On Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed Assembly Bill 568 which would have given all employees at school districts, charter schools and community colleges six weeks of paid maternity leave.
The bill by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) would have allowed all certificated, academic and classified employees to take the six weeks of paid time off for pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth and recovery.
In his veto message, Brown said his two other bills signed in 2015 and 2016 address maternity and paternity leave for school employees.
“I believe further decisions regarding leave policies for school employees are best resolved through the collective bargaining process at the local level,” Brown wrote. I would also encourage districts to consider participating in the State Disability Insurance program that would allow these employees to receive pay in addition to what is already being provided.”
Under current law, teachers and school employees must take unpaid maternity leave unless they have banked sick time.
After this sick time is used, employees are then entitled to differential pay, which is calculated by subtracting the cost of a substitute from a teacher’s salary.
Earlier this year, the bill passed in a 63-13 vote in the Assembly and a 31-8 vote in the Senate.
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