School Visitation Law Update

A number of states require the employer to give employees unpaid time off  to attend school events such as parent-teacher conferences and classroom events. This includes California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Vermont — all have school visitation laws.

The Colorado Academic Activities Leave Law applies to employers with 50 or more workers. It permits the parent or guardian of a K-12 student to take off 6 hours per month in increments of up to 3 hours each, up to a total of 18 hours per academic year. Paid leave may be substituted for the unpaid school visitation leave, but the law does not apply to supervisory employees.

Illinois provides for parents and guardians to take up to 8 hours of unpaid leave

California has two separate school visitation laws that prevent the employer from taking any negative action against employees who take unpaid school visitation leave. One law applies to employers of any size, and requires that parents or guardians be given unpaid time off to attend disciplinary events at school such as hearings regarding a suspension or expulsion.

The second California school visitation law applies only to employers with 25 or more workers at the same location. That law gives parents, guardians and grandparents with custody of children in kindergarten through grade 12 the right to take time off for concerts, school plays, sporting events, art shows and other school events. The law also applies to children in a licensed daycare. Time off is limited to 8 hours per month, and 40 hours per year. The employee may use PTO, vacation time or comp time, or take unpaid time off in accordance with the employer’s policies. When both parents work for the same employer, only one can take leave under this law at a time.

Several other states such as Arkansas, Tennessee, Utah and Louisiana simply recommend the leave, they do not require it. Texas has a school visitation leave law, but it applies only to employees who work for the Texas state government.

For more info on school visitation laws in other states, post a query in our comments section.