An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 8 – Leaves And Absences

Section 6 P AID F AMILY L EAVE Paid Family Leave (“PFL”) is part of the family temporary disability insurance program of the California state disability insurance (SDI) system. This program provides employees with up to six weeks of wage replacement benefits while they take time off from work to care for a family member with a serious health condition, or for the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a new child. PFL is not available for the employee’s own sickness or injury under this program. 1330 The term “paid family leave” is a bit of a misnomer because the law does not actually provide an employee with the right to take leave or the right to reinstatement. Rather, paid family leave provides wage replacement benefits when the employee is taking unpaid family care leave, often although not necessarily under the FMLA and/or CFRA. Consequently, PFL generally serves as a complement to FMLA/CFRA used for caring for an ill family member or for bonding. A. E MPLOYEE E LIGIBILITY Unlike the FMLA and CFRA, an employee is not required to wait a year or work a minimum number of hours to be eligible for PFL. The employee is eligible for PFL immediately upon employment, subject to a seven-day waiting period. 1331 Thus, an employee who may not be eligible for FMLA or CFRA leave may be eligible for PFL. If the employee is or becomes eligible for FMLA or CFRA leave, however, the PFL benefits will run concurrently with FMLA or CFRA leave. An employee is not eligible for the PFL under the following circumstances:  If the employee is receiving unemployment benefits, workers’ compensation, or SDI benefits or disability benefits from any other state. 1332  An employee is not eligible for paid family leave if another family member is “ready, willing, and able” to provide the required care. 1333

 A School may require an employee to take up to two weeks of earned but unused vacation leave prior to the employee’s initial receipt of PFL benefits. If the School so requires an employee to use vacation leave, up to one week of that vacation leave shall be applied to the PFL’s seven day waiting period. 1334 Schools, however, must meet and confer with labor unions on the issue of employee vacation time because the language is permissive.  Employees are only entitled to the PFL benefits once in a 12-month period. 1335

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 306