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.