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School Appearance and School Activities Leaves

School Appearance Leave: Sometimes, an employee may need to appear at his/her child’s or ward’s school in connection with disciplinary action by the school. The Education Code requires that parents or guardians attend class with the student when the student is suspended. All employers, regardless of size, are prohibited from discriminating against an employee who takes time off to appear at his/her child’s or ward’s school in connection with a suspension from a class or school. The time off can be paid or unpaid.

Documentation of School Appearance Leave: The parent or guardian should receive a written notice from the school stating that they must attend a class. You can require a copy of the notice or some other certification from the school stating that the employee’s presence is required.

School Activities Leave: Employers with 25 or more employees working at the same location must permit employees to take time off to participate in school activities with their child. Employees who are the parents, guardians or custodial grandparents of children in kindergarten through grade 12, or of children in a licensed child day care facility, often want to take time off to participate in school activities. However, the employee must follow these guidelines:

• The time must not exceed 40 hours per year, nor 8 hours in a calendar month.
  
• The employee must give reasonable prior notice of the planned absence.
  
• The employee must provide documentation of his/her participation, if you require it.
  

If you employ both parents at the same worksite, you can limit the absence to the parent who first gave notice. You need not grant the other parent employee a planned absence for a school activity. You can require that the other employee receives your approval for the time off. You can require the employee to first use existing vacation, PTO or other personal leave. The employee may also use time off without pay for this purpose, to the extent made available by the employer.

Documentation of School Activities Leave: You can require employees to provide documentation of their participation in school activities. Acceptable documentation includes any written verification of participation that the school or day care facility deems appropriate and reasonable.