HB326INTRODUCED
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HB326
6YKL51Z-1
By Representatives Sellers, Tillman
RFD: Commerce and Small Business
First Read: 25-Feb-25
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5 6YKL51Z-1 02/25/2025 OW (L)cr 2025-830
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First Read: 25-Feb-25
SYNOPSIS:
Existing law does not expressly permit employees
to take time off to attend school-related activities.
This bill would establish the Parental Right to
Participate in Schools Act.
This bill would permit employees who are parents
or guardians of school-age children to take up to 48
hours of leave annually from employment to attend
school-related activities.
This bill would permit employers to deny leave
in certain circumstances.
This bill would require employers to post and
maintain notice of this act, and provide a penalty for
noncompliance.
This bill would also require enforcement of the
act by the Alabama Department of Workforce.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Establishing the Parental Right to Participate in
Schools Act; to permit certain employees to take leave to
attend school-related activities; to provide for
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attend school-related activities; to provide for
implementation; and to provide for enforcement by the Alabama
Department of Workforce.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as
the "Parental Right to Participate in Schools Act."
Section 2. (a) For the purposes of this section, the
following terms have the following meanings:
(1) EMPLOYEE. Employee as defined in Section 11-80-16,
Code of Alabama 1975.
(2) EMPLOYER. Any individual, partnership, association,
corporation, or business entity that employs one or more
employees within the state.
(3) PARENT or GUARDIAN. Is any of the following:
a. A biological mother or father of a child.
b. An individual with legal custody of a child.
c. An individual who acts as a guardian of a child.
d. An aunt, uncle, or grandparent of a child.
e. An individual married to or in a domestic
partnership with any individual listed in paragraphs a.
through d.
(4) SCHOOL-RELATED ACTIVITY. A parent-teacher
conference, school-sponsored performance, rehearsal, sporting
event, or any other school function where the child is a
participant.
(b)(1) An employee who is a parent or guardian may take
up to 48 hours of leave within a 12-month period to attend
school-related activities for his or her child.
(2) The leave may be unpaid or substituted with any
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(2) The leave may be unpaid or substituted with any
available paid leave, including vacation, personal, family,
compensatory, or leave bank leave, at the discretion of the
employee.
(3) An employee shall provide at least 10 days' advance
written notice of the leave request unless the school-related
activity was not reasonably foreseeable.
(4) An employer may deny leave if granting such leave
would create a substantial disruption to business operations
or make production or service unusually difficult.
(c)(1) Employers shall post and maintain notice of this
act in a conspicuous place within the workplace.
(2) An employer who willfully fails to post the
required notice may be fined up to one hundred dollars ($100)
for each day the notice remains unposted.
(d) The Alabama Department of Workforce shall enforce
the provisions of this section.
(e) Employees may file complaints regarding violations
of this act with the Alabama Department of Workforce.
Section 3. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2025.
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