California Paid Family Leave Benefits Expand to Eight Weeks on July 1, 2020

Beginning July 1, 2020, California's paid family leave program (“PFL”) will provide partial wage replacement benefits for up to eight (8) weeks in a 12-month period, which is an increase from the maximum six weeks currently available.

Employees can use PFL to care for a seriously ill child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, registered domestic partner, or to bond with a child within one year of birth or adoption. However, PFL does not provide job protection to the employee, but other state and federal laws such as the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) do provide such protection.

In order to receive eight weeks of benefits, a claim for PFL must be filed on or after July 1, 2020. For example, if a worker files a claim for PFL benefits before July 1, 2020, that worker is eligible only for a total of six weeks of benefits.



For additional information about PFL, please click here

Tips

Employers which communicate paid family leave benefits in their employee handbooks should consider updating their policy, including providing their employees updated state brochures on the revised benefit as soon as possible.