The Decoder

Up to 12 weeks per year of unpaid, job-protected leave. Protects the job, not the paycheck — pay and protection are separate clocks.

California's FMLA counterpart. Overlaps but is not identical (it covers a “designated person”), so the two sometimes run concurrently and sometimes don't.

A separate California entitlement of up to four months that runs before CFRA bonding leave — a pregnancy can lawfully stack three leave clocks.

The written notice saying “this absence counts against your FMLA.” If nobody sends it, the 12 weeks may never legally start running.

After a teacher exhausts sick leave, roughly five school months of pay at salary minus the substitute's cost. Starting the clock late is exactly the dispute Leave Compass exists to prevent.

A day the employee is scheduled to work. Leave is counted in duty days, so school breaks do not consume the 12 workweeks — though a holiday inside a leave week does.

The union contract: pay, hours, leave, transfers, seniority, discipline procedure. Per-district and per-unit, which is why no vendor ships these rules pre-built.

The contract's built-in dispute process, on strict timelines, usually ending in arbitration. Missing a step deadline can forfeit the case outright.

A layoff. In California schools it runs on statutory notice dates, seniority tie-breakers, and bumping rules — annual in lean years, entirely manual today.

The deadline to warn certificated employees they may be laid off next year. Miss it and the employee is employed for another year, period.

In a layoff, a senior employee displaces a junior one in an equal or lower class. One layoff can trigger a chain HR models by hand.

Before disciplining a permanent public employee, California requires notice of the charges, the evidence, and a chance to respond. Skipping it voids the discipline.

The arbitration standard for whether discipline sticks: fair notice, reasonable rule, real investigation, fair investigation, proof, even-handed treatment, proportional penalty.

Credentialed school staff: teachers, counselors, administrators. “Certificated,” not “certified” — the California term of art.

School employees whose jobs don't require a credential: aides, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers. Their layoff and leave rules differ from teachers' — the divergence is the point.

California's standardized process for complaints alleging discrimination or program violations: a 60-calendar-day clock and a written decision, appealable to CDE within 30 days.

A special lane for insufficient textbooks, facility problems, and teacher vacancies — 30 working days, with the working-day math depending on the calendar.

The federal ban on sex discrimination in federally funded education. Its regulations prescribe a deadline-driven process; get it wrong and the outcome is voidable.

The public's right to inspect government records, with a 10-day clock to respond and a body of exemptions.

California's open-meeting law: agendas posted 72 hours ahead, no action on off-agenda items. Violations can void board action.

The legally binding plan for a student with disabilities. Procedural defects are what parents' attorneys hunt for — and what IEP Shield flags first.

Before expelling a student with an IEP, the team must decide whether the behavior was a manifestation of the disability. If it was, discipline changes course.

The state system that audits teacher assignments against credentials annually. Districts prepare by hand-reconciling master schedules.

An emergency permit letting a substitute cover any class — but only briefly per assignment. Day 31 is a misassignment.

California's 58 county agencies: oversight, credential monitoring, shared services including payroll. One relationship reaches 10–40 districts.

The budgeting ledger tying every employee to an authorized, funded position. No open position, no hire.

Turning governing documents — CBAs, statutes, board policy — into executable, citable rules a system can apply and a human can audit. The layer nobody owns.

Our design principle: AI reads messy reality into a legal frame with verified citations; deterministic code computes every date and dollar. No model ever computes a deadline.

Every output carries “attorney review required.” The system surfaces; it never decides.

What the law guarantees everyone. Your contract may grant more — and the free tools can only see the floor.