Employees: time off.

Existing law prohibits an employer who employs 25 or more employees working at the same location from discharging or in any way discriminating against an employee who is a parent, guardian, or grandparent having custody of a child in a licensed child day care facility or in kindergarten or grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for taking off up to 40 hours each year for the purpose of participating in school activities, subject to specified conditions including a limitation of 8 hours in any calendar month of the school year. Existing law requires an employee to utilize existing vacation, personal leave, or compensatory time off for purposes of the planned absence authorized by this provision and also authorizes an employee to utilize time off without pay for this purpose, to the extent made available by his or her employer. This bill would prohibit such an employer from discharging or discriminating against an employee taking time off, within those defined limitations, without loss of pay. The bill would prohibit an employee from being required to use existing vacation, personal leave, or compensatory time off for those purposes, unless otherwise provided by a collective bargaining agreement entered into before January 1, 2015, and in effect on that date, or from being required to use time off without pay for those purposes. The bill would prohibit the entitlement of any employee under those provisions from being diminished by any collective bargaining agreement term or condition that is agreed to on or after January 1, 2015.