California’s innovative Paid Family Leave (PFL) law – the only one in the nation – is now two years old. The program provides most employees with up to six weeks of partial pay when taking leave from work to bond with a new baby or foster or adopted child, or to care for a seriously ill parent, spouse, child, or domestic partner. The benefits are entirely employee-funded through California’s State Disability Insurance (SDI) program and allow workers to collect up to 55 percent of their salary, up to a maximum of $840 a week.
While employers aren’t required to pay into the PFL program, they do have some other responsibilities. In particular, you must provide information about the PFL program to all new employees and to all employees who leave work to care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child. The EDD publishes a brochure (DE 2511) for this purpose. CEA Online subscribers can link to the brochure from our website.
Also, make sure you have posted in the workplace the latest version of the EDD’s “Notice to Employees” poster, which includes information about unemployment insurance, PFL insurance, and state disability insurance. CEA Online subscribers can link to the current poster, DE 1857A (or DE 1857 if your employees aren’t covered by unemployment insurance).
EDD notices and posters can also be obtained from the EDD online.