Californians do not have to stop leave short when they take time off work to care for family or take care of their own health. Workers can take the time to put all their attention on their life outside of work for as long as they need to keep their life stable.

The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the Paid Family Leave (PFL) program protect their rights to take leave. CFRA is written in the Fair Employment and Housing Act

Leave

California lawmakers think the time spent on taking care of home concerns is important. Workers in the state have guaranteed choices for taking leave. The California Family Rights Act makes an employer responsible for setting aside unpaid leave time for their workers. The Paid Family Leave program adds to the pregnancy disability leave funded by the State Disability Insurance program.

Unpaid Leave

Workers can step out of the workplace and step back in at a convenient time using unpaid leave. CFRA guarantees a worker can take leave for up to 12 weeks during a 12 month period to take care of four home concerns.

• birth of a child or to bond with the child
• placement of adopted child or foster child in family
• serious health condition experienced by a parent, spouse, or child
• the employee's serious health condition

A serious health condition is an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition. The worker has to spend time in inpatient care that includes an overnight stay in a hospital, hospice or residential health care facility or undergo treatment or supervision by a health care provider.

An injury that happened on the job counts.

A worker and their employer have four choices for counting up the 12 weeks during 12 months.

1. the calendar year
2. any 12 month fixed year, including a fiscal year, a year described in state law, and a year starting on the employee's anniversary date
3. a 12 month period that starts on the first day of the unpaid family leave period
4. a rolling 12 month period measure backward from the date an employee uses any leave time

Two weeks is the shortest leave period for a birth, adoption, or foster placement. An employer can agree to less than 2 weeks on two occasions.

Paid Leave

Income will not get cut too much to pay bills when paid leave benefits are requested. Paid Leave Benefits can pay for expenses when a worker is not earning income because they are taking leave to care for a new child or adopted or foster child. The benefits also cover time taken off work for taking care of a serious illness experienced by a parent, spouse, or child.

The Paid Leave Benefits can cover time a worker spends on CFRA unpaid leave.

The paid benefits last up to 6 weeks in a 12 month period. The six weeks of payments do not have to be used all in one leave period. A worker can take leave periods on and off during the 12 month period. For care for a child, the period begins at birth, adoption, or foster care placement and ends 12 months later.

An employer can request the employee use up to 2 weeks of their earned vacation leave. Sick leave hours can not pay for family leave unless the employee agrees to use the sick time.

A serious health condition is an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition. The worker has to spend time in inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility. And, they have to get treated by a physician or medical practitioner. Common illnesses like the common cold and the flu are not covered.

The benefits amount is calculated using the highest paid quarter in a 12 month base period. Typically, the base period is 5 to 18 month before the paid leave. The family benefits count for about 55 percent of the worker's regular wages. When the baby bonding benefits follow pregnancy disability benefits paid for by the State Disability Insurance, the weekly family benefit amount is the same as the pregnancy disability benefit.

In 2010, the minimum weekly benefit was $50 and the maximum weekly benefit $987.

Part time workers are covered if they earned at least $300 during the base period.

Wages include sick leave, bereavement payments, back pay, and any other earnings earned at the workplace.

Payments are made on a Visa Employment Development Department debit card from Bank of America. The card lasts three years. The worker can transfer funds put on their card to a personal checking or savings account.

Sick leave payments can be paid out together with paid family benefits during a leave period. The total can not be more than the worker's regular pay. For example, a worker can use less of their sick leave hours to take time off and make up the difference between sick leave payments and their regular wage using their paid family benefits.

A worker can not request paid family leave benefits during a time they are getting state disability insurance, unemployment benefits, or workers compensation. Any benefit an employer voluntarily pays for baby bonding can change the amount of benefits, or make the employee ineligible.

Covered Employers

Employers that do business in California and employ at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the worker's worksite are covered by the CFRA.

State government and governments in cities and counties are responsible for giving their government servants an opportunity to take unpaid leave. It does not matter how many employees the agency employs.

Eligible Employees

New comers to a business are not eligible for the unpaid family leave. Workers have to work 12 months for an employer and fulfill work responsibilities for at least 1,250 hours during a 12 month period before they can take unpaid leave.

There is no time threshold for paid leave benefits. Workers that pay into the State Disability Insurance program are eligible, including the self-employed who voluntarily pay in. Some government workers, such as school employees, that pay in to the insurance program are also eligible.

Workers that lose wages because they took time off the work they depend on to earn income can request paid benefits. The benefits replace lost income.

Job Guarantee

CFRA guarantees a worker will have their job when they return to work after taking their leave. Job protection is not given for getting benefits in the paid family leave program.

The unpaid leave job protection guarantees a worker gets the same or comparable position. The position has the same levels of pay and benefits, and working conditions. The privileges, perquisites and status stay the same.

Also the same:

• duties and responsibilities

• skill, effort, and authority

• the worksite, or geographically close worksite

• work schedule, or an equivalent schedule

Benefits

Employers that cover a worker in a group health insurance plan must continue the health benefits during the leave time so the worker is covered while they are taking care of the home concerns and when they return to work. During unpaid leave, a worker has a right to continue gaining seniority and keep their benefits for life, short-term or long-term disability, accident insurance, pensions and retirement plans, or supplemental unemployment benefits. The employer owes the worker the same benefits they do when the worker takes other leave.

Pregnancy Disability Leave

Both the 12 weeks unpaid leave and the 6 weeks paid family benefits can follow the end of a pregnancy disability leave. The pregnancy leave lasts up to 4 months.

An Occasion for Time Off Work

Productivity is not always better then making home life better during the work hours. Californians make the best of their time off work.

Sources:

California Family Rights Act, in the Fair Employment and Housing Act (1993).

California Employment Development Department, Paid Family Leave Insurance Program (2009).