Salary Resolution No. 95-0926 Revised August 2023 Section 24: Miscellaneous Leaves of Absence

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What’s on this Page

• 24.1 Leaves of Absence without Pay Usage Reference Table
• 24.2 Compassionate Leave
• 24.3 Family Care and Medical Leave Under FMLA and CFRA (Amended 3/19/13, 3/15/16) 
• 24.4 Time Off for Donating Blood / Plasma (Amended 6/12/19)
• 24.5 Paid Parental Leave

Read Next: Section 25: Court Leave

Employees in regular, allocated positions will be required to use paid leaves before a Leave of Absence Without Pay (LWOP) as shown in the following table:  

*In the event an employee is eligible to receive Paid Family Leave to care for the serious health condition of a family member or to bond with a new child they will not be required to use sick, vacation or CTO time, while receiving the benefit.

**Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) / California Family Rights Act (CFRA)

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Any Unrepresented Administrative Management, Unrepresented Confidential, or other Unrepresented full‑time or employee may be granted up thirty-two (32) hours of leave with pay, in the event of death of spouse, registered domestic partner, child, step-child, child-in-law, sibling, sibling-in-law, grandparent, great-grandparent, grandchild or person with whom the employee has a relationship in loco parentis, and the parent of the employee or the spouse of the employee. Up to an additional eight (8) hours of sick leave may be granted to supplement compassionate leave. Where travel in excess of 300 miles one way from the employee’s residence is required up to an additional one (1) of the employee’s regular work days of sick leave may be used to supplement compassionate leave.  Up to an additional forty (40) hours of accrued vacation leave or accrued comp time off may be granted to supplement compassionate leave upon request.

Any part-time Unrepresented Administrative Management, Unrepresented Confidential, or other Unrepresented employee shall be eligible for a pro-rated compassionate leave.  Ongoing work schedule for purposes of this Section shall mean an average of the two (2) pay periods immediately preceding the need for compassionate leave or the employee’s normal bi-weekly allocation of hours, whichever is greater.

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24.3.1 

Each eligible employee is entitled to family care and medical leave as provided by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), as amended.  The leaves under FMLA and CFRA will run concurrently to the extent permitted by law.

24.3.2  Eligibility

To be eligible for family care and medical leave, on the date on which leave is to begin, a full-time or part-time employee must have been employed by the County for at least twelve (12) months, which need not be consecutive, and have actually worked at least 1,250 hours of service during the twelve (12) month period immediately preceding the commencement of the leave.

24.3.3 Family Care and Medical Leave Entitlement

Subject to the provisions of this Salary Resolution, County policy, and state and federal law, including the federal FMLA and the CFRA, an eligible employee is entitled to a total of twelve (12) workweeks of unpaid leave during any twelve (12) month period for any one, or more, of the following reasons:

24.3.3.1 

The birth of a child and to care for the newborn child (FMLA and CFRA);

24.3.3.2 

The placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and care for  the newly placed child (FMLA and CFRA);

24.3.3.3 

To care for the employee’s child, parent, spouse, or registered domestic partner (CFRA only) who has a serious health condition. (Child is defined as biological, adopted, or foster child, stepchild, legal ward, or child of a person standing in place of parent who is under 18 years of age or an adult dependent child.  Parent is defined as biological, foster or adoptive parent, stepparent, or legal guardian.  Parent does not include a parent-in-law under this provision.)

24.3.3.4  

Because of an employee’s own serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the employee’s position, except for disability on account of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, which is covered by pregnancy disability leave.  (Pregnancy disability counts toward only California Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) and FMLA leave.)

24.3.3.5 

Because of any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, child, or parent is a U.S. National Guard or Reserve member on active duty (or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty status) in support of a contingency operation (FMLA only).

The twelve (12) month period for FMLA/CFRA purposes is determined by a “rolling” twelve (12) month period measured backwards from the date an employee first uses FMLA/CFRA leave.

24.3.4 Family Care and Medical Leave to Care for a Covered Service Member With a Service Injury or Illness 

Subject to the provisions of this Salary Resolution, County policy, and state and federal law, including the FMLA, an eligible employee may take FMLA leave to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if the employee is the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of the service member. (This 12 month period used under FMLA/CFRA to determine leave eligibility is separate from the “annual period” defined in 23.1.4.)

24.3.4.1 

An eligible employee’s entitlement under Section 24.3.4 is limited to a total of twenty-six (26) workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness.  The “single 12-month period” in which the 26-weeks-of-leave-entitlement described in this begins on the first day an employee takes leave to care for the covered service member.

24.3.4.2

During the “single 12-month period” described above, an eligible employee’s FMLA leave entitlement is limited to a combined total of twenty-six (26) workweeks of FMLA leave for any qualifying reason.

24.3.5 Family Care and Medical Leave - Pay Status and Benefits

24.3.5.1

Except as provided in this Section, the family care and medical leave will be unpaid.  The County will, however, continue to provide County contributions toward the health plan premium during the period of family care and medical leave for up to twelve (12) work weeks for represented employees and up to fifteen (15) work weeks for Administrative Management, Confidential, and Unrepresented employees on the same basis as coverage would have been provided had the employee not taken family care and medical leave. The employee will be required to continue to pay the employee’s share of premiums payments, if any.

24.3.5.2 

Nothing in this Section shall preclude the use of medical or pregnancy disability leave in Section 14.7 (Medical/Pregnancy Disability Leave) when the employee is medically incapacitated or disabled.  If an employee does not qualify for continued benefits under this Section 24.3 or Section 14.7 (Medical/Pregnancy Disability Leave) and the employee wishes to continue benefit coverage, then Section 14.7.2 (Continuation of Health Benefits Coverage) applies.

24.3.6 Relationship of Family Care and Medical Leave to Other Leaves

Any leave of absence that as family care and medical leave will be counted as running concurrently with any other paid or unpaid leave to which the employee may be entitled for the same qualifying reason. Section 24 identifies accrued paid leave which an employee may be required to use concurrently with unpaid family care and medical leave.

24.3.7 Family Care and Medical Leave - Relationship to Pregnancy Disability Leave

The family care and medical leave provided under this section is in addition to any leave taken on account of disability due to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions for which an employee may be qualified under state law.

24.3.8 Family Care and Medical Leave - Notice to the County

24.3.8.1

The employee must provide written notice to the County as far in advance of the leave as possible and as soon as the employee reasonably knows of the need for the leave.  If the need for the leave is foreseeable based on an expected birth, placement of a child for adoption or foster care or planned medical treatment, the notice must be provided at least 30 calendar days in advance of the leave, or if not reasonably known 30 calendar days before the leave, then as soon as reasonably practicable.

24.3.8.2

The written notice must inform the County of the reasons for the leave, the anticipated duration of the leave and the anticipated start of the leave.

24.3.8.3

The employee shall consult with the County and make a reasonable effort to schedule any planned medical treatment or supervision so as to minimize disruption to department operations.

24.3.9 Family Care and Medical Leave - Medical Certification

24.3.9.1

An employee’s request for family care and medical leave to care for a child, a spouse, or a parent who has a serious health condition shall be supported by a certification issued by the health care provider of the individual requiring care. If additional leave is required after the expiration of the time originally estimated by the health care provider, the employee shall provide the County with re-certification by the health care provider.

24.3.9.2 

An employee’s request for family care and medical leave because of employee’s own serious health condition shall be supported by a certification issued by the employee’s health care provider.

24.3.9.3 

As a condition of an employee’s return from leave taken because of the employee’s own serious health condition, the employee is required to obtain certification from the employee’s care provider that the employee is able to resume work.

24.3.9.4 

Employees are required to use the medical certification forms available from the County Human Resources Department to meet the certification and re-certification requirements of this section.

24.3.10 Family Care and Medical Leave - County’s Response to Leave Request

It is the County’s responsibility to designate leave, paid or unpaid, as family and medical leave-qualifying and to notify the employee of the designation.

24.3.11 Family Care and Medical Leave - Employee’s Status on Returning From Leave

Except as provided by law, on return from family care and medical leave, an employee is entitled to be returned to the same or equivalent position the employee held when leave commenced, or to an equivalent position with equivalent benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment.  An employee has no right to return to the same position. Use of family care and medical leave will not result in the loss of any employment benefit that accrued prior to the start of an eligible employee’s FMLA/CFRA leave.

24.3.12 Family Care and Medical Leave - Procedures, Definitions, and Forms

A description of the required process and procedures to follow for intermittent leave and reduced leave schedules, forms to use when requesting family care and medical leave, and applicable definitions are included in the County Medical Leave Policy and found on the County Human Resources Department website, and are available from the Human Resources Department.

24.3.13  Family and Medical Leave – Legal Minimum 

This Section 24.3 shall be interpreted as the legal minimum family care and medical leave available to eligible employees. The County may grant additional leave without pay under this Section (24.3) provided it is consistent with the applicable provisions of the Sonoma County Civil Service Rules, County leave policies, Section 24, and other provisions of this memorandum.

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If an employee does not have sufficient time outside of working hours to donate blood or plasma, subject to department operational needs, the employee may, without loss of pay, take off up to two (2) hours of work time 4 times a year for the purpose of donating blood or plasma. The employee shall give the employer at least five (5) working days’ notice that time off for donating blood or plasma is desired. Employees will not accept payment for blood or plasma donation while on work time.

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24.5.1 Eligibility

Effective 10/1/18, any permanent or probationary employee who has been continuously employed by the County for at least 12 months prior to the start of the leave shall be eligible for Paid Parental Leave (PPL) to use within 12 months of the following events:

• Birth of a child of the employee, the employee’s spouse, or the employee’s registered domestic partner
• Placement of a child with the employee’s family for adoption or foster care

For the purposes of PPL, the definition of “parent” and “child” are as defined by the California Family Rights Act.

24.5.2 Benefit and Use

Eligible employees shall be granted 320 PPL hours to use within 12 months of the qualifying event. Part-time employees shall be eligible for a pro-rated number of PPL hours, based on allocated FTE.

PPL is based on a 12 month rolling calendar. No more than 320 PPL hours may be used in any 12 month period.

PPL is based on the employee’s base hourly wage plus cash allowance. It is considered “paid status” for the purpose of merit, seniority, premiums, vacation and sick leave accrual, and County benefit eligibility and contributions.

PPL pay is pensionable and counts towards retirement service credit.

PPL may be used in a block of continuous time or as intermittent leaves as arranged in advance. Unless approved by the Director of Human Resources, PPL cannot be used retroactively. 

Use of PPL shall not be cause for an employee to lose their current assignment on a permanent basis; however, assignments may be altered to accommodate the employee’s or department’s operational needs when working a reduced work schedule.

An employee in a disability period following birth of child must use sick leave down to 40 hours before using PPL.

24.5.3 Coordination of Benefits & Leaves

PPL can be fully integrated with any short-term disability or California Paid Family Leave program. STD and PFL will not reduce PPL leave entitlement. For time covered by FMLA/CFRA job protected leave for bonding, PPL must be used prior to other accrued leave or Leave Without Pay. If an employee has exhausted FMLA/CFRA entitlements, PPL must be used prior to Leave Without Pay for arranged leaves for the purpose of bonding. PPL does not need to be used when an employee is on leave for reasons other than bonding.

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