time.

In addition, employees may serve as election officials on election day without being disciplined, but you are not required to pay them for these absences.

You are required to display a poster describing voting leave requirements 10 days before every statewide election.

For a copy of the voting leave poster, and all required posters and notices, see Required Posters for the Workplace on the CalChamber’s store site.

Proposed Rule Would Affect Family and Medical Leave Act

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a proposed rule that would implement amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The rule would affect the FMLA in two ways: expanding the leave entitlement for military caregivers and creating special eligibility provisions for airline flight crew employees. 

In 2008, two special military family leave entitlements were added to the FMLA:

• Military caregiver leave: Eligible employees who are the spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin of a service member (National Guard, Reserves or Regular Armed Forces) with a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty may take up to 26 workweeks of FMLA leave during a single 12-month period to care for their family member
• Qualifying exigency leave: Eligible employees whose spouse, child or parent is called up for active duty in the National Guard or Reserves may take up to 12 workweeks of FMLA leave for “qualifying exigencies” related to the call-up of their family member.

In 2009, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2010 and the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act into law. Both laws provide expanded leave entitlements.

The DOL’s proposed revisions are intended to implement and interpret these amendments, as well as make additional regulatory changes. The proposed language would make several significant changes to existing law: 

• Expanding military caregiver leave to family members of veterans for up to five years after leaving the military. At this time, the leave only covers family members of those service members who are “currently serving” and not veterans.
•  Expanding the definition of “serious injury or illness” for military caregiver leave to include pre-existing conditions that are aggravated in the line of duty.
• Expanding qualifying exigency leave to employees whose family members serve in the Regular Armed Forces. Currently, the law only covers family members of National Guard members and reservists.
• Adding a new statutory requirement that the military member must be deployed to a foreign country in order for eligible family members to take qualifying exigency leave.

The DOL’s proposed rule also seeks to implement earlier FMLA amendments relating to airline flight crews. The proposed revisions make the benefits of the FMLA more accessible to airline flight crew employees by adding special hours of service eligibility requirements and specific direction for calculating the amount of FMLA leave used. The revisions are intended to take into account the uniqueness of the hours worked by airline crews and the difficulty in tracking these hours.

For more information about the proposed revisions, the DOL created a website, which includes a Fact Sheet and a set of Frequently Asked Questions.

DOL is encouraging public comments. Once the rule is published in the federal register, interested parties may submit comments, identified by Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 1235-AA03, by electronic submission through the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov. Follow instructions for submitting comments.

Interested parties may also submit comments by mail. Address written submissions to Mary Ziegler, Director of the Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3510, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.

Gail Cecchettini Whaley, CalChamber Employment Law Editor/Staff Counsel