CA Employee S FMLA Vs Pregnancy Disability
7 Replies
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I am curious if there are any other CA employees out there who can help me with a question. I understand that in CA you are ent_tled to 4 months of pregnancy disability and an additional 12 weeks once the baby is born under FMLA. My company is stating that any time taken off before the birth counts towards your 12 weeks and you will therefore have less time off after. Since I drive about 200 miles a day with my sales job and also do a lot of lifting with it, my Doctor wanted to put me on disability around week 36. Can anyone tell me if disability runs concurrent with FMLA or is separate? I have been told that they are separate by friends who work in HR at other companies yet my company tells me different. I should mention that my company is not based in CA and does not fully understand CA law. For now, I plan to work up until I deliver my baby so that I can have a full 12 weeks at home after. I am not trying to take advantage of the system but I do worry about being hours away from my house and going into labor while at work.
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I ran into this problem too - my employer wasn't aware of the law. So I researched it on my own. Here's what I found out. The FLMA 12-week clock begins the day your leave starts. So to maximize your leave, you would want to wait until just before you have your baby to begin your leave. On the day your baby is born, your CA disability begins. This can be 6 or 8 weeks depending on your delivery - Vaginal or C-Section. The day after the 6 or 8 week clock on disability ends, then your 12 week CA family leave begins. So FMLA, disability, and CAFL can run concurrently, usually alowing for a 16 week leave. If you have more questions, the dept of Fair Employment and Housing can help. web site: http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/
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Thank you, Judy. I have been doing a lot of research on this topic and I will check out the website you left now. My company will pay me for 8 weeks and does then gives me an additional 4 weeks under FMLA. Since their policies do run concurrently and CA allows for 4 months of pregnancy disability, I am going to try for an additional 4 weeks of disability, thereby allowing for 16 weeks. It's still confusing to me since I continue to find new information but I plan to work until the day I deliveer and then go from there. Thanks again.
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I checked my files, and the person at the Cal Dept of Fair Employment and Housing who set it all straight for me was Sara Wong at 1-800-884-1684. It's been several years since I spoke to her (my first is now 3 1/2) but she was a big help. Good luck!
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 | Amy - August 29 |
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Based on federal law, if you do not work out of the main office and live 75 miles away from it then you will not be eligible for FMLA. I work in NE for a Irvine, CA based company and according to federal law I do not qualify. See this article: http://www.networkworld.com/net.worker/columnists/2005/0117counsel.html
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Amy, I have done a lot of research since my first post and, as a CA employee, I do qualify for FMLA and all other applicable CA state laws. I think that your situation may be different since you work for a CA-based company but are not a CA-based employee, which makes sense. Thank you for the article, though - I will check it out. Judy, thanks for the phone number and contact name - I appreciate it!
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My company requires that you are with the company for 1 year to get 12 weeks. I have not been with the company for one year so I am only getting 6 weeks with my baby from the day of my delivery. I was on state disability 3 months before my disability. It would be so nice to have 12 weeks with my baby but unfortunatley my work says my doctor would need to have a medical reason for why I need more then 6 weeks.
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Most people can get 4 weeks of SDI before birth and 6 weeks SDI after the birth. FMLA runs concurrently with SDI. However, CFRA does not run concurrently with SDI. So, if you are covered by both the California Family Rights Act and the Family Medical Leave Act, you can take up to 4 weeks off before birth on disability if certified as disabled by your doctor. If you are covered by disability for 6 weeks post birth, then you would get those 6 weeks off plus an additional 12 weeks off AFTER disability runs out under the CFRA law. Of those 12 weeks, 6 weeks can be paid through the Paid Family Leave Act law, and then 6 weeks would be unpaid (unless you had accrued vacation to use). It's a little confusing as there are 4 laws in CA governing pregnancy leave.
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