(a) (1) The governing board of a school district shall grant to a classified employee, upon request, a leave of absence without loss of compensation for the purpose of enabling the employee to serve as an elected officer of a local school district public employee organization, or a statewide or national public employee organization with which the local organization is affiliated.

(2) The leave shall include, but is not limited to, absence for purposes of attendance by the employee at periodic, stated, special, or regular meetings of the body of the organization on which the employee serves as an officer. Compensation during the leave shall include retirement fund contributions required of the school district as employer. The employee shall earn full service credit during the leave of absence and shall pay member contributions as prescribed by subdivision (a) of § 20677 of the Government Code.

(b) Upon request of a recognized local school district public employee organization, or a statewide or national public employee organization with which the local organization is affiliated, the governing board of a school district shall grant a leave of absence, without loss of compensation, to a reasonable number of unelected classified employees for the purpose of enabling an employee to attend important organizational activities authorized by the public employee organization. Compensation during the leave shall include retirement fund contributions required of the school district as employer. The employee shall earn full service credit during the leave of absence and shall pay member contributions as prescribed by subdivision (a) of § 20677 of the Government Code.

(c) Following the school district’s payment of the employee for the leave of absence, the school district shall be reimbursed by the employee organization of which the employee is an elected officer or an unelected member for all compensation paid the employee on account of the leave. Reimbursement by the employee organization shall be made within 10 days after its receipt of the school district’s certification of payment of compensation to the employee.

(d) The leave of absence without loss of compensation provided for by this section is in addition to the released time without loss of compensation granted to representatives of an exclusive representative by subdivision (c) of § 3543.1 of the Government Code. The leave provided under this section shall be in addition to any leave to which public employees may be entitled by other laws or by a memorandum of understanding or collective bargaining agreement.

(e) For purposes of this section, “school district” also means “county superintendent of schools.”

(f) The representing employee organization shall provide reasonable notification to the employer requesting a leave of absence without loss of compensation pursuant to subdivision (a).

(g) (1) A classified employee who after August 31, 1987, was absent on account of elected-officer service, shall receive full service credit in the Public Employees’ Retirement System, provided that both of the following conditions are met:

(A) The employee makes a written request to the employer for a leave of absence for the period of the elected-officer service.

(B) The employee organization of which the employee is an elected officer pays to the employee’s school district an amount equal to the required Public Employees’ Retirement System member and employer retirement contributions, as prescribed by this section.

(2) The school district, following this written request and payment, shall transmit the amount received to the Public Employees’ Retirement System, informing it of the period of the employee’s leave of absence. The Public Employees’ Retirement System shall credit the employee with all service credit earned for the period of the elected-officer leave of absence.

(3) If the employee has been compensated by the school district for the period of the service, then, as a condition to the employee’s entitlement to service credit for this period, the school district shall be reimbursed by the employee organization for the amount of the compensation.

(h) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, this section shall apply retroactively to all service as an elected officer in a public employee organization occurring after August 31, 1987.

(i) This section shall not apply to an employee who is subject to a collective bargaining agreement that expressly provides for a leave of absence without loss of compensation for participation in authorized activities as an elected officer or an unelected member of the public employee organization.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 539, Sec. 3. (SB 294) Effective January 1, 2022.)