ENROLLED
       2017 Legislature             CS for CS for SB 370, 1st Engrossed
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                              2017370er
    1  
    2         An act relating to the Florida Wing of the Civil Air
    3         Patrol; amending s. 252.55, F.S.; defining terms;
    4         requiring certain employers to provide Civil Air
    5         Patrol leave; prohibiting specified public and private
    6         employers from discharging, reprimanding, or
    7         penalizing a Civil Air Patrol member because of his or
    8         her absence by reason of taking Civil Air Patrol
    9         leave; providing procedures for and requirements of
   10         employees and employers with respect to Civil Air
   11         Patrol leave and employment following such leave;
   12         specifying rights and entitlements of a Civil Air
   13         Patrol member who returns to work following Civil Air
   14         Patrol leave; providing for a civil action; specifying
   15         damages; authorizing the award of attorney fees and
   16         costs; specifying conditions under which a
   17         certification of probable cause of a violation of the
   18         act may be issued; providing a declaration of
   19         important state interest; providing an effective date.
   20          
   21  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   22  
   23         Section 1. Section 252.55, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   24  read:
   25         252.55 Civil Air Patrol, Florida Wing.—
   26         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   27         (a) “Benefits” means all benefits, other than salary and
   28  wages, provided or made available to employees by an employer
   29  and includes group life insurance, health insurance, disability
   30  insurance, and pensions, regardless of whether such benefits are
   31  provided by a policy or practice of the employer.
   32         (b) “Civil Air Patrol leave” means leave requested by an
   33  employee who is a Civil Air Patrol member for the purpose of
   34  participating in a Civil Air Patrol training or mission.
   35         (c) “Civil Air Patrol member” means a senior member of the
   36  Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol with at least an emergency
   37  services qualification.
   38         (d) “Employee” means any person who may be permitted,
   39  required, or directed by an employer, in consideration of direct
   40  or indirect gain or profit, to engage in any employment and who
   41  has been employed by the same employer for at least 90 days
   42  immediately preceding the commencement of Civil Air Patrol
   43  leave. The term includes an independent contractor.
   44         (e) “Employer” means a private or public employer, or an
   45  employing or appointing authority of this state, a county, a
   46  school district, a municipality, a political subdivision, a
   47  career center, a Florida College System institution, or a state
   48  university.
   49         (2)(1) The Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, an
   50  auxiliary of the United States Air Force, is shall be recognized
   51  as a nonprofit, educational, and emergency-management-related
   52  organization and is shall be eligible to purchase materials from
   53  the various surplus warehouses of the state.
   54         (3)(2) Funds shall be appropriated annually from the
   55  Emergency Management, Preparedness, and Assistance Trust Fund
   56  for the purpose of acquisition, installation, conditioning, and
   57  maintenance of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
   58  However, no part of the annual appropriation, or any part
   59  thereof, may not shall be expended for the purchase of uniforms
   60  or personal effects of members of the organization or for
   61  compensation or salary to such members.
   62         (4)(3) The wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
   63  Air Patrol may employ administrative help and purchase
   64  educational materials for the training of Florida youth for
   65  which funds from the annual appropriation may be used.
   66         (5)(4) Purchase of aircraft is shall be limited to not more
   67  than $15,000 per year, and not more than $15,000 per year may be
   68  placed in a building reserve fund to be used for the toward
   69  acquisition of a permanent state headquarters and operations
   70  facility.
   71         (6)(5) The wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
   72  Air Patrol shall biennially furnish the division a 2-year
   73  projection of the goals and objectives of the Civil Air Patrol
   74  which shall be reported in the division’s biennial report
   75  submitted pursuant to s. 252.35.
   76         (7) An employer:
   77         (a) That employs 15 or more employees shall provide up to
   78  15 days of unpaid Civil Air Patrol leave annually to an
   79  employee, subject to the conditions in this section.
   80         (b) May not require a Civil Air Patrol member returning to
   81  employment following Civil Air Patrol leave to use vacation,
   82  annual, compensatory, or similar leave for the period during
   83  which the member was on Civil Air Patrol leave. However, any
   84  such returning member is, upon his or her request, authorized to
   85  use any vacation, annual, compensatory, or similar leave with
   86  pay accrued by the member before the commencement of his or her
   87  Civil Air Patrol leave.
   88         (c) May not discharge, reprimand, or otherwise penalize a
   89  Civil Air Patrol member because of his or her absence by reason
   90  of taking Civil Air Patrol leave.
   91         (8)(a) Upon the completion of a Civil Air Patrol leave, the
   92  Civil Air Patrol member shall promptly notify the employer of
   93  his or her intent to return to work.
   94         (b) An employer is not required to allow a Civil Air Patrol
   95  member to return to work upon the completion of his or her Civil
   96  Air Patrol leave if:
   97         1. The employer’s circumstances have so changed as to make
   98  employment impossible or unreasonable;
   99         2. Employment would impose an undue hardship on the
  100  employer;
  101         3. The employment from which the member takes such leave is
  102  for a brief, nonrecurring period and there is no reasonable
  103  expectation that such employment will continue indefinitely or
  104  for a significant period; or
  105         4. The employer had legally sufficient cause to terminate
  106  the member at the time he or she commenced such leave.
  107  
  108  The employer has the burden of proving any circumstance
  109  specified in subparagraphs 1.-4. which served as the employer’s
  110  basis for not allowing a Civil Air Patrol member to return to
  111  work upon completion of Civil Air Patrol leave.
  112         (c) A Civil Air Patrol member who returns to work following
  113  his or her Civil Air Patrol leave is entitled to:
  114         1. The seniority that the member had at his or her place of
  115  employment on the date his or her leave began and any other
  116  rights and benefits that inure to the member as a result of such
  117  seniority; and
  118         2. Any additional seniority that the member would have
  119  attained at his or her place of employment if he or she had
  120  remained continuously employed and any other rights and benefits
  121  that would have inured to the member as a result of such
  122  seniority.
  123         (d) A Civil Air Patrol member who returns to work following
  124  his or her Civil Air Patrol leave may not be discharged from
  125  such employment for a period of 1 year after the date the member
  126  returns to work, except for cause.
  127         (9) If the wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
  128  Air Patrol certifies that there is probable cause to believe
  129  that an employer has violated this section, an aggrieved
  130  employee who had taken Civil Air Patrol leave may bring a civil
  131  action against the employer in a court in the county where the
  132  employer resides or has his or her principal place of business
  133  or in the county where the alleged violation occurred. Upon
  134  adverse adjudication, the defendant is liable for actual damages
  135  or $500, whichever is greater. The prevailing party is entitled
  136  to recover reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
  137         (10) The certification of probable cause may not be issued
  138  until the wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air
  139  Patrol, or his or her designee, has completed an investigation.
  140  All employers and other personnel involved with the subject of
  141  such an investigation must cooperate with the wing commander in
  142  the investigation.
  143         Section 2. The Legislature finds that a proper and
  144  legitimate state purpose is served when allowing senior members
  145  of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol to take Civil Air
  146  Patrol leave, as authorized under s. 252.55, Florida Statutes.
  147  Therefore, the Legislature determines and declares that this act
  148  fulfills an important state interest.
  149         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.