Maternity Leave Benefits Are Far From a Birthright

Q: My daughter works for a local school district and has been told that no medical-maternity leave benefits are provided. The state has confirmed that the district does not pay into the insurance program. But aren’t they required by law to offer an alternative program? My daughter has been told they will hold her position for a certain amount of time, but that she can’t receive any kind of payment when the doctor says she has to stop working.

--F.Y., Mission Viejo

A: I am not aware of any law that requires an employer, even a public employer, to offer medical insurance benefits to its employees. All that the law requires is that if an employer offers medical or disability insurance benefits to its employees, those benefits must provide coverage for employees disabled due to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.

Therefore, if your daughter’s employer has no medical or disability benefits of any kind, it is lawful for them not to provide such benefits for disability related to pregnancy. If the employer does have insurance benefits, however, they must be extended to your daughter when she is disabled due to pregnancy.

In any event, your daughter must be provided up to four months’ leave of absence for disability due to pregnancy, during which she is guaranteed reinstatement to her former position when she is able to return to work.

--Michael A. Hood, Employment law attorney, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker

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Q: My question concerns driving on the job and being paid 29 cents a mile. Should insurance costs be covered by the employee or the employer?

A: Employers are required by law to reimburse employees for expenses such as the cost of driving. If 29 cents a mile covers the actual cost to you for mileage, maintenance and insurance, then the employer has fulfilled its obligations to you. It is your burden to show to the employer that your total cost of driving, including insurance, exceeds the per-mile charge that the employer has allocated to it.

As a practical matter, if you are asking for more reimbursement than the company has allocated for its employees, you may get your past costs paid but harm future employment. If you are driving, for example, a Rolls-Royce as a pizza delivery car and your employer does not want to pay future estimated high insurance costs, you can be terminated.

--Don D. Sessions, Employee rights attorney, Mission Viejo

Employer Time Clock Tricks Are Against Law

Q: Is it legal for an employer to have workers clock out but remain on the job and then pay those hours as straight time on a day when the employee doesn’t work, such as a Saturday?

--D.C., San Juan Capistrano

A: No. This is illegal, assuming the employees involved are not exempt from the overtime laws. Under California law, employees typically must be paid for all hours worked more than eight in one day. An employer cannot avoid this law by shifting time around to avoid paying the overtime premium.

--James J. McDonald Jr., Attorney, Fisher & Phillips, Labor law instructor, UC Irvine

Smoking Permitted at Some Work Sites

Q: I am a union trade show decorator and work at convention centers. I work under bad conditions, with people smoking continually all around me. Is there anything that can be done about this. Who can I contact?

--D.W., Anaheim

A: A statewide smoking prohibition law took effect Jan. 1, 1995. Employers (with some exceptions) cannot allow smoking in “enclosed places of employment.”

However, smoking may be allowed at several sites that are not considered “places of employment” under the new law. Smoking may be permitted, for example, in meeting and banquet rooms being used for exhibit purposes in hotels and public convention centers, unless food or beverages are being served.

Violations of smoking regulations are subject to provisions of the California Penal Code. Local law enforcement and/or health agencies are responsible for enforcing the law.

I encourage you to communicate your concerns to your employer. Before involving any state or federal agencies, give your employer an opportunity to investigate and resolve the issue.

--Elizabeth Winfree-Lydon, Senior staff consultant, The Employers Group

Valued Worker Bends the Rules on Flextime

Q: I have a valued employee who does not adhere to flextime hours. She makes a habit of sneaking in the back door approximately 10 to 15 minutes late. This employee has been alerted to this problem before, but the problem has returned. What is the best approach for admonishing the employee and helping her to change this behavior permanently?

--R.M., Costa Mesa

A: Most flextime programs require employees to record the starting and ending times of their workdays. This allows flextime programs to virtually eliminate employee tardiness. It sounds as if your program does not do this.

You should consider having employees sign in when they begin their workdays. Then, if employees are 15 minutes late, they will know that they need to work an additional 15 minutes to make up the time.

Flextime programs are like a contract. Employees agree to work for a specific period of time, but have some flexibility in when they begin and end their workdays. In fact, many flextime programs are implemented specifically to deal with employee tardiness problems such as the one you describe.

Ron Riggio, Professor of industrial psychology, Cal State Fullerton