HB 315: "An Act allowing certain teachers, public employees, and private sector employees to take leave without pay for parent-teacher conferences."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 315 01 "An Act allowing certain teachers, public employees, and private sector employees to 02 take leave without pay for parent-teacher conferences." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 14.20.348 is amended by adding a new section to read: 05 Sec. 14.20.348. Leave without pay for parent-teacher conferences. (a) 06 Notwithstanding AS 14.20.345(a), a teacher who is a parent may take leave without 07 pay one or two times each calendar year, not to exceed a combined total of four hours 08 each calendar year, to attend a parent-teacher conference for a child of that teacher. 09 (b) A teacher shall request leave under (a) of this section a reasonable amount 10 of time in advance and may not take the leave without approval by the employer. An 11 employer may deny the request only if the timing of the leave would unreasonably 12 interfere with the employer by 13 (1) creating or increasing a risk to human safety; or 14 (2) increasing the employer's costs by more than a nominal amount.
01 (c) The right to leave under (a) of this section is in addition to any other legal 02 or contractual right to leave that the employee may have. 03 (d) In this section, 04 (1) "child" means a minor, four years of age or older, who is not 05 emancipated; 06 (2) "domestic partner" means a person who is cohabiting with another 07 person in a relationship that is like a marriage but that is not a legal marriage; 08 (3) "parent" means 09 (A) a person who is the child's biological or adoptive parent, 10 whose parental rights have not been terminated, or a spouse or domestic 11 partner of that person who is residing in the same household; 12 (B) a person, including a guardian, who is appointed by the 13 court to act on behalf of the child in matters that include the child's education; 14 (C) for a child not living with the child's biological or adoptive 15 parent, the child's grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, or brother who has reached 16 the age of majority and with whom the child lives; or 17 (D) the child's surrogate parent who has been appointed under 18 AS 14.30.325; 19 (4) "parent-teacher conference" means a meeting that the parent of a 20 child and a teacher or caregiver of a child agree to have for the purpose of discussing 21 the child's progress and development in preschool or school; 22 (5) "teacher or caregiver" means an individual, other than a child's 23 parent, who has primary responsibility to plan, instruct, and evaluate the education of 24 the child in a public or private preschool, elementary, junior high, or secondary school 25 classroom or similar setting. 26 * Sec. 2. AS 23.10.105 is amended to read: 27 Sec. 23.10.105. Posting summary required. An employer subject to 28 AS 23.10.050 - 23.10.150 or 23.10.435 shall keep a summary or abstract of the 29 applicable [THESE] sections, approved by the commissioner, posted in a conspicuous 30 location at the place where a person subject to them is employed. An employer shall 31 be furnished copies of a summary by the state on request without charge.
01 * Sec. 3. AS 23.10 is amended by adding a new section to article 7 to read: 02 Sec. 23.10.435. Leave without pay for parent-teacher conferences. (a) This 03 section applies to every person, other than the federal or state government or the 04 government of a political subdivision of the state, that employs full-time, part-time, or 05 temporary employees who are compensated under an express or implied contract of 06 hire that is oral or written. 07 (b) An employee of an employer under (a) of this section may take, and the 08 employee's employer shall grant, leave without pay one or two times each calendar 09 year, not to exceed a combined total of four hours each calendar year, to attend a 10 parent-teacher conference for the employee's child. 11 (c) An employee shall request leave under (b) of this section a reasonable 12 amount of time in advance and may not take the leave without approval by the 13 employer. An employer may deny the request only if the timing of the leave would 14 unreasonably interfere with the employer by 15 (1) creating or increasing a risk to human safety; or 16 (2) increasing the employer's costs by more than a nominal amount. 17 (d) The right to leave under (b) of this section is in addition to any other legal 18 or contractual right to leave that the employee may have. 19 (e) In this section, 20 (1) "child" means a minor, four years or age or older, who is not 21 emancipated; 22 (2) "domestic partner" means a person who is cohabiting with another 23 person in a relationship that is like a marriage but that is not a legal marriage; 24 (3) "parent" means 25 (A) a person who is the child's biological or adoptive parent, 26 whose parental rights have not been terminated, or a spouse or domestic 27 partner of that person who is residing in the same household; 28 (B) a person, including a guardian, who is appointed by the 29 court to act on behalf of the child in matters that include the child's education; 30 (C) for a child not living with the child's biological or adoptive 31 parent, the child's grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, or brother who has reached
01 the age of majority and with whom the child lives; or 02 (D) the child's surrogate parent who has been appointed under 03 AS 14.30.325; 04 (4) "parent-teacher conference" means a meeting that the parent of a 05 child and a teacher or caregiver of a child agree to have for the purpose of discussing 06 the child's progress and development in preschool or school; 07 (5) "teacher or caregiver" means an individual, other than a child's 08 parent, who has primary responsibility to plan, instruct, and evaluate the education of 09 the child in a public or private preschool, elementary, junior high, or secondary school 10 classroom or similar setting. 11 * Sec. 4. AS 39.20 is amended by adding a new section to read: 12 Sec. 39.20.285. Leave without pay for parent-teacher conferences. (a) This 13 section applies to every paid employee of 14 (1) the executive, judicial, or legislative branch of state government, a 15 state public corporation or council established by law, or the University of Alaska, 16 regardless of whether the employee is a permanent, nonpermanent, or temporary 17 employee, but does not apply to an employee of the Alaska Railroad Corporation; 18 (2) a political subdivision of the state. 19 (b) An employee of an employer under (a) of this section may take, and the 20 employee's employer shall grant, leave without pay one or two times each calendar 21 year, not to exceed a combined total of four hours each calendar year, to attend a 22 parent-teacher conference for the employee's child. 23 (c) An employee shall request leave under (b) of this section a reasonable 24 amount of time in advance and may not take the leave without approval by the 25 employer. An employer may deny the request only if the timing of the leave would 26 unreasonably interfere with the employer by 27 (1) creating or increasing a risk to human safety; or 28 (2) increasing the employer's costs by more than a nominal amount. 29 (d) The right to leave under (b) of this section is in addition to any other legal 30 or contractual right to leave that the employee may have. 31 (e) The director of personnel in the Department of Administration shall adopt
01 regulations to implement this section as it applies to employees described in (a)(1) of 02 this section. 03 (f) In this section, 04 (1) "child" means a minor, four years of age or older, who is not 05 emancipated; 06 (2) "domestic partner" means a person who is cohabiting with another 07 person in a relationship that is like a marriage but that is not a legal marriage; 08 (3) "parent" means 09 (A) a person who is the child's biological or adoptive parent, 10 whose parental rights have not been terminated, or a spouse or domestic 11 partner of that person who is residing in the same household; 12 (B) a person, including a guardian, who is appointed by the 13 court to act on behalf of the child in matters that include the child's education; 14 (C) for a child not living with the child's biological or adoptive 15 parent, the child's grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, or brother who has reached 16 the age of majority and with whom the child lives; or 17 (D) the child's surrogate parent who has been appointed under 18 AS 14.30.325; 19 (4) "parent-teacher conference" means a meeting that the parent of a 20 child and a teacher or caregiver of a child agree to have for the purpose of discussing 21 the child's progress and development in preschool or school; 22 (5) "teacher or caregiver" means an individual, other than a child's 23 parent, who has primary responsibility to plan, instruct, and evaluate the education of 24 the child in a public or private preschool, elementary, junior high, or secondary school 25 classroom or similar setting. 26 * Sec. 5. AS 39.20.310 is amended to read: 27 Sec. 39.20.310. Exceptions. Except as provided in AS 39.20.275 and 28 39.20.285, AS 39.20.200 - 39.20.330 do not apply to 29 (1) members of the state legislature, the governor, the lieutenant 30 governor, and justices and judges of the supreme and superior courts and of the court 31 of appeals, but nothing in AS 39.20.200 - 39.20.330 may be construed to diminish the
01 salaries fixed by law for these officers by reason of absence from duty on account of 02 illness or otherwise; 03 (2) magistrates serving the state on less than a full-time basis; 04 (3) officers, members of the teaching staff, and employees of the 05 University of Alaska; 06 (4) persons employed in a professional capacity to make a temporary 07 and special inquiry, study, or examination as authorized by the governor, the 08 legislature, or a legislative committee; 09 (5) members of boards, commissions, and authorities who are not 10 otherwise employed by the state; 11 (6) temporary employees hired for periods of less than 12 consecutive 12 months; 13 (7) persons employed by the division of marine transportation as 14 masters and members of the crews operating the state ferry system who are covered by 15 collective bargaining agreements as provided in AS 23.40.040, except as expressly 16 provided by law; 17 (8) persons employed by the state who are covered by collective 18 bargaining agreements as provided in AS 23.40.210, except as expressly provided by 19 law.