Sarah Levitan Kaatz
Partner | Monterey
skaatz@lozanosmith.com
Tel: 831.646.1501
Fax: 831.646.1801
Vcard
Bio
Overview
Sarah Levitan Kaatz is a Partner in Lozano Smith's Monterey office. She specializes in labor and employment law and student issues for school districts. Ms. Kaatz spent two years with the U.S. Department of Labor in its Office of Administrative Hearings before joining Lozano Smith.Since joining Lozano Smith in 1999, Ms. Kaatz has advised K-12 school districts and community college districts with regard to classified and certificated employment issues, labor relations and student related concerns.
Experience
Ms. Kaatz has represented clients in numerous administrative proceedings, discipline hearings and appeals, and grievance arbitrations. She negotiates collective bargaining agreements on behalf of school district clients using both traditional and interest based bargaining approaches. She regularly advises clients regarding discrimination complaints, personnel investigations, labor law compliance and related personnel issues.Presenter Experience
Ms. Kaatz is a frequent presenter to school audiences, including the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and the California School Boards Association (CSBA), on issues such as sexual harassment prevention, employment discrimination, employee and student discipline, and cyber-bullying. She is also a regular presenter of student and employment topics at Lozano Smith's Central Coast Education Law Consortium.For four years, Ms. Kaatz was the attorney coach for Seaside High School's Mock Trial Team and took the team to State for two of those years.
Articles
Ms. Kaatz's published work includes "Avoiding Settlement Conference Traps," published in the San Francisco Daily Journal, and "Settling the Score" published in the ABA Journal.Education
Ms. Kaatz earned her J.D. from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, and was a member of the Moot Court Board. She established roots on the Central Coast while an undergraduate student at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she earned her B.A. with honors.California Makes Slight Adjustments to Laws Regarding Truancy, Expulsion, and School Holidays
December 11, 2025 Number 58 Assembly Bills (AB) 461, 1230, and 268 were recently signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. These bills affect policies regarding truancy, rehabilitation plans for expelled students, and school holidays. AB 461 – Truancy Under existing law, children between the ages of six and 18 are subject to compulsory full-time education, unless otherwise exempted. Prior to this bill, a parent or legal guardian could be charged with a misdemeanor i...
Recovery of Wage Overpayments by School Employers
March 2024Number 13There have been two big changes in the last two legislative sessions regarding school districts’ recovery of wage overpayments under the Education Code. In 2022, Assembly Bill (AB) 185 established Education Code section 44042.5, allowing school districts to recover wage overpayments when certain procedures were followed. In 2023, Senate Bill (SB) 141 amended Education Code section 44042.5 by limiting employers’ ability to deduct overpaid wages from employees wit...
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maine Law Prohibiting Tuition Assistance to Religious Private Schools
July 2022Number 35In Carson v. Makin (2022) ___U.S.___ [141 S.Ct. 1987], the United States Supreme Court, by a 6-3 decision, ruled that Maine’s tuition assistance program, which prohibits funding to nonsectarian schools, violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. BackgroundIn 1981, Maine enacted a program of tuition assistance (Program) for parents who live in school districts that do not operate a secondary school of their own. Under the Program, parents could desi...
New Requirements for the Protection and Collection of Certain Student Records and Information
December 2021Number 47Senate Bill 24 – Protective Orders Regarding Student RecordsSenate Bill (SB) 24, signed into law on October 11, 2021, added section 6323.5 to the Family Code, which will allow courts, commencing January 1, 2023, to issue restraining orders prohibiting a party from accessing “records and information pertaining to the health care, education, daycare, recreational activities, or employment of a minor child of the parties.” Importantly, SB 24 authorizes cou...
PERB Holds that Employers Have a Duty to Negotiate in Good Faith Regarding the Effects of Mandatory Vaccination Policies Prior to Implementation
August 2021Number 22On July 26, 2021, the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) issued a decision finding that while the decision to adopt a mandatory influenza vaccination policy implemented by the Regents of the University of California (University) was outside the scope of representation, the University's failure to meet and confer in good faith over the effects of the policy, prior to implementation, constituted an unlawful unilateral change in violation of the Higher Education Employe...
SB 1159 and AB 685: Governor Codifies Workers Compensation Presumption and Exposure Notice Requirements Related to COVID-19
October 20, 2020Number 76As the pandemic has progressed, employers have been scrambling to keep up with the ever-evolving state and federal guidance and laws concerning COVID-19. On September 17, 2020, Governor Newsom signed into law two more COVID-19 related bills – Senate Bill (SB) 1159 and Assembly Bill (AB) 685. SB 1159 codifies the workers’ compensation rebuttable presumption for employees who contract COVID-19 and, as urgency legislation, took effect immediately upon being s...
New CFRA Bill Expands Job-Protected Leave
October 15, 2020Number 72On September 17, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 1383, a bill which expands the reach and application of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), by applying it to employers with five or more employees, by expanding the list of family members with serious health conditions that an employee may take leave to care for, and by eliminating other limitations for use. The bill goes into effect on January 1, 2021.By implementing these changes, ...
Deadline Looming for School Districts to Opt into the Classified Summer Assistance Program
November 2018 Number 80 The 2018 education omnibus trailer bill, Assembly Bill (AB) 1808, was approved by Governor Jerry Brown this summer. Among other things, the bill creates the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program for the 2019-2020 school year. The first deadline for this program is January 1, 2019. Therefore, the governing boards of local educational agencies (LEAs) must determine before the end of the 2018 calendar year whether or not to participate in the program. ...
Part-Time Playground Positions Now Part of Classified Service for All School Employers
November 2018Number 70Effective January 1, 2019, all part-time playground positions will become part of the classified service of school districts and community college districts, including those K-12 and community college districts that have incorporated the merit system. (For those unfamiliar with the terminology, a "merit system" district is a district that has adopted the systems of rules and procedures set forth in Education Code sections 45240 et seq. (K-12) and 88060 et seq. (community...
New Law Clarifies Limits on Employer Use of Applicant Salary History
August 2018Number 39A new law clarifies recently enacted rules prohibiting employers from asking job applicants about their salary history. The changes included in Assembly Bill (AB) 2282, which becomes effective on January 1, 2019, eliminate some ambiguity concerning an employer's limitations with regard to requesting an applicant's salary history information.BackgroundIn 2017 lawmakers approved AB 168, which limits what employers, including public entity employers, can request from applican...
Lawmakers Declare April 10 Dolores Huerta Day
August 2018Number 40The Legislature has declared that April 10 is Dolores Huerta Day. Assembly Bill (AB) 2644, which dedicates the day to the activist and labor leader, becomes effective January 1, 2019.The new law encourages public schools and other educational institutions to observe this day by conducting activities that commemorate the life and accomplishments of Dolores Huerta. However, the legislation does not create a new mandatory paid holiday.Huerta is known for working to improve so...
Employers Prohibited from Deterring or Discouraging Union Membership
December 2017 Number 83 Senate Bill (SB) 285 prohibits public employers from deterring or discouraging their employees from becoming or remaining members of a union. In doing so, the bill closes a perceived loophole in California law regarding union rights and the employer/union relationship. The bill becomes effective on January 1, 2018. Existing law prohibits public employers from using state funds to assist, promote, or deter union organizing. According to the author of SB 285...
Best Practices for Conducting Investigations
There are many situations in which school districts are tasked with investigating complaints. These complaints may involve employee misconduct, uniform complaint procedures ("UCP") and sexual harassment, or student matters, to name a few. While different types of investigations will have their own nuances, there are many practices that are essential for all investigations. Since an effective investigation can prevent costly litigation and liability, following the best practices described ...
School Districts that Rescind Certificated Employee Disciplinary Charges After the Hearing is Scheduled May be Liable for the Employee's Attorneys Fees and Costs
July 2012 Number 35 On June 25, 2012, the California Third District Court of Appeal issued a decision which likely will influence the way school districts proceed with disciplinary charges against certificated employees. In Boliou v. Stockton Unified School District (June 25, 2012) __Cal.App.4th__ (2012 WL 2371061), the court held that once a district's governing board elects to schedule a hearing in a dismissal against a certificated employee, the Commission on Professional Competence (C...
Legislation Creates New Reporting Requirements Regarding Firearms And Explosives
January 2010 Number 1 CLIENT NEWS BRIEF LEGISLATION CREATES NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS REGARDING FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES Effective January 1, 2010, Assembly Bill ("AB") 1390 amends Education Code section 48902 and places new requirements on principals or their designees when reporting firearm or explosives violations to local law enforcement agencies. Under the previous version of section 48902, principals or their designees were, and still are, required to report to local law enforc...