School Activities Time Off

Purpose

California Labor Code Section 230.8 entitles covered County employees to time off to participate in school or licensed child day care facility activities. A licensed child care provider is defined as a licensed facility or provider that provides non-medical care and supervision to children under 18 years of age, on less than a 24 hour basis. Child day care facilities include day care centers, employer-sponsored child care centers and family day care homes.

Covered activities include:

• Time off to find, enroll, or reenroll a child in a school or licensed child care provider.
• Time off to participate in activities of the school or licensed child care provider, if the employee, prior to taking time off, gives reasonable notice to the employer of the planned absence of the employee.
• Time off to address child care provider or school emergencies.

Policy

Eligibility

Any County employee who is a parent, step-parent, foster parent, guardian, or grandparent of, or a person who stands in loco parentis to, one or more children in kindergarten or grades 1-12 or attending a licensed day care facility is eligible.​​

Entitlement

A covered employee has the right to take time off, up to 40 hours per calendar year (but no more than 8 hours per calendar month, unless in the event of an emergency), to participate in activities of the school or licensed day care facility of any of the employee's children.

Use of Balances

An employee must use all vacation, compensatory time off (CTO) and holiday-in-lieu (HIL) balances before unpaid leave is authorized. Sick leave accruals may not be used.

Request Procedure

An employee must give reasonable notice before taking the time off, in accordance with department procedures, except in the event of an emergency. The County may require written verification from the school or licensed day care facility (in such form as the school or facility deems appropriate) of the employee's participation in activities on the specific date and time.

Important

If both parents are employed by the County at the same work site, only one is entitled to take time off at any one time to attend a particular activity for that child. The parent who first gives notice of the need for time off is entitled to take it; leave for the other parent is subject to approval by the appointing authority.