Is anyone thinking or is going to take CFRA leave in California?

jdsummerbaby · June 2012

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone was going to take the CFRA leave? additonal 12 weeks from my understanding or am I confused. can your company deny you of it?

kelnyc · June 2012

You mean in addition to the 12 weeks from FMLA? You can't do both.

marhar7106 · June 2012

In NY we have FMLA, which is the Family Medical Leave Act. It sounds like the same thing. You can take up to 12 weeks and they can't fill your position, but in most cases it's unpaid. I stay at home and care for children, but my husband has taken advantage of it for the births of both of my girls. He only takes 1 or 2 weeks though.

jdsummerbaby · June 2012

oh ok. so they are the same? I'm just a little confused. i thought it was on top of FMLA but CFRA is 12 weeks unpaid.

kelnyc · June 2012

jdsummerbaby:
oh ok. so they are the same? I'm just a little confused. i thought it was on top of FMLA but CFRA is 12 weeks unpaid.

The 12 weeks for FMLA is unpaid also (maybe the CFRA is for people who don't get FMLA?). The only difference is that is comes from the federal level instead of the state. Short Term Disbility is what would pay you during that time, or your company's own in-house plan, but that is not usually at full pay or for the whole duration. For example, my company is honoring FMLA even though they have less than 50 employees (which is the cutoff for requiring companies to participate), so I will be taking 12 weeks off. We also have Short term Disability, for which my company pays my premiums. STD only pays 6 weeks for a regular vaginal birth and 8 for a C-section, and ours also has a 7-day wait period that either goes unpaid, or I can use PTO to get fully paid for that 1st week I'm out. After the 6 or 8 weeks is up, my company has decided to offer an extension to the STD policy by paying an additional 4 weeks at the same rate (which is typically 2/3 of your regular salary). So, if I have a regular delivery, week 1 will be fully paid using my accrued PTO, weeks 2-7 will be paid at 2/3 my salary by STD, and weeks 8-11 will be paid by my copanies extension plan, also at 2/3 my regular salary, and week 12 (if I decide not to go back early) would be unpaid. Hope that makes sense!

ETA: The moral of the story is, if you don't have Short Term Disability coverage or a company with a plan that would offer any paid maternity leave, than you would not be paid, but they would hold your job and benefits.

alikat07 · June 2012

jdsummerbaby:
oh ok. so they are the same? I'm just a little confused. i thought it was on top of FMLA but CFRA is 12 weeks unpaid.

Lurking, but I wanted to answer your question. CFRA is different from FMLA. California has a separate timeline - it begins with your medically necessary pregnancy disability date (whenever you start leave) and lasts 6-8 weeks after birth depending upon your delivery (C-section is longer).

After your disability period ends CFRA begins and is additional 12 weeks. From what I understand CFRA guarantees your position but not your benefits, so if you go past FMLA and the insurance is under your name you might need to pay your whole benefit depending upon how your company works.

Here the information about each my HR gave me:

California Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL)
Pursuant to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, an employee may take up to four months of medically necessary pregnancy disability leave, which will be concurrent with FMLA leave (if eligible for FMLA).

California Family Rights Act of 1991 (CFRA)
If eligible, you may take an additional 12 weeks of family and medical leave for reasons unrelated to pregnancy disability. This may be for your own serious medical condition or that of a family member, or to care for a newborn child or a recently placed adopted or foster child.

jangelopoulos · June 2012

I am also lurking but the person above is correct with PDL and CFRA. FMLA and CFRA leave can overlap once you are no longer on PDL leave. (To many crazy acronyms) I was a HR person in CA and with all the laws (there are 3 laws for leaves(2 state and one federal) and 2 different type of pay while on leave) it can be very confusing for most people. To be eligable for CFRA leave you must have worked for 12 months, 1250 hours (25+ hours per week) and there must be 50 or more employees.

We are very lucky in CA to have a state run paid disability (I think that CA is 1 of 2 states in the US that offers this) so you do not have to worry about short term disability coverage. You will get disability pay through the state (if you are working) or the time the doctor considers you disabled and then you will qualify to get paid family leave for another 6 weeks. The calculation on how much you will get paid is also a little compliated but you can get more information at the EDD website. www.edd.ca.gov.

This was such a big topic in CA for HR people that the professional organizations would have seminars twice a year on this!

I hope this helps!

jangelopoulos · June 2012

Also if you are eligable to take CFRA leave, your employer cannot legaly deny you. If I was still working I would take CFRA leave. You should be eligable to take a total of least 18 weeeks (VB) up to 22 weeks (CS) off (between PDL/FMLA and CFRA leave) after the baby is born and would be paid by SDI and PFL for at least 14 weeks up to 16 weeks. We are lucky to be in CA!

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