On June 1, 2009, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed the Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act (H.B. 1057) into law. The Act takes effect on August 5, 2009, and requires employers with 50 or more employees to grant leave to employees to attend their children’s academic activities.
Under the Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act, nonsupervisory employees are allowed up to 18 hours of unpaid leave each school year to attend their children’s educational activities. Such academic activities include parent-teacher conferences and meetings related to special education services, dropout prevention, attendance, truancy, and discipline.
Employees are permitted to take up to six hours of leave per month for academic activities, and employers may require them to take such leave in no longer than three-hour increments. An employee may request, or an employer can require him, to use accrued vacation, sick leave, personal leave, or other paid leave instead of unpaid leave. Part-time nonsupervisory employees are also eligible for academic activities leave on a prorated basis.
The Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act provides certain stipulations for using academic activities leave. Employees must give their employers at least one week’s advance notice of the academic activities (except in cases of emergency) and must make a reasonable effort to schedule academic activities outside their regular working hours. Employers may also require employees to provide them with written verification of their attendance at school activities. Further, employers may limit or deny an employee’s leave if the absence would endanger a person’s health or safety or cause a halt of service or production.
Colorado employers need to alter their current handbooks and policies to include the new academic activities leave. You should also develop procedures for implementing the leave and train your supervisors and HR professionals on the law and your new policies.
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Look for more information on the Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act in an upcoming issue of the Colorado Employment Law Letter and in the 2010 edition of 50 Employment Laws in 50 States which will be released in early 2010.