Florida Senate - 2017                                     SB 370
       
       
        
       By Senator Stargel
       
       22-00310-17                                            2017370__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    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 specified
    5         unpaid leave to an employee engaged in a Civil Air
    6         Patrol mission or training; prohibiting specified
    7         public and private employers from discharging,
    8         reprimanding, or penalizing a member of the Florida
    9         Wing of the Civil Air Patrol because of his or her
   10         absence by reason of Civil Air Patrol service or
   11         training; providing procedures for and requirements of
   12         employees and employers with respect to Civil Air
   13         Patrol leave and employment following such leave;
   14         specifying rights and entitlements of a member of the
   15         Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol who returns to
   16         work after completion of a Civil Air Patrol mission or
   17         training; providing for a civil action; specifying
   18         damages; authorizing the award of attorney fees and
   19         costs; specifying conditions under which a
   20         certification of probable cause of a violation of the
   21         act may be issued; providing an effective date.
   22          
   23  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   24  
   25         Section 1. Section 252.55, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   26  read:
   27         252.55 Civil Air Patrol, Florida Wing.—
   28         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   29         (a) “Benefits” means all benefits, other than salary and
   30  wages, provided or made available to employees by an employer
   31  and includes group life insurance, health insurance, disability
   32  insurance, and pensions, regardless of whether such benefits are
   33  provided by a policy or practice of the employer.
   34         (b) “Civil Air Patrol leave” means leave requested by an
   35  employee who is a member of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air
   36  Patrol.
   37         (c) “Employee” means any person who may be permitted,
   38  required, or directed by an employer in consideration of direct
   39  or indirect gain or profit to engage in any employment and who
   40  has been employed by the same employer for at least 90 days
   41  immediately preceding the commencement of Civil Air Patrol
   42  leave. The term does include an independent contractor.
   43         (d) “Employer” means a private or public employer, or an
   44  employing or appointing authority of this state, its counties,
   45  school districts, municipalities, political subdivisions, career
   46  centers, Florida College System institutions, or state
   47  universities.
   48         (2)(1) The Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, an
   49  auxiliary of the United States Air Force, is shall be recognized
   50  as a nonprofit, educational, and emergency-management-related
   51  organization and is shall be eligible to purchase materials from
   52  the various surplus warehouses of the state.
   53         (3)(2) Funds shall be appropriated annually from the
   54  Emergency Management, Preparedness, and Assistance Trust Fund
   55  for the purpose of acquisition, installation, conditioning, and
   56  maintenance of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
   57  However, no part of the annual appropriation or any part thereof
   58  may not shall be expended for the purchase of uniforms or
   59  personal effects of members of the organization or for
   60  compensation or salary to such members.
   61         (4)(3) The wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
   62  Air Patrol may employ administrative help and purchase
   63  educational materials for the training of Florida youth for
   64  which funds from the annual appropriation may be used.
   65         (5)(4) Purchase of aircraft is shall be limited to not more
   66  than $15,000 per year, and not more than $15,000 per year may be
   67  placed in a building reserve fund to be used toward the
   68  acquisition of a permanent state headquarters and operations
   69  facility.
   70         (6)(5) The wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
   71  Air Patrol shall biennially furnish the division a 2-year
   72  projection of the goals and objectives of the Civil Air Patrol
   73  which shall be reported in the division’s biennial report
   74  submitted pursuant to s. 252.35.
   75         (7) An employer:
   76         (a) That employs 15 or more employees shall provide up to
   77  15 days of unpaid Civil Air Patrol leave annually to an employee
   78  engaged in a Civil Air Patrol mission or training, subject to
   79  the conditions in this section.
   80         (b) May not require any member of the Florida Wing of the
   81  Civil Air Patrol returning to employment following a period of
   82  Civil Air Patrol service or training to use vacation, annual,
   83  compensatory, or similar leave for the period during which the
   84  member was engaged in a Civil Air Patrol mission or training.
   85  However, any such returning member is, upon his or her request,
   86  authorized to use, for the period during which the member was
   87  ordered into Civil Air Patrol service or training, any vacation,
   88  annual, compensatory, or similar leave with pay accrued by the
   89  member before the commencement of his or her service or
   90  training.
   91         (c) May not discharge, reprimand, or otherwise penalize a
   92  member of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol because of
   93  his or her absence by reason of service or training if the
   94  member is ordered into service to perform a Civil Air Patrol
   95  mission or participate in training.
   96         (8)(a) Upon the completion of a Civil Air Patrol mission or
   97  training, the Civil Air Patrol member shall promptly notify the
   98  employer of his or her intent to return to work.
   99         (b) An employer is not required to allow a Civil Air Patrol
  100  member to return to work upon the completion of a Civil Air
  101  Patrol mission or training if:
  102         1. The employer’s circumstances have so changed as to make
  103  employment impossible or unreasonable;
  104         2. Employment would impose an undue hardship on the
  105  employer;
  106         3. The employment from which the Civil Air Patrol member
  107  leaves to perform a Civil Air Patrol mission or participate in
  108  training is for a brief, nonrecurring period and there is no
  109  reasonable expectation that such employment will continue
  110  indefinitely or for a significant period; or
  111         4. The employer had legally sufficient cause to terminate
  112  the Civil Air Patrol member at the time he or she left to
  113  perform a Civil Air Patrol mission or participate in training.
  114  
  115  The employer has the burden of proving any factor set forth in
  116  subparagraphs 1.-4. that served as the employer’s basis for not
  117  allowing a Civil Air Patrol member to return to work upon
  118  completion of a Civil Air Patrol mission or training.
  119         (c) A member of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol
  120  who returns to work after completion of a Civil Air Patrol
  121  mission or training is entitled to:
  122         1. The seniority that the member had at his or her place of
  123  employment on the date his or her Civil Air Patrol mission or
  124  training began and any other rights and benefits that inure to
  125  the member as a result of such seniority; and
  126         2. Any additional seniority that the member would have
  127  attained at his or her place of employment if he or she had
  128  remained continuously employed and any other rights and benefits
  129  that inure to the member as a result of such seniority.
  130         (d) A member of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol
  131  who returns to work after completion of a Civil Air Patrol
  132  mission or training may not be discharged from such employment
  133  for a period of 1 year after the date the member returns to
  134  work, except for cause.
  135         (9) If the wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil
  136  Air Patrol certifies that there is probable cause to believe an
  137  employer has violated this section, an aggrieved employee who
  138  engaged in a Civil Air Patrol mission or training may bring a
  139  civil action against the employer in a court in the county where
  140  the employer resides or has his or her principal place of
  141  business or in the county where the alleged violation occurred.
  142  Upon adverse adjudication, the defendant is liable for actual
  143  damages or $500, whichever is greater. The prevailing party is
  144  entitled to recover reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
  145         (10) The certification of probable cause may not be issued
  146  until the wing commander of the Florida Wing of the Civil Air
  147  Patrol, or his or her designee, has completed an investigation.
  148  All employers and other personnel involved with the subject of
  149  such an investigation must cooperate with the wing commander in
  150  the investigation.
  151         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.