Working Parents May Be Entitled To Leave For School Activities

With kids starting school soon, if not already, working parents may be faced with conflicts between school activities and work.  Some states have helped alleviate the conflict by passing short-term leave laws specifically related to school activities. 

State School Leave Laws Say…

The following is a brief summary of each state's law for private employers.  In most cases, leave may be unpaid, but employees may substitute accrued paid leave. 

California: All employers must allow their employees to take leave as needed for a school conference for a suspended child.  Employers with 25 or more employees at the same site must provide up to 40 hours per child a year (eight hours a month) for school activities.

Colorado: Employers with 50 or more employees must allow non-supervisory employees to take up to six hours a month (18 hours a school year) for school activities.

District of Columbia: All employers must provide up to 24 hours in 12 months for school activities.

Illinois: Employers with 50 or more employees must provide up to four hours a day (eight hours a year) for school activities to employees who have worked six months and whose weekly hours average half full-time hours.

Louisiana: All employers must provide up to 16 hours a year for school activities.

Massachusetts: Employers with 50 or more employees must provide up to 24 hours in 12 months for school activities to employees who have worked 12 months and 1,250 hours.

Minnesota: All employers must provide up to 16 hours for school activities.

Nevada: All employers are prohibited from firing employees for attending a school conference or emergency.  Employers with 50 or more employees must provide up to four hours per child, per school year, for school activities; leave must be taken in one-hour increments.

North Carolina: All employers must provide up to four hours in 12 months for school activities.

Rhode Island: Employers with 50 or more employees must provide up to 10 hours in 12 months for school activities to employees who have worked 12 months.

Vermont: Employers with 15 or more employees must provide up to four hours in a 30-day period (up to 24 hours in 12 months) for school activities to employees who have worked one year and 30 hours a week.

Federal Fair Labor Standards Act Says…

If you are not in a state with a school leave law, you can apply your company's standard time-off policies.  The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn't deal with short-term leave, except in these three general respects:

• Non-exempt employees need only be paid for the time they work.
  
  

• Exempt employees don't need to be paid if they take a full day off for personal reasons. 
  
  

• Exempts who work partial days must be paid their full salaries, but you may debit their leave banks for the time not worked.  If they have no more accrued time, and they can't borrow time from the next year's allotment, they must receive their full salaries. 

Don't forget to consider your state's wage and hour laws.

Tweet

Like what you've read? ...Republish it and share great business tips!

Attention: Readers, Publishers, Editors, Bloggers, Media, Webmasters and more...

We believe great content should be read and passed around. After all, knowledge IS power. And good business can become great with the right information at their fingertips. If you'd like to share any of the insightful articles on BusinessManagementDaily.com, you may republish or syndicate it without charge.

The only thing we ask is that you keep the article exactly as it was written and formatted. You also need to include an attribution statement and link to the article.

" This information is proudly provided by Business Management Daily.com: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/19645/working-parents-may-be-entitled-to-leave-for-school-activities "