Florida Senate - 2017                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 370
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì586258MÎ586258                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/22/2017           .                                
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       The Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and
       Domestic Security (Stargel) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Section 252.55, Florida Statutes, is amended to
    6  read:
    7         252.55 Civil Air Patrol, Florida Wing.—
    8         (1) As used in this section, the term:
    9         (a) “Benefits” means all benefits, other than salary and
   10  wages, provided or made available to employees by an employer
   11  and includes group life insurance, health insurance, disability
   12  insurance, and pensions, regardless of whether such benefits are
   13  provided by a policy or practice of the employer.
   14         (b) “Civil Air Patrol leave” means leave requested by an
   15  employee who is a Civil Air Patrol member for the purpose of
   16  participating in a Civil Air Patrol training or mission.
   17         (c) “Civil Air Patrol member” means a senior member of the
   18  Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
   19         (d) “Employee” means any person who may be permitted,
   20  required, or directed by an employer, in consideration of direct
   21  or indirect gain or profit, to engage in any employment and who
   22  has been employed by the same employer for at least 90 days
   23  immediately preceding the commencement of Civil Air Patrol
   24  leave. The term includes an independent contractor.
   25         (e) “Employer” means a private or public employer, or an
   26  employing or appointing authority of this state, a county, a
   27  school district, a municipality, a political subdivision, a
   28  career center, a Florida College System institution, or a state
   29  university.
   30         (2)(1) The Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, an
   31  auxiliary of the United States Air Force, is shall be recognized
   32  as a nonprofit, educational, and emergency-management-related
   33  organization and is shall be eligible to purchase materials from
   34  the various surplus warehouses of the state.
   35         (3)(2) Funds shall be appropriated annually from the
   36  Emergency Management, Preparedness, and Assistance Trust Fund
   37  for the purpose of acquisition, installation, conditioning, and
   38  maintenance of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
   39  However, no part of the annual appropriation, or any part
   40  thereof, may not shall be expended for the purchase of uniforms
   41  or personal effects of members of the organization or for
   42  compensation or salary to such members.
   43         (4)(3) The wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
   44  Air Patrol may employ administrative help and purchase
   45  educational materials for the training of Florida youth for
   46  which funds from the annual appropriation may be used.
   47         (5)(4) Purchase of aircraft is shall be limited to not more
   48  than $15,000 per year, and not more than $15,000 per year may be
   49  placed in a building reserve fund to be used for the toward
   50  acquisition of a permanent state headquarters and operations
   51  facility.
   52         (6)(5) The wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
   53  Air Patrol shall biennially furnish the division a 2-year
   54  projection of the goals and objectives of the Civil Air Patrol
   55  which shall be reported in the division’s biennial report
   56  submitted pursuant to s. 252.35.
   57         (7) An employer:
   58         (a) That employs 15 or more employees shall provide up to
   59  15 days of unpaid Civil Air Patrol leave annually to an
   60  employee, subject to the conditions in this section.
   61         (b) May not require a Civil Air Patrol member returning to
   62  employment following Civil Air Patrol leave to use vacation,
   63  annual, compensatory, or similar leave for the period during
   64  which the member was on Civil Air Patrol leave. However, any
   65  such returning member is, upon his or her request, authorized to
   66  use any vacation, annual, compensatory, or similar leave with
   67  pay accrued by the member before the commencement of his or her
   68  Civil Air Patrol leave.
   69         (c) May not discharge, reprimand, or otherwise penalize a
   70  Civil Air Patrol member because of his or her absence by reason
   71  of taking Civil Air Patrol leave.
   72         (8)(a) Upon the completion of a Civil Air Patrol leave, the
   73  Civil Air Patrol member shall promptly notify the employer of
   74  his or her intent to return to work.
   75         (b) An employer is not required to allow a Civil Air Patrol
   76  member to return to work upon the completion of his or her Civil
   77  Air Patrol leave if:
   78         1. The employer’s circumstances have so changed as to make
   79  employment impossible or unreasonable;
   80         2. Employment would impose an undue hardship on the
   81  employer;
   82         3. The employment from which the member takes such leave is
   83  for a brief, nonrecurring period and there is no reasonable
   84  expectation that such employment will continue indefinitely or
   85  for a significant period; or
   86         4. The employer had legally sufficient cause to terminate
   87  the member at the time he or she commenced such leave.
   88  
   89  The employer has the burden of proving any circumstance
   90  specified in subparagraphs 1.-4. which served as the employer’s
   91  basis for not allowing a Civil Air Patrol member to return to
   92  work upon completion of Civil Air Patrol leave.
   93         (c) A Civil Air Patrol member who returns to work following
   94  his or her Civil Air Patrol leave is entitled to:
   95         1. The seniority that the member had at his or her place of
   96  employment on the date his or her leave began and any other
   97  rights and benefits that inure to the member as a result of such
   98  seniority; and
   99         2. Any additional seniority that the member would have
  100  attained at his or her place of employment if he or she had
  101  remained continuously employed and any other rights and benefits
  102  that would have inured to the member as a result of such
  103  seniority.
  104         (d) A Civil Air Patrol member who returns to work following
  105  his or her Civil Air Patrol leave may not be discharged from
  106  such employment for a period of 1 year after the date the member
  107  returns to work, except for cause.
  108         (9) If the wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
  109  Air Patrol certifies that there is probable cause to believe
  110  that an employer has violated this section, an aggrieved
  111  employee who had taken Civil Air Patrol leave may bring a civil
  112  action against the employer in a court in the county where the
  113  employer resides or has his or her principal place of business
  114  or in the county where the alleged violation occurred. Upon
  115  adverse adjudication, the defendant is liable for actual damages
  116  or $500, whichever is greater. The prevailing party is entitled
  117  to recover reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
  118         (10) The certification of probable cause may not be issued
  119  until the wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air
  120  Patrol, or his or her designee, has completed an investigation.
  121  All employers and other personnel involved with the subject of
  122  such an investigation must cooperate with the wing commander in
  123  the investigation.
  124         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.
  125  
  126  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  127  And the title is amended as follows:
  128         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  129  and insert:
  130                        A bill to be entitled                      
  131         An act relating to the Florida Wing of the Civil Air
  132         Patrol; amending s. 252.55, F.S.; defining terms;
  133         requiring certain employers to provide Civil Air
  134         Patrol leave; prohibiting specified public and private
  135         employers from discharging, reprimanding, or
  136         penalizing a Civil Air Patrol member because of his or
  137         her absence by reason of taking Civil Air Patrol
  138         leave; providing procedures for and requirements of
  139         employees and employers with respect to Civil Air
  140         Patrol leave and employment following such leave;
  141         specifying rights and entitlements of a Civil Air
  142         Patrol member who returns to work following Civil Air
  143         Patrol leave; providing for a civil action; specifying
  144         damages; authorizing the award of attorney fees and
  145         costs; specifying conditions under which a
  146         certification of probable cause of a violation of the
  147         act may be issued; providing an effective date.