CALIFORNIA FAMILY-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP ACT

Family-School Partnership Act is the law that grants employees leave for school-related activities in California.

CA has two types of school related leave: school disciplinary matters and non-disciplinary school involvement. Neither type of leave is required to be paid.

Employers may require reasonable notice for both leaves.

SCHOOL DISCIPLINARY MATTERS

Required for all CA employers.

All employers, regardless of employee count, are required to provide employees with leave for school disciplinary matters. The leave can be unpaid.

Employees who are parents or guardians of school-age children can take this leave to attend meetings or hearings related to disciplinary measures being considered or taken against the child. Employers can't discipline or discharge an employee for taking school disciplinary leave.

Cal. Lab. Code § 230.7

SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT

Check labor code for more updates.

Employers that have at least 25 employees in a single location must also offer leave for general school involvement. A full time employee may take up to 40 hours of leave per calendar year, or a proportionate number of hours for part time employees, for the following reasons:

To participate in school or daycare activities (up to 8 hours per month)
To find, enroll, or re-enroll a child in a school or daycare (up to 8 hours per month)
To address a child care provider or school emergency.

To be eligible for school involvement leave, an employee must be the child's parent, guardian, stepparent, foster parent, or grandparent, or stand in loco parentis to the child.

Employers can require the employee to use available paid leave (other than CA paid sick leave) for these absences. If the employee doesn't have paid leave available, the leave can be unpaid.

If parents of the same child are employed at the same worksite, only the first parent to provide notice for a particular absence is entitled to leave. An employer may choose to grant the second parent's request for leave.

A childcare or school emergency means a child cannot remain in school or with the child care provider because of one of the following reasons:

The school or childcare provider has unexpectedly requested that the child be picked up or has an attendance policy (excluding planned holidays) that prohibits the child from attending or requires the child to be picked up.
Behavioral or discipline problems.
Closure or unexpected unavailability of the school or childcare provider (excluding planned holidays).
A natural disaster including, but not limited to, fire, earthquake, or flood.

The employer may require the employee to provide documentation of their need for leave.

Cal. Lab. Code § 230.8

Frequently Asked Questions

What is "school activities leave"?

School activities leave is time granted to California parents who work so that they can take time off to participate in certain school-related activities with their children. Parents may:

participate in activities of the school or licensed child care provider of a child;
find, enroll, or re-enroll a child in a school or with a licensed child care provider; or
address a "child care provider or school emergency."

Am I allowed to take this kind of leave?

An employee is eligible to take school activities leave if:

he or she works for an employer who employs 25 employees or more in that location;
the parent has a child who attends kindergarten or grades 1 through 12 or is with a licensed childcare provider; and
the employee meets the definition of parent.

Other kinds of school or child care activities

Under the law, any activity that is sponsored, supervised, or approved by the school, school board, or child care facility is acceptable. Examples might be:

volunteering in your child's classroom
participating in parent-teacher conferences
back-to-school night
open house
field trips
extracurricular sporting events sponsored by the school
assisting in community service learning activities

Can my employer refuse my request for time off?

Employers with 25 or more employees at the same location must comply with the law for school-involvement matters. Employee count is not necessary for school disciplinary matters.

Who is included in the definition of a "parent?"

Under the law, a parent is not only the actual "Mom" or "Dad" of the child. The law includes the following as well:

parent
legal guardian
stepparent
foster parent
grandparent, or
person standing in loco parentis to the child.

What if both parents work for the same employer?

If both parents work for the same employer, only one parent is allowed to take leave at any given time. The parent who files for leave is given priority. It is the employer's discretion if both parents will be allowed to take leave.

Do I have to provide notice?

A parent is required to provide notice of the intent to take time off from work or unplanned absence. It is best to provide as much notice as possible and as soon as practicable.

Employers may ask for proof or documentation from the school or child care provider verifying that the employee utilized the time for child related-activities permitted under the law.

Am I entitled to pay during leave?

For purposes of leave, employees are required to use existing:

vacation days
personal days, or
other compensatory time (if available and applicable).

An employee is also allowed to utilize any time off without pay as provided by the employer.

Employers do not have a legal obligation to accommodate an employee's childcare or school schedule.

FORMS

Previous absences submitted using the old version of the time off request form, which may or may not have specifically included an option for this leave but were communicated, approved and taken for school-related activities, will be counted as part of this leave, when legally permissible and in accordance with company policies. Employees will be notified of any reclassification.

Submit your request by filling out the online TOR form.

Time Off Request Form (TOR)

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