Kin Care

There is a little secret that Covenant doesn't want you to know about. That secret is Kin Care. Why is it something they don't generally speak about? Because it's a little legal loophole that we as employees have in regards to time off.

Most of us should be painfully aware of Covenant's attendance rules. The main reason those rules exist is because of money. Yes, the contract with the government incentivizes contractors with certain things. They call it the AQL (Acceptable Quality Level). Well, one of those things for Covenant is attendance. The AQL is the reason why Covenant would rather fire you than you quit. The AQL is also the reason for the attendance policies. It's in Covenant's vested interest to make certain that all of us show up and on time. Hey, here at Security First @ SFO have no real problem with a company trying to make as much money as they can. At the same time, we didn't make the rules or create the system.

So that's where Kin Care comes in. People in the baggage world and the DFOs are mostly all familiar with Kin Care. However, it's quite surprising that most in the checkpoint world, even plank owners, are not. To put it in its most succinct terms, here are the requirements for Kin Care:

1. Must have at least double the PTO, i.e., if you're working 8 hour shifts you need a minimum of 16 hours.
2. It must be for a spouse, child, parent, or domestic partner. Do not say the Kin Care is for yourself, boyfriend/girlfriend, dog, or fish. That won't work.
3. Instead of calling in sick, call in Kin Care when you're calling.

That is it! What? No paperwork or doctor's note? Nope. Not necessary.

Now we're not condoning using Kin Care for yourself and lying by saying it's for your spouse, child, parent, or domestic partner. We would NEVER condone that. So only use this honestly, ok kids?

As with everything, one should always go right to the source, so here is the relevant labor law that applies to Kin Care. It's CA Code 233:

233.  (a) Any employer who provides sick leave for employees shall
permit an employee to use in any calendar year the employee's accrued
and available sick leave entitlement, in an amount not less than the
sick leave that would be accrued during six months at the employee's
then current rate of entitlement, to attend to an illness of a
child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner of the employee. All
conditions and restrictions placed by the employer upon the use by an
employee of sick leave also shall apply to the use by an employee of
sick leave to attend to an illness of his or her child, parent,
spouse, or domestic partner. This section does not extend the maximum
period of leave to which an employee is entitled under Section
12945.2 of the Government Code or under the federal Family and
Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2606 et seq.), regardless
of whether the employee receives sick leave compensation during that
leave.
   (b) As used in this section:
   (1) "Child" means a biological, foster, or adopted child, a
stepchild, a legal ward, a child of a domestic partner, or a child of
a person standing in loco parentis.
   (2) "Employer" means any person employing another under any
appointment or contract of hire and includes the state, political
subdivisions of the state, and municipalities.
   (3) "Parent" means a biological, foster, or adoptive parent, a
stepparent, or a legal guardian.
   (4) "Sick leave" means accrued increments of compensated leave
provided by an employer to an employee as a benefit of the employment
for use by the employee during an absence from the employment for
any of the following reasons:
   (A) The employee is physically or mentally unable to perform his
or her duties due to illness, injury, or a medical condition of the
employee.
   (B) The absence is for the purpose of obtaining professional
diagnosis or treatment for a medical condition of the employee.
   (C) The absence is for other medical reasons of the employee, such
as pregnancy or obtaining a physical examination.
   "Sick leave" does not include any benefit provided under an
employee welfare benefit plan subject to the federal Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-406, as
amended) and does not include any insurance benefit, workers'
compensation benefit, unemployment compensation disability benefit,
or benefit not payable from the employer's general assets.
   (c) No employer shall deny an employee the right to use sick leave
or discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, or in any
manner discriminate against an employee for using, or attempting to
exercise the right to use, sick leave to attend to an illness of a
child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner of the employee.
   (d) Any employee aggrieved by a violation of this section shall be
entitled to reinstatement and actual damages or one day's pay,
whichever is greater, and to appropriate equitable relief.
   (e) Upon the filing of a complaint by an employee, the Labor
Commissioner shall enforce the provisions of this section in
accordance with the provisions of Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
79) of Division 1, including, but not limited to, Sections 92, 96.7,
98, and 98.1 to 98.8, inclusive. Alternatively, an employee may bring
a civil action for the remedies provided by this section in a court
of competent jurisdiction. If the employee prevails, the court may
award reasonable attorney's fees.
   (f) The rights and remedies specified in this section are
cumulative and nonexclusive and are in addition to any other rights
or remedies afforded by contract or under other provisions of law.

The most interesting part of that CA code is section (c) which states that "No employer shall deny an employee the right to use sick leave or discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend or in any manner discriminate against an employee for using, or attempting to exercise the right to use, sick leave to attend to an illness of a child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner of the employee."

What that means is that the existing attendance rules and policies of Covenant do not apply to an employee using Kin Care. Also in that code, there is no mention of how often or how much of your PTO you can use for Kin Care.

Here is another link from the Fair Employment and Housing Commission web site that gets rid of all of the legalese.

So now you know. Remember this when you look on your Ascent and see that we're STILL blacked out for PTO. Oh wait, didn't you hear? Management was unaware that we've been blacked out since March on Ascent for PTO. Oh those silly managers! When are they going to learn???