Human Resources Academy II for Community College Districts

4. D IFFERENTIAL P AY Education Code section 87780 permits academic employees to take up to five school months of leave due to illness or accident, and receive “differential pay” (i.e. the difference between the employee’s salary for any month in which the absence occurs and the sum that is actually paid a temporary employee employed to fill his or her position during the absence or, if no temporary employee was employed, the amount that would have been paid to the temporary employee had such been employed.) The community college district shall make every reasonable effort to secure the services of a temporary employee. 23 Further, districts must adopt a salary schedule for temporary employees which indicates a salary for temporary employees for all categories or classes of a district’s academic employees. 24 Where a district has failed to establish such a schedule, the Education Code mandates that the amount paid a temporary employee during any month must be less than the salary due the employee absent from his or her duties. 25 When a person employed in an academic position is absent because of illness for more than five school months, or when a person is absent for a cause other than illness, the amount deducted from the salary due the person for the month in which the absence occurs shall be determined according to the rules and regulations established by the district governing board. These rules and regulations must comply with the rules and regulations of the board of governors. 26 5. P ARENTAL L EAVE The Education Code allows for academic employees to use sick time for parental leave. Education Code section 87780.1 allows academic employees to use sick leave for purposes of parental leave (i.e., baby bonding) for a period of up to 12 workweeks each school year, “notwithstanding any other law.” “Parental leave,” for purposes of this Education Code section, means “leave for reason of the birth of a child of the employee, or the placement of a child with an employee in connection with the adoption or foster care of the child by the employee.” The 12-workweek period shall be reduced by any period of sick leave, including accumulated sick leave, taken during a period of parental leave. Also, academic employees shall not be provided more than one 12-week period for parental leave during any 12-month period. In addition, parental leave under this Education Code section runs concurrently with CFRA parental leave, and the aggregate amount of the leaves shall not exceed 12 workweeks in a 12-month period. Education Code section 87780.1 allows academic employees to use extended paid leaves, specifically, differential pay or half-pay leaves, upon the exhaustion of fully paid sick days when used for the purposes of parental leave. Education Code section 87780 applies whether or not the absence from duty is by reason of a leave of absence granted by the governing board of the employing district. 27

Human Resources Academy II for Community College Districts ©2019 (c) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 27