Committee forwards Civil Service rule changes to match state sick-leave law

Committee members voted to forward amendments to the Civil Service Commission Rule Series 20 to the full Board as a committee report for the Board's July 14, 2015 meeting. The changes are intended to align city personnel rules with the California Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014.

Sandra Ng of the Civil Service Commission and Janie White of the Department of Human Resources outlined the amendments, saying the revisions will harmonize city rules with state law and ease administrative burden. Janie White summarized the core changes: advancing access to sick leave from six months of employment to the 90th day, establishing an accrual rate of 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked for employees who previously did not accrue at the regular city rate (such as casual and seasonal labor), expanding covered reasons to include victims of domestic violence, assault and stalking, and broadening family definitions to cover children of any age, grandparents and grandchildren.

"By aligning the city's rules with the state law, the city will streamline its leave management processes and reduce the burden of complying with multiple rule schemes," Janie White said. Presenters cited past local studies showing little increase in sick-leave usage after prior local paid-sick-leave rules and said the amendments extend benefits to more city employees while reducing administrative complexity.

After brief discussion and a short public-comment period (one garbled commenter), the committee moved and approved forwarding the rule amendments to the full Board as a committee report.

Next steps: The amendments will appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda for the July 14, 2015 meeting for full consideration.