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Paid Family Leave is a state-sponsored insurance program within the SDI program, administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD). PFL covers employees at organizations of any size. PFL provides employees with partial wage replacement for up to eight weeks in any 12-month period while absent from work to care for a seriously ill or injured family member or bonding with a minor child within one year of the child’s birth or placement in connection with foster care or adoption, or to participate in a qualifying exigency related to the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of the individual's family member.
Like SDI, Paid Family Leave does not create the right to a leave of absence. PFL does not require you to create a leave of absence policy or guarantee reinstatement rights other than those already mandated by law.
If you withhold SDI contributions from employees’ paychecks, you are also withholding for PFL.1 As with SDI, PFL is administered by the EDD, and employees apply directly to the EDD for benefits. The EDD is also responsible for the process of confirming if the absence qualifies for benefits. The EDD can require medical and other documentation in support of the claim. See the EDD’s Paid Family Leave Toolkit for Employers.
State law requires an employee poster, included in the California and Federal Labor Law Poster, and an information brochure to be given to each employee upon hire and when leaving work for a covered reason. These items are available from CalChamber’s online store.
An employee who is entitled to a leave of absence to care for a family member or bond with a child under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) can receive PFL benefits while on leave. For more information, see Family and Medical and Parental Leave.
This topic contains the following information:
The following are important definitions related to PFL:
PFL benefits are available to employees on a leave of absence to care for a seriously ill family member (parent, spouse, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, parent-in-law or registered domestic partner) or for child bonding, or for a qualifying exigency. Employees on leave to care for a family member may be eligible for FMLA and CFRA leave. Employees on leave for baby child bonding may be eligible for FMLA and CFRA. This table shows the relationship between PFL benefits and FMLA or CFRA. Note: Employees on PDL and employees on FMLA or CFRA leave for their own serious health condition are not eligible for PFL benefits.
Issue |
FMLA, CFRA, PDL leaves of absence (state and federal law) |
PFL wage replacement during a leave of absence (state law) |
|---|---|---|
|
Employer coverage |
FMLA — 50 or more employees. CFRA — five or more employees. |
One or more employees. |
|
Employee eligibility |
FMLA — Has worked for you for 12 months and 1,250 hours in the prior 12-month period, and works at a worksite with at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the worksite. CFRA — Has worked for you for 12 months and 1,250 hours in the prior 12-month period. |
Immediately upon employment and need for leave if the employee has earned at least $300.00 from which PFL deductions were withheld.
|
|
Duration |
FMLA and CFRA — 12 weeks in a 12-month period or, under FMLA only, 26 weeks for servicemember leave. |
Eight weeks in a 12-month period.
|
|
Reasons for leave |
FMLA — For the employee’s own serious health condition; to care for a seriously ill child, parent or spouse; for child bonding (bonding with a newborn child or a child placed with the employee in connection with adoption or foster care). For servicemember care leave or a qualifying exigency related to military service by a family member. CFRA — The employee’s own serious health condition. A qualifying exigency relating to a close family member’s military service. Bonding with a newborn, an adopted child or a child placed in foster care with an employee. Caring for a family member (parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse or registered domestic partner) with a serious health condition. |
To care for a seriously ill family member (parent, spouse, child, grandparent, grand- child, sibling, parent-in-law or registered domestic partner) or for child bonding. PFL benefits are not available when an employee is on leave for the employee's own serious health condition. Bonding with a newborn, an adopted child or a child placed in foster care with an employee. To participate in a qualifying exigency related to the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of the individual's family member (spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent). |
|
Requirement for medical certification |
FMLA and CFRA — You can require medical certification if employee is caring for a family member. No medical certification is allowed for child bonding. |
The EDD determines eligibility for benefits. |
|
Sick, vacation or PTO pay during leave |
FMLA & CFRA — You can require the employee to use accrued benefits such as sick, vacation or PTO while on FMLA/CFRA leave if the leave is unpaid. However, if the employee is receiving pay under a disability benefits plan (such as PFL), they cannot be required to use those benefits. |
|
|
Reinstatement rights |
You must reinstate the employee to the job held prior to the need for leave. |
Creates no reinstatement rights. The right may exist under some other law or organization policy. |
|
Continuation of benefits |
The employee is entitled to the same level of benefits as if they were still on the payroll. The employee pays any contribution they would pay if at work. |
No benefit continuation unless it exists under some other law. |
To be eligible for PFL benefits, the employee must need leave for the following:
The term qualifying exigencies comes from the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides up to 12 weeks of protected leave for such situations. For more information, see “Leave for a Qualifying Exigency (FMLA Only)” on FMLA and CFRA Qualifying Reasons.
The law doesn’t create a right to take a protected leave of absence; it merely gives an employee the ability to collect PFL benefits if they do take time off. The right to take a protected leave for “qualifying exigencies” will depend on whether the employee is eligible under the CFRA and/or FMLA. If the employee is not, an employer could still choose to provide a leave for qualifying exigencies but would not be required to do so.
Eligible employees must:
Benefits are payable for any day in which the employee is unable to perform their regular customary work due to a covered absence.
Benefits are available for any day that warrants the participation of the employee, including providing psychological comfort and arranging third-party care for the family member, as well as directly providing or participating in the medical care.
An individual cannot receive PFL payments if they are:
For PFL claims to care for an ill family member, employees are not eligible for any day that another family member is able and available for the same period of time that the employee is providing the required care.
Benefits received under California’s PFL program are taxable for federal income tax purposes. The benefits are not subject to California income tax.
The PFL program is funded entirely through employee contributions to the SDI fund.
PFL benefits are available to employees who take time off for child bonding, to care for a seriously ill family member, or for qualifying exigencies. Under these circumstances, other leaves and benefits may be implicated. The following discussion will illustrate how PFL may overlap with other protected leaves and how employers may integrate PFL benefits with other sources of income.
If an employee takes up to 12 weeks of FMLA or CFRA leave to care for a seriously ill parent, spouse or dependent child, or, under FMLA, up to 26 weeks to care for an ill or injured servicemember, the employee may be eligible for PFL benefits for up to eight weeks in a 12-month period.
If an employee takes up to 12 weeks of leave for child bonding or for a qualifying exigency under FMLA or CFRA, the employee may be eligible for PFL benefits for up to eight weeks in a 12-month period.
For further information on how PFL may interact with FMLA or CFRA, CalChamber members can use the Leave Interaction Wizard
An employee disabled by pregnancy is eligible for SDI benefits, but not eligible for PFL benefits. However, after they are no longer disabled by the pregnancy (and their SDI benefits cease), they can apply for PFL benefits during the time they take off to bond with their new child, for which they may also be eligible for CFRA or FMLA.
Because PFL benefits do not totally replace an employee's earnings, you can allow employees to use vacation, PTO and/or paid sick leave to supplement PFL payments to get employees up to 100 percent of their normal wages.
Additionally, under some limited circumstances, you may require the use of vacation/PTO leave to supplement PFL benefits, though when you are allowed to require such use is a complex issue that depends on other laws that may apply, such as CFRA/FMLA.
If an employee is receiving PFL benefits while on CFRA/FMLA leave, the employer may not require the use of any type of paid time off pursuant to CFRA and FMLA regulations. However, if the employee is receiving PFL benefits but is not covered by CFRA or FMLA, then the employer’s vacation/PTO policy applies, which could require vacation/PTO under this circumstance. Employers should note, however, that this applies only to pure vacation and PTO banks that do not include paid sick leave under the California Healthy Workplace Healthy Families Act (HWHF).
Employers cannot require the use of paid sick leave under HWHF, including from a PTO bank that is designed to cover HWHF. For more information on California’s paid sick leave law, see Paid Sick Leave.
When coordinating PFL with other wages, the employer must remember that it is the responsibility of the employer and the employee to ensure that the employee is not receiving more than 100 percent of their normal gross wages. For purposes of SDI and PFL, vacation is not considered a form of wages. The most common type of payments that are considered wages for SDI or PFL purposes are sick leave, PTO, bereavement pay, back pay and earnings.
Employers should maintain a policy addressing the use of accrued leave to supplement PFL benefits and consult legal counsel with any questions regarding integration of benefits.
The California Employment Training Panel and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency are providing grants of up to $2,000 per employee utilizing California’s PFL program.
These grants are geared toward helping small businesses offset the increased costs that may arise when an employee is out on leave, such as cross-training existing staff, and hiring and training new and/or temporary employees.
Grants are available in the following amounts:
To qualify, businesses must:
For more information or to apply for a grant, visit CaliforniaPFL.com, including their Frequently Asked Questions. After reviewing the eligibility requirements and collecting the information needed to apply, it will take businesses approximately 10 to 15 minutes to fill out the online application.
The grant period runs until May 31, 2028, or until funds run out.
1. UI Code sec. 3300
2. UI Code sec. 3302; Cal. Admin. Code sec. 3302-1
3. UI Code sec. 3301