California Maternity leave?

cad0327

Any other working moms in California know options for paid maternity leave besides FMLA? I do not qualify for FMLA, my job only has 20 employees. I know I can qualify for disability, my boss said I can take 6 weeks before birth and 6 weeks after, however you can't roll over the days from before...so not 12 consecutive weeks. Is that true? A lot of people tell me different stuff and my boss gives me a guilt trip about "only taking a week off with all her kids" so I haven't asked her anymore. I want to take time off with my daughter but it has to provide some kind of income (none without pay, as we can't afford that). Anyone with any info?? thanks! 

Harper'smom

You qualify for 6-8 weeks of disability after the birth depending on whether it is a vagunal birth or a c-section. Your job is protected during this time and you will receive approximately 70% of your salary (there are limits). You then qualify for 6 weeks of California paid family leave which is about 50% of your salary (again there are limits). BUT because you work at a small company your job/benefits are NOT protected. I work at a small company but am the highest ranking employee so my job was not at risk. In other words, yes you can take 12 weeks and receive some leave money but if you take more than 6 or 8 you have no right to your job.

ETA:you can also take 4 weeks of disability prior to the birth. All of the literature online is very confusing. I had to call the HR company we consult with to sort it out. Here is a link that also may help  https://www.paidfamilyleave.org/ 

cad0327

Thank you very much, this helped a lot. I was reading about the california paid family leave but didn't know if was the same as fmla...thank you for your help!!!

stdldb29

Disability would be the only thing that could pay out some. 

My job doesn't pay at all for any days on maternity leave--I got to use my 10 sick days and then they docked me for every single day after that. They had to spread it over 3 pay checks so that my insurance was still being paid.

 

Harper'smom

cad0327:

Thank you very much, this helped a lot. I was reading about the california paid family leave but didn't know if was the same as fmla...thank you for your help!!!

No problem. I'm just wrapping up my leave in CA so it is all very fresh. Also it is nice because the CA PFL kicks in automatically after you apply for disability/ it runs out with minimal effort on your part. There will be about a 3 week gap between your last disability disbursement and the CA PFL initial disbursement but it is retroactive so all time is covered. So Plan for that lapse. 

Harper'smom

cad0327:

Thank you very much, this helped a lot. I was reading about the california paid family leave but didn't know if was the same as fmla...thank you for your help!!!

No problem. I'm just wrapping up my leave in CA so it is all very fresh. Also it is nice because the CA PFL kicks in automatically after you apply for disability/ it runs out with minimal effort on your part. There will be about a 3 week gap between your last disability disbursement and the CA PFL initial disbursement but it is retroactive so all time is covered. So Plan for that lapse. 

cad0327

I'm a hairstylist my salary is all commission and I don't have any benefits through my job, so no worries there. My only concern would be job security. I will keep the 3 week lapse in mind, it's nice it automatically kicks in after disability... Do you know where i get the paperwork for these?? Online/work/ or from my dr? It's all so confusing!! Lol 

Harper'smom

cad0327:

I'm a hairstylist my salary is all commission and I don't have any benefits through my job, so no worries there. My only concern would be job security. I will keep the 3 week lapse in mind, it's nice it automatically kicks in after disability... Do you know where i get the paperwork for these?? Online/work/ or from my dr? It's all so confusing!! Lol 

You download the disability paperwork from the CA disability website and give it to your doctor. I then had t give a copy along with a letter from my MW to my employer. This is priory to leave. After the birth make sure your doctor does the follow up paperwork. Them the paperwork gets sent to the state and they send something to your employer. Again it takes a few weeks to get your first check.

I would be upfront with your employer about how much leave you want to take and go from there.

And yes it is a headache when you throw in the small company factor. Good luck!

 

hass2001

Harper's Mom said it all!! I just want to add though about the 4 weeks prior - had I known about this earlier I would have taken more time - but basically you can take 4 weeks off before your baby comes. How do you know when your baby comes? Well you don't, so if you take the 4 weeks before your due date and your baby is a week late, you loose a week. Or if you plan to take 4 and your baby is 3 weeks early then you loose that 3 weeks pay and you go right into your 6-8 weeks paid state disability. I guess if you are having a scheduled C-section this would work out great! Good luck.

Harper'smom

hass2001:

Harper's Mom said it all!! I just want to add though about the 4 weeks prior - had I known about this earlier I would have taken more time - but basically you can take 4 weeks off before your baby comes. How do you know when your baby comes? Well you don't, so if you take the 4 weeks before your due date and your baby is a week late, you loose a week. Or if you plan to take 4 and your baby is 3 weeks early then you loose that 3 weeks pay and you go right into your 6-8 weeks paid state disability. I guess if you are having a scheduled C-section this would work out great! Good luck.

Good point! I worked until I went into labor the first time because I didn't know about the 4 week before stuff. I said I wasn't going to do that this time and planned to take 2 weeks disability. My water broke the morning of my last scheduled day in the office. Oh well! :-) 

AZ123

You really should check on the California employment site because you are commission based so the question is whether or not you've been paying into StateDisability taxes. You need to have been making contributions and employed for a certain period of time to qualify for CA State Disability and CA Paid Family Leave Act. You can call the employment office for more information.

They must have increased the pay percentage because when I did leave last year, I got paid 55% of my salary - not 70%. Also, keep in mind when you do your taxes that you don't pay state taxes on the state disabililty but you do pay federal.

cad0327

Thanks for all the advice! It helped me a ton. I talked with my boss today and she gave me the go ahead to take 2 weeks before EDD & 8 weeks after, using a combination of disibiltiy and PFL (depending on when baby chloe comes!) thanks again ladies!  

hass2001

Harper'smom:

cad0327:

Thank you very much, this helped a lot. I was reading about the california paid family leave but didn't know if was the same as fmla...thank you for your help!!!

No problem. I'm just wrapping up my leave in CA so it is all very fresh. Also it is nice because the CA PFL kicks in automatically after you apply for disability/ it runs out with minimal effort on your part. There will be about a 3 week gap between your last disability disbursement and the CA PFL initial disbursement but it is retroactive so all time is covered. So Plan for that lapse. 

Bummer!! I took a week off before my EDD and DD came right on her due date! It was nice to have at least the one week.