Summary of Maternity Leave Rights in California
Disclaimer: I am not a professional. All research was done on my own and based off my personal situation. It might be different for you but here’s what I learned along the way!
I cannot believe in less than two weeks I’ll be done with maternity leave and heading back to work. Thinking back on how special this time was makes me also think about how it was such a pain to figure out what maternity leave benefits I was entitled to. I wish there was someone who could have simply laid out what taking maternity leave would look like at the beginning of my pregnancy. The amount of digging it took for me to truly understand what my rights were as a new mother in California took way too many hours to count. After researching and taking maternity leave myself, I thought it would be helpful to share my experience with other mothers in my position.
This might help you even more if you live or work in San Francisco (we get added benefits here). Maternity leave is one of the best and most special seasons. Taking full advantage of my rights and getting sufficient time to bond with my little one has made me feel more excited to return to work when it’s time. I am so thankful I haven’t felt rushed during this time thanks to the benefits we have here in California. Here is a little (hopefully simple) walkthrough of the benefits I was able to use during this time period.
I want start by having you picture maternity leave in California as split up into three categories. Pregnancy disability, Paid Parental Leave, and Baby Bonding/California Family Rights Act. For me, this accounted for a total of 22 weeks off of work. I’ll briefly explain what each of these periods mean and how you may be entitled to them. Here is what my leave looked like broken down.
4 weeks Pre-Delivery Disability
6 weeks Post-Delivery Disability (Vaginal Delivery)
8 weeks CA Paid Parental Leave (CA PPL) + SF Paid Parental Leave (SF PPL)
bonus… both parents qualify for this paid bonding time
4 weeks unpaid leave under CFRA (California Family Rights Act)
Pre Delivery Disability
The standard, “no questions asked” pre-delivery pregnancy disability start date is at 36 weeks, or 4 weeks before your due date. That means you are able to take this part of your leave without much fuss from your employer or the state. Once you submit your application with your start date, your OB will have to go online and officially certify this portion of your leave for you to begin getting paid. Additionally, there is a 7 day unpaid waiting period once you submit your leave with the California EDD. I was required to take PTO during this time with my employer. Just because 4 weeks is the “no questions asked” standard for this period of your leave, if you are for some reason unable to work before 36 weeks, there are other options to claim benefits before then with a note from you OB. I know plenty of other nurses who went on light duty or reduced their hours because of pregnancy complications or the physical demand of the job. That’s what disability benefits are for, so don’t feel bad for taking them if needed!
Post Delivery Disability
You just gave birth to your little one, and you’re recovering and getting barely any sleep those first few weeks. This is the second phase of your pregnancy disability. The state has set a standard timeframe for disability during this period depending on how you delivered. For a vaginal delivery, the standard is 6 weeks. For a C-section, the standard is 8 weeks. Although this is the standard, disability can always be extended if you have complications or delayed healing that would not allow you to physically be able to return to work (you’ll just need a certification of extension for medical reasons from your OB).
*A fun note about the disability period*
If your situation is like mine, you can expect to take home a little bit more during this period than your normal paycheck while you’re claiming disability, which is definitely helpful when you have new baby expenses! I also used the extra cash to save up for 4 week unpaid period, which I’ll go over in a bit. During the disability period, I was only taxed on the supplementary income I received from my employer (I used a combination of ESL and PTO). The portion of my pay that I collected from the state disability insurance was not subject to taxes.
California Family Rights Act
The CFRA is the framework for how you claim your 12 weeks baby bonding period following your recovery and completion of the disability period. This is similar to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which is the federal legislation that qualifies you to take 12 weeks off to bond with a new child or take care of an ill family member. However, if you live in California, the CFRA is basically a better version of it that overrides the need for the FMLA in the situation of taking time off to bond with your baby. These laws would cover you concurrently during your 12 week leave period, but they cannot be combined for the purpose of bonding with a child.
Simply put, the CA PPL/SF PPL and the unpaid leave period falls under these protected 12 weeks after you finish your disability period. Your leave during this 12 weeks (if you live or work for a covered employer in San Francisco) would look like this:
8 weeks paid through CA PPL + additional SF PPL (if you work for an San Francisco employer) up to 100% of your weekly pay
4 weeks of unpaid leave (I used my remaining PTO during this period)
California Paid Parental Leave
Starting July 2020, the state increased the paid time off period from 6 weeks to 8 weeks. Perfect timing for us since our daughter was born in December 2020! Both parents qualify for this paid time off in California and it can be taken at any time during the first 12 months after baby arrives. My husband split his time up and took 4 weeks in the beginning and saved 4 weeks for another time (the time off just has to be used within the first 12 months).
The pay covers about 60% to 70% of your income up to cap of $1300/week for a total of 8 weeks. Simple as that. You can go online and calculate how much you qualify for during this time.
San Francisco Paid Parental Leave Ordinance
If you work for a San Francisco based employer, this ordinance requires covered employers to supplement the remaining portion of your weekly pay that the CA PPL does not cover up to 100% of income up to a cap of $2262/week of total PPL benefit between the state and the city.
Unpaid Leave
After claiming all the benefits I listed above, you should still be eligible for 4 more weeks off work to spend with your sweet babe. These last weeks would be unpaid by the state, but if you still have PTO or have set aside some cash to cover this time off, this is the period to use it.
I hope this little summary of benefits makes sense and helps you navigate taking maternity leave in California and getting the most out of that precious time off with your baby. I hope that the right for women to take work off for the purposes of bringing babies into this world and bonding with them continues to improve in our country. I cannot tell you how much I have valued this time off and feel privileged that I live in a state and city that works to support women and parents through this journey.
All this is my experience and advice based on it, you should definitely make sure to research and confirm it applies to your situation before using it. All the information can be found on these websites.
https://www.edd.ca.gov/disability/pfl_mothers.htm
https://sfgov.org/olse/paid-parental-leave-ordinance