What
are our obligations under the California Employee Literacy Education Assistance
Act?
Business Management Daily: 12.06.2017 by Joseph
Beachboard
Q.
An employee recently disclosed that he is illiterate and asked for our help in
finding an adult literacy education program. What are our obligations toward
this employee under California law?
A.
The California Employee Literacy Education Assistance Act,
which is codified in the California Labor Code, requires private employers with
25 or more employees to “reasonably accommodate and assist any employee who
reveals a problem of illiteracy and requests employer assistance in enrolling
in an adult literacy education program.”
Employer
assistance may include providing the employee with information on literacy
education programs in the area or arranging for a literacy education provider
to visit the worksite. An employer would not be required to provide these
reasonable accommodations if it would create an undue hardship for the
employer.
Furthermore,
an employer must take reasonable efforts to safeguard the illiterate employee’s
privacy and confidentiality with regard to his or her illiteracy.
An employer
is also prohibited from discharging an employee for revealing that he or she is
illiterate.
Note
that an employer is not obligated to provide paid time off for an employee to
enroll and participate in an adult literacy education program.
