GCEA Newsletter October
CITY EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATES
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
OCTOBER 2026
Taking Time Off Work to Care for Family Members
It is back to school time for those caring for children. The fall season typically brings lots of family activities, including starting a new school year, enrolling kids with a childcare provider, annual physicals, and attending school-related events like field trips and parent-teacher conferences. With so much happening, there can be a lot to juggle. The good news is that your MOU and the law may provide some flexibility if you need time off to care for or be with your family.
Vacation or Annual Leave (PTO):
Although there are no state or federal laws that require employers to provide paid vacation benefits, most public employees have the right to take paid time off (PTO) pursuant to their labor contract, or MOU. This may be called vacation time, annual leave, or PTO. Check your MOU to see what applies to you.
Regardless of what it is called, having banked time does not mean you have the right to use it whenever you want. You may be required to request to use it in advance, and management may exercise some discretion over granting or denying any specific request. Employers must balance managing operations with allowing employees to use a negotiated benefit. Depending on the work environment, there may even be a specific procedure to follow (e.g., seniority, a bidding system, or first-come-first served). At the very least, most policies require advance notice and prior approval to use vacation.
If your family needs are reasonably foreseeable, you might start by requesting PTO under your MOU. However, keep in mind that if you have a specific need for time off, you may want to consider whether using one of the other forms of leave as described below applies to your situation.
Compensatory Time:
If you are a non-exempt employee, then you generally qualify for overtime pay under
the federal Fair Labor Standards Act(FLSA). This means you may receive one and one-half times your regular rate of pay for each hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Your MOU may provide a benefit known as “comp time,” where you can bank any overtime pay as leave to be used later rather than paid out as overtime pay in the next paycheck.
If you have banked FLSA comp time, the employer cannot require that you use it on a designated date. The employee getsto choose when to use the time. In general, your employer has less discretion to deny your requested use of FLSA comp time. They must approve the leave unless doing so will unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.
If you are an exempt employee, you do not qualify for overtime pay under the FLSA and, unless your MOU provides otherwise, you cannot bank time for working outside your regular work shift. However, an MOU covering exempt employees may provide for administrative leave or management leave in recognition of the additional time exempt employees often put in for no additional compensation. Admin leave functions similarly to PTO. You typically must request and be approved in advance. With admin leave, management retains more discretion to grant or deny your leave request.
If your need for time off is reasonably foreseeable in advance, consider using your comp time or admin leave. Just keep in mind that, as with vacation or PTO, you might be better off using a more specific type of leave as set forth below, if it applies to your situation.
Child-Related Activities Leave:
Under California law (Labor Code §230.8), you are entitled to take up to 40 hours off
work each year to attend your child’s school activities. A parent can request leave to:
(1) Find, enroll, and re-enroll a child in school or with a licensed childcare provider,
(2) Address a childcare provider or school emergency, or
(3) Participate in school-sponsored or childcare-sponsored activities, such as a
field trip, graduation, or holiday party.
Stepparents, foster parents, grandparents, and legal guardians are also eligible for
this leave. To qualify, your employer must employ 25 or more people working at the
same location, and you must have a child enrolled in kindergarten through twelfth
grade (K-12).
You can only use up to 8 hours per month unless it is an emergency. An “emergency” is when your child cannot stay at school because the school says they need to be picked up, your child is having disciplinary or behavioral problems, or there is a school closure or natural disaster. Under the law, you may use your existing PTO or comp time or request unpaid leave. You must give reasonable notice to your employer of the planned absence before taking time off, or as soon as practicable in case of an emergency.
Sick Leave Under California’s Kin Care Law:
Most people know that you can use sick leave to take time off to recover from your own illness. But did you know that California law also allows employees to use sick leave to care for certain family members? Under California’s Kin Care law (Labor Code §233), you can use up to one half of your accrued annual sick leave to care for family members. Section 233(a) says employers shall permit an employee to use in any calendar year the employee’s accrued and available sick leave entitlement, in an amount not less than the sick leave that would be accrued during six months at the employee’s then current rate of entitlement, for the reasons specified in Section 246.5(a).
Section 246.5 is part of the Healthy Workplaces/Healthy Families Act of 2014, otherwise known as California’s Paid Sick Leave Law. Section 246.5(a) says, upon the oral or written request of an employee, an employer shall provide paid sick days for the diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition of, or preventive care for, an employee or an employee’s family member. Family member under Kin Care (Section 233(b)(2)) has the same meaning as the Paid Sick Leave law (Section 245.5). Family members include:
· A child, which means a biological, adopted, or foster child, stepchild, legal ward, or child whom the employee stands in loco parentis. This definition of a child is applicable regardless of age or dependency status.
· A biological, adoptive, or foster parent, stepparent, or legal guardian of an employee or the employee's spouse or registered domestic partner, or a person who stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child.
· A spouse.
· A registered domestic partner.
· A grandparent.
· A grandchild.
· A sibling.
· A designated person, which means a person identified by the employee at the time they request paid sick days. An employer may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period for paid sick days.
Kin Care (Section 233(a)) says the designation of sick leave taken for these reasons shall be made at the sole discretion of the employee. The employer can require advanced notice if an absence is foreseeable but cannot deny you the right to use sick leave for your family pursuant to Section 233 if you have accrued and available sick leave. Your right to use sick leave under Section 233 also extends to crime victim leave (see below).
Beyond Kin Care –
California’s Paid Sick Leave Law and FEHA:
California’s Paid Sick Leave law (Section 246.5(b)) specifically says that an employer shall not require as a condition of using paid sick days that you search for or find a replacement worker to cover the days during which you use paid sick days.
Judicial Proceedings. California’s Paid Sick Leave law (Section 246.5(a)(2)(c)) also allows employees to use sick leave for a purpose described in paragraph(a), sections 1 through 3, of Government Code Section 12945.8, which is part of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). This includes time off work:
· To serve as required by law on an inquest jury or trial jury;
· To appear in court to comply with a subpoena or other court order as a witness in any judicial proceeding; and
· To obtain or attempt to obtain any relief as a victim, which includes to help ensure the health, safety, or welfare of the victim or their child.
Crime Victims. California’s Paid Sick Leave law (Section 246.5(a)(2)(c)) also allows employees to use sick leave for a purpose described in paragraph (a) section 4 of FEHA (Gov’t Code Section 12945.8), which applies to victims of crimes of violence. If you are a victim or a family member of a victim, you may take time off from work to
attend judicial proceedings related to that crime, including, but not limited to:
· Any delinquency proceeding,
· A post arrest release decision,
· A plea hearing,
· A sentencing hearing,
· A postconviction release decision, or
· Any proceeding where a right of that person is an issue.
Victims of Violence. More broadly, FEHA (Section 12945.8) provides protection for victims of violence or family members of victims of violence, not just victims of crimes of violence. Your employer must employ 25 or more employees. Under FEHA (Section 12945.8(b)), you are entitled to time off work to seek relief for yourself or your family member. This may include:
· Judicial relief, such as restraining orders.
· Medical treatment, such as mental health services.
· To obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, program, rape crises center, or victim services organization as a result of a qualifying act of violence;
· To participate in safety planning or to take other actions to increase safety from future qualifying acts of violence;
· To relocate or engage in the process of securing a new residence due to the qualifying act of violence, including, but not limited to, securing temporary or permanent housing or enrolling children in a new school or childcare;
· To provide care to a family member who is recovering from injuries caused by a qualifying act of violence;
· To seek, obtain, or assist a family member to seek or obtain civil or criminal legal services in relation to the qualifying act of violence;
· To prepare for, participate in, or attend any civil, administrative, or criminal legal proceeding related to the qualifying act of violence;
· To seek, obtain, or provide childcare or care to a care-dependent adult if the childcare or care is necessary to ensure the safety of the child or dependent adult as a result of the qualifying act of violence.
An employer must reasonably accommodate an employee who is a victim or whose family member is a victim of a qualifying act of violence. This includes engaging in a timely, good faith, and interactive process with you to identify reasonable accommodations.
The FMLA and CFRA:
In addition to California’s Paid Sick Leave law and FEHA, you may be eligible for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). Under the FMLA, you may use a total of 12 weeks of leave during any 12-month period. You may already know you can use FMLA for your own serious health condition, but you can also take FMLA:
1. To care for a family member with a serious health condition.
2. For the birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care (baby-bonding). Leave must be taken within one year of the child’s birth, placement, or adoption.
3. To address a “qualifying exigency” involving your family member on covered
active military duty or call to covered active-duty status.
4. To care for an injured, covered service-member with a serious injury or illness (military caregiver leave) if you are the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of the covered service-member.
For military caregiver leave, you can take up to 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period. However, you are limited to a combined total of 26 work weeks of leave for any FMLA-qualifying reasons during the single 12-month period. Only up to 12 of the 26 weeks may be for an FMLA-qualifying reason other than military caregiver leave.
To qualify for FMLA, you must have been employed for at least 12 months, performed at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of leave, and be employed at a worksite where your employer employs at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius.
The FMLA defines family members as a child, parent, or spouse. A child includes a biological, adopted, foster, step, or legal ward child, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis (i.e., in the place of a parent, instead of a parent, or charged with a parent’s rights, duties, and responsibilities). A child is someone under 18 years of age, but it can be someone over 18 if that person is incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability at the time the FMLA leave is set to commence. Parents-in-law are not covered under the FMLA definition of parent. A spouse includes same sex couples who are legally married in California.
The California Family Rights Act of 1993 (CFRA) advances many of the same basic
protections as the FMLA, but there are some important distinctions between the two.
For example, under CFRA, an employee may take leave to care for a “designated person” who has a serious health condition. This means you are not limited to the narrower definition of family members under the FMLA. Also, under the FMLA, any period of incapacity due to pregnancy or for prenatal care is covered. CFRA does not include pregnancy or related medical conditions in the definition of “serious health condition.” Instead, expectant mothers can take Pregnancy Disability Leave under FEHA.
Under the FMLA, a serious health condition includes an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves the following:
1. Inpatient care; or
2. Continuing treatment by a health care provider.
Inpatient care includes an overnight stay in a hospital or medical care facility, including any period of incapacity (i.e., inability to work, attend school, or perform other regular daily activities due to the serious health condition, treatment involved, or recovery therefrom), or any subsequent treatment in connection with such inpatient care. Continuing treatment includes conditions that incapacitate an individual for more than three consecutive days and require ongoing medical treatment, either multiple appointments with a health care provider, or a single appointment and follow-up care. Chronic conditions that cause occasional incapacitated periods and require treatment at least twice a year are also considered “continuing treatment.” Many common mental health disorders – such as post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and substance use – usually qualify if the conditions above are met.
FMLA leave is unpaid. However, employers may allow or require you to use your own paid leave concurrently with any FMLA absence. This means you may be paid during some, or all, of your leave using your own leave accruals. Whether accrued paid leave is run concurrently is determined by the law, the employer’s leave policy, and the MOU. It may also depend on whether you are receiving paid benefits through the state disability insurance system, a short- or long-term disability plan, or workers’ compensation.
Leave may be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule in some situations.
Intermittent leave is separate blocks of time due to a single qualifying reason, rather than one continuous period. It may be periods from one hour or more up to several
weeks. You must make a reasonable effort to schedule intermittent leave so as not to disrupt the employer’s operations. A reduced leave schedule reduces your usual number of hours per workweek or workday, usually from full-time to part-time.
The ADA and FEHA:
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) does not require employers to reasonably accommodate an employee based on their child’s or other family member’s disability. However, since the ADA prohibits discrimination against an employee based on the employee being associated with someone (such as a child or other family member) who is disabled, an employer must extend the same leave benefits and modifications to the parent of the disabled child asit extends to all other employees. For example, if management allows other employees in the same type of job to work remotely, then the ADA requires the employer to offer the same consideration to someone who needs to work from home to care for a disabled child. However, the ADA does not require management to give you any rights based on your child’s or family member’s disability beyond what it provides for other similarly situated employees. Recent legal decisions under FEHA (a state law that provides similar protection as the ADA) suggest employers may have to reasonably accommodate employees who associate with someone with a disability, but more caselaw is needed before these decisions can safely be relied upon to require accommodation for an employee based on an association with a disabled person.
News Release - CPI Data!
The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, publishes monthly consumer price index figures that look back over a rolling 12-month period to measure
inflation.
3.4% - CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) Nationally (from August)
3.2% - CPI-U for the West Region (from August) 3.6% - CPI-U for the Los Angeles Area (from August)
3.4% - CPI-U for the San Francisco Bay Area (from August) 3.2% - CPI-U for the Riverside Area (from July)
2.7% - CPI-U for the San Diego Area (from July)
Questions & Answers about Your Job
Each month we receive dozens of questions about your rights on the job. The following are some GENERAL answers. If you have a specific problem, talk to your professional staff.
Question: How do we get a position moved into our unit? Is that something that can be done through reclassification? Is it possible to remove a position from our bargaining unit? Should enterprise funded positions be in a different unit?
Answer: Under the Myers-Milias-Brown Act (“MMBA”), agencies are authorized to create their own local rules governing recognition of employee organizations and determining the composition of bargaining units. Many agencies have their own rules, known as an Employer Employee Relations Resolution (“EERR”). Changing which employee organization represents a specific classification requires a formal petition to be filed with the employer. This generally requires showing a clear “community of interest,” i.e., similarity in the kind of work performed, types of qualifications, and general working conditions.
By contrast, reclassification is when an employee’s actual duties evolve beyond their existing job description. A reclassification would change the employee’s job classification. It typically does not result in a different bargaining unit placement, unless the classification the employee is reclassified into already belongs to a different bargaining unit. An employee organization can file a petition under the EERR to remove a classification, but it requires a formal process and justification. Employee organizations generally should attempt to represent as many positions as possible that share an identifiable community of interest. It is not usually in the employee organization’s interest to remove classifications that have already been assigned to their unit.
The employer might try to remove a position by calling it “confidential,” professional, supervisory, or managerial. The employee organization can and should oppose such efforts because they erode the bargaining unit over time. The employee organization might also consider how removal of a classification might affect any related benchmarked positions for purposes of future classification and compensation studies.
Regarding enterprise-funded positions, how a position is funded does not determine bargaining unit placement. The “community of interest” standard is governed by the nature of the work, skills, and common terms of employment, not the revenue stream funding the positions. Unless the funding source results in fundamentally different personnel rules or working conditions,
enterprise-funded positions can and should be placed within the same unit as similar general-funded positions.
Question: Is a change in reporting structure negotiable? Management recently mentioned to us that they want to implement a reorganization that would move various positions into different divisions and departments. It does not sound like our job duties will change, but we will be under a different division head and Director. We asked management for an organizational chart so we can better understand the implications of what is being proposed, but they said we do not have a current one. Do they have to create one for us? Does the employer have to negotiate over the change first?
Answer: The decision to reorganize operations or reporting structure is generally considered a management right and not a mandatory subject of bargaining. Under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (“MMBA”), mandatory subjects of bargaining include “wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.” (Gov’t Code §3500(a)). The “scope of representation” is defined as “all matters relating to employment conditions and employer-employee relations, including, but not limited to, wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.” (§3504).
An employer has the managerial right to determine its organizational structure, chain of command, and departmental alignment without bargaining the decision itself. However, management may have to give notice to any affected employee organization and negotiate over the reasonably foreseeable effects of any changes prior to implementation. During those negotiations, the employee organization may be able to raise concerns such as workload, promotional opportunities, performance evaluations, schedules, and any new policies and procedures that come with the new reporting structure.
Regarding the organizational chart, management does not have to create one if it does not exist. However, as part of negotiating over the impact of the reorg, management may have to provide the employee organization with requested information. This may include information commonly depicted in org charts, such as identifying which classifications will be used in each division or department, and which classifications have supervisory or managerial responsibility over the work, conduct performance reviews, and approve leave requests. The employee organization can submit a formal request for information with its request to negotiate the impacts of the reorg.
Question: My manager wants to move my work location to another job site. I work in an office. I currently have my own room. At the new site, there are shared spaces and cubicles. I am told I will not get my own office because there are not enough individual offices for everyone who is moving locations. Can I object? Is this something the employee organization can bargain over? What is a reasonable compromise?
Answer: Assigning and reassigning staff to various worksites and approving workspace reconfigurations are inherent management rights. Unless your MOU has an explicit clause guaranteeing a private office or a specific work site, these decisions are up to your employer. You may have individual grounds to question your assigned workspace. This may be the case if you have a demonstrated need for confidentiality (handling sensitive personnel or customer information). You may also be able to raise individual concerns through the interactive process if you need medical accommodation under the ADA.
The employee organization can bargain over any negotiable effects and get more information as to how these decisions were made. Are offices assigned based on seniority, job title, or operational need? Will there be advanced notice, increased commuting times, parking costs, noise mitigation, worksite safety concerns, and desk-sharing? If so, solutions may include private huddle rooms for confidential calls or quiet workstations for deep focus work, more remote work flexibility to mitigate shared workspaces, use of noise-cancelling headsets and storage lockers for personal belongings, standing desk configurations, and standards for how any private offices (or ones that become vacant) are assigned. This should be based on transparent, objective criteria such as seniority or operational necessity rather than arbitrary favoritism.
