FMLA is hassle enough, but add in CFRA and assorted other California laws, and family leave management can be truly mind-boggling. Free report Friday to the rescue!
Today’s report is: Compliance Guide to the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act and the California Family Rights Act.
Download your free report here»
Today’s Free Report is intended to make your job easier by pulling together essentials of the family leave laws that you need to know. First, the new family leave regulations are clearly summarized. Then, detailed explanations are given of both your and your employees’ rights and obligations, incorporating the new rules and changes. We’ll also direct you to a sample medical certification form that works in California (the federal form doesn’t).
Here’s an excerpt from today’s free report, Compliance Guide to the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act and the California Family Rights Act.
Inquiries
It’s sometimes hard to tell whether paid time off should be counted as family leave. Federal rules allow employers to inquire why vacation or other paid leave is being taken. But California law says you can’t ask unless the employee is requesting sick leave. However, if someone volunteers information that indicates that the time is for family leave purposes, you can inquire further.
Baby Bonding
In California, employees can take intermittent leave for the birth or care of a newborn or the placement of a child for adoption or foster care. Generally, you don’t have to allow “baby bonding leave” that is less than two weeks long, but you do have to grant up to two requests for shorter leave.
Pregnancy Leave
Under California law, employees may not take family leave for pregnancy-related disabilities because a separate pregnancy leave law entitles a woman to take up to four months of leave for disabilities caused by pregnancy or childbirth. However, a woman is entitled to up to 12 weeks of family leave to care for the newborn child. This means a worker could take as much as 29 weeks of pregnancy disability leave and family leave combined.
Domestic Partners
CFRA allows employees to take leave to care for a registered domestic partner; FMLA does not. This means that an employee who takes leave to care for a registered domestic partner is taking CFRA leave only, and this leave cannot be deducted from the employee’s FMLA entitlement. As a result, the employee will still be entitled to take 12 weeks of FMLA leave to care for himself or herself or a non-domestic partner family member. The total leave entitlement, then, could be more than 12 weeks.
Notice Posting
California’s family leave law imposes a separate notice-posting requirement. Call the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission at (415) 557-2325 for a copy of the notice, or go to www.dfeh.ca.gov/Publications/publications.aspx and download form DFEH-100-21. In addition, California requires employers to revise their handbooks so that their leave policies conform to California and federal leave regulations.
Dealing with Doctors
Note that although the DOL forms allow a doctor to indicate a diagnosis, California law doesn’t permit employers to obtain this information—unless the employee consents. (We created a California-specific certification form you can use, which is available here.)
Also, California doesn’t permit you to ask for a second opinion on the need for leave when the certificate is for an immediate family member and the certificate submitted was complete.
For details on all these issues, download your Free Report—Get the complete Compliance Guide to the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act and the California Family Rights Act absolutely free.