California state workers affected by fires may be eligible for paid time off

California state workers affected by the wildfires may be eligible to take paid time off, the state Human Resources Department announced this week.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency order related to fires and extreme weather conditions qualifies some workers for administrative time off, CalHR Department Director Eraina Ortega said in a Tuesday email to department HR officers.

Dozens of fires burning up and down the state — resulting from lightning, dry weather and wind — are affecting more than 771,000 acres, Newsom said Friday.

Affected workers are eligible for an initial five days of leave, which may be extended to 30 days with prior approval from their departments, according to the email.

Department HR officers have been emailing information on the availability of paid leave to staff this week.

Below are the parameters Ortega outlined in her email for the time off:

(a) Employees may be granted a paid leave of absence of up to five days by their appointing power when the employee works or resides in a county where a state of emergency has been proclaimed by the Governor and the appointing power determines that at least one of the following conditions exists:

(1) The employee’s normal place of business is closed temporarily, during the employee’s normal work shift, due to the effects of the emergency.

(2) The emergency effectively precludes the employee’s ability to find reasonable routes of transportation from the employee’s normal residence to the work place.

(3) The emergency presents an immediate and grave peril to the employee’s own safety, that of an employee’s immediate family member, or the employee’s principal residence.

(4) The employee is actively involved in a formal, organized effort to protect the health and safety of the general public; such as, the employee is a member of the auxiliary fire or police department or the employee is asked by local authorities to assist with sandbagging efforts.

(5) The employee needs to take time off to apply for disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) because the employee is unable to apply for assistance before or after the employee’s normal work shift.

(b) No paid leave of absence shall exceed five working days without the prior approval of the appointing power and the prior approval of the Department of Human Resources. The Department of Human Resources shall grant approval of a paid leave of absence in excess of five working days based on its finding that one of the criteria above continues to be met.

(c) State employees called into service as specified in Government Code 19844.5 are excluded from the above standards.

This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 2:03 PM.