Los Angeles Babies

STD/FMLA in California???

I am trying to figure out if I will qualify for any Short-term disability or Family Medical Leave Act and I am not sure where to find the answers.  I've read through the CA state disability website and can't seem to find answers and every time I call, they "have reached the max number of callers" and it hangs up on me!  

I worked in Massachusetts until May of this year.  I moved to California and just started working in CA this month.  When I have the baby in November, I will have only worked for 2 months at my current job.  I think this disqualifies me for FMLA since I haven't been with the same company for a year.  However, I can't figure out if I can still get short-term pregnancy disability?  And if so, will they calculate payment based on my hours worked in Massachusetts, because I won't have worked a full quarter in California.  

Any answers or suggestions on where to look for answers would be helpful!

Re: STD/FMLA in California???

  • I was able to take disability leave from my job at 6.5 months because my doctor signed off on it. It really seems to be their call, although I think that, if you qualify, you will be able to get disability about a month before your due date and up to six weeks afterwards. Does your paycheck show that you're paying into SDI? I'm not sure how long you have to before becoming eligible. You might be able to find out more info on the EDD website. A word of caution, though: the government shutdown is making processing times crazy, from what I hear and you will not get paid for the first seven days you don't work no matter what (they consider this a processing time). Hopefully you'll qualify. Good luck!
  • Likely Not Eligible: FMLA is always unpaid (at the federal level) - but it guarantees you your job when you get back. To qualify for it, you would have had to worked for your current employer for 1250 hours (32 weeks at a typical 40 hour salary job)  in the previous 12 month period, so you won't be eligible for that.  There is a California version of this called CFRA which is better, but it has the same 1250 hours limitation.  


    Likely Eligible: PFL: I think what you want to investigate first is PFL (Paid Family Leave)  To apply or ask questions, their phone number (EDD/State of California) is at their website at www.edd.ca.gov/disability, and click "PFL".

    The core eligibility rule for out of staters like us (I just relocated from Seattle), is that we must be employed at the time of requesting assistance, and we must have earned at least $300 from which SDI deductions were withheld.  (Which is essentially at least one minimum wage pay cycle).   So you *should* be eligible, and you'll be able to take up to 6 weeks off due to this, paid at 55% your salary, up to a max of $1075 per week, so it's not full coverage, but it is more than half.

    I believe your employer also has the option of requiring you to take all of your sick/vacation time before any disability or PFL kicks in.

    *MAY* be eligible - Paid Disability Pregnancy Leave - This will all be up to your doctor and how disabled and unable to work you are.  If you work in a high stress/highly physical job (grocery stocker/dock worker/construction, for example), they may ask your job to put you on "light duty" (so go from stocking heavy things to inventory for example), and if your job won't comply only offer you disability after that is confirmed.

    I'm wading through all of this myself.  I hope this was helpful.

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