Thank you for the information on the 7 months job protection in California. I have a question: I have been at my job for over a year full-time, and my employer has over 50 employees in our office. How do I know if I qualify for the total 7 months of job-protected leave? I haven't been able to figure this out from the websites nor from the 1 HR person in our office.

Also I have read anecdotally that I can qualify for 4 weeks of disability (SDI? PDL?) prior to the baby's birth, but I don't know if this is true or not. Also, I don't know if these 4 weeks count against the amount of time my job is protected.

Assuming I have a normal vaginal birth, what is the maximum time my job is protected?

Thank you!!

Betty3 posted:
"In Ca. most female employees can take up to 4 mos. of leave for childbearing & pregnancy related disability (subject to med. certification that an actual disability exists) under the Fair Employment & Housing Act. The fed. FMLA & the state act are generally in alignment except in Ca. a woman can take a 4-mo. pregnancy disability leave followed by a 3-mo. fam. med. leave. This is the rare circumstance when leave under the FMLA & Ca. Fam. Rights Act don't run concurrently--FMLA leave will run concurrently with the 4-mos. of pregnancy disability leave, after which the Fam. Rights Act rights can be invoked for an add'l. 3-mo. leave.
This is all job-protected leave. However, some women will not qualify for the total 7 mos."

pixieLA - would you please start your own new thread. You added to another poster's thread. Thank you.

It's now in its own thread.

PixieLA, just for future reference, it's very confusing to the responders when there is more than one person posting questions in the same thread. Thanks. :)

Thank you for the information on the 7 months job protection in California. I have a question: I have been at my job for over a year full-time, and my employer has over 50 employees in our office. How do I know if I qualify for the total 7 months of job-protected leave? I haven't been able to figure this out from the websites nor from the 1 HR person in our office.

Also I have read anecdotally that I can qualify for 4 weeks of disability (SDI? PDL?) prior to the baby's birth, but I don't know if this is true or not. Also, I don't know if these 4 weeks count against the amount of time my job is protected.

Assuming I have a normal vaginal birth, what is the maximum time my job is protected?

Thank you!!

Betty3 posted:
"In Ca. most female employees can take up to 4 mos. of leave for childbearing & pregnancy related disability (subject to med. certification that an actual disability exists) under the Fair Employment & Housing Act. The fed. FMLA & the state act are generally in alignment except in Ca. a woman can take a 4-mo. pregnancy disability leave followed by a 3-mo. fam. med. leave. This is the rare circumstance when leave under the FMLA & Ca. Fam. Rights Act don't run concurrently--FMLA leave will run concurrently with the 4-mos. of pregnancy disability leave, after which the Fam. Rights Act rights can be invoked for an add'l. 3-mo. leave.
This is all job-protected leave. However, some women will not qualify for the total 7 mos."

Please note above re quote you posted of mine that came from a previous thread. Pregnancy Disability Leave - An employer must provide up to four months disability leave for a woman who is *disabled* due to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. (subject to med. cert.) PDL can be taken for morning sickness, dr. appointments, or the leave for pregnancy.
(up to 4 mos. as long as you are disabled due to pregnancy or a related medical condition) If you qualify for FMLA & CFRA (seems you do per your info posted as long as you did work at least 1,250 hrs. in the 12 mos. immediately preceding the leave) FMLA will run concurrently with the PDL.

CFRA can be taken for bonding, after you are no longer disabled, for an additional 3 mos. of leave.

The above is all job protected leave.

While you are off on PDL, you can collect Ca. SDI to get paid while off. While off for bonding leave, you can get PFL (paid fam. "leave") for up to 6 weeks. Neither SDI or PFL offer job protection - it's *not* leave but income you get while off on leave.

If you have any additional specific questions, please let us know. I know it's confusing.

Congrats on your pregnancy.

Please note if you qualify for FMLA/CFRA, the 7 mos is a maximum that most people don't qualify for. The reason is the PDL is to 4 mos of medical disability due to your pregnancy. In CA, the dr truly tries to get the ee to work to 38 weeks, unless there are complications. So if your dr takes you out at 38 weeks and you deliver vaginally at 40 weeks, you would only have 8 weeks under PDL. At the point you were released from the MD for the pregnancy, you would have another 12 weeks under CFRA. That is only 20 weeks total. If you have a C-section, you could add two more weeks to that number.

I hope that helps.

So if your dr takes you out at 38 weeks and you deliver vaginally at 40 weeks, you would only have 8 weeks under PFL

Do you mean PDL (pregnancy disability leave) & not PFL (paid family leave - that's only income when out on bonding leave). An employee can get more than 8 weeks of PDL if she is disabled due to her pregnancy or a pregnancy related condition beyond 8 weeks but not more than 4 months. If she has a normal vaginal delivery (no problems before or after birth), 8 weeks probably would be the time off she would get under PDL.