School Activity Leave

With the school year back in full swing, employers should be mindful of state school-related leave laws.

Many states have been addressing employees’ work-life balance issues.  States have been passing sick leave laws to make employers provide paid-time-off when an employee misses work for medical reasons.  Some states have also been addressing employees’ leave issues through state school visitation laws.  These laws require employers to provide leave for parents to attend their children’s school-related activities.

Some states require employers to give unpaid time off to employees to attend activities at a child’s school or day care center.  The state laws vary, with the required time off ranging from 4 hours to 40 hours.  Leave is generally required for activities such as enrollment, teacher conferences, classroom activities, volunteering at school functions and meetings with school staff.

States with school-activity leave laws include:

• California- employers with 25 or more employees
• District of Columbia
• Illinois- employers with 50 or more employees
• Louisiana (permissive, not required)
• Massachusetts- employers with 50 or more employees
• Minnesota
• Nevada- employers with 50 or more employees (all employers for conferences or emergency)
• New Jersey
• North Carolina
• Oregon (permissive, not required)
• Rhode Island- employers with 50 or more employees
• Tennessee (permissive, not required)
• Vermont- employers with 15 or more employees

All employers should review their state’s requirements to determine if they must allow time off for school-related activities.

*** Note- this list may not be comprehensive.  Consult your state or locality for more specific information.