I own a small business, and I have an employee who has been with my company for a few months. He came to me this morning and said that he needs to take Paid Family Leave starting on Monday to care for his mother, and that he would be gone for 8 weeks. I told him I didn’t think he was eligible for a leave of absence, but he was insistent that he’s entitled to Paid Family Leave as soon as he begins working for an employer. Do I need to give him the time off?
This is a very common area of confusion for employees and employers. “Paid Family Leave” (despite its name) does not provide an employee with the right to take a leave of absence from work but is merely a partial wage replacement benefit from the state of California.
Paid Family Leave is administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD) and provides individuals with a partial wage replacement when that person cannot work because he or she is caring for a close family member or is bonding with a new child.
An employee is entitled to the monetary benefit on his or her first day of employment, provided he or she has earned at least $300 in wages.
However, an employer is not obligated to give an employee time off to care for a family member until the employee has worked for the employer for at least one year and has performed 1,250 hours of work for the employer in the 12 months preceding the requested time off. For employers with more than 5 but fewer than 50 employees, this leave of absence is governed by the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).
If your employee has not yet worked for a year or has not performed 1,250 hours of work for your company in the last 12 months, he is not eligible for a leave of absence under the CFRA. As a result, you are not required by law to give the employee the time off from work.
If you feel as though you would like to give the employee the time off, you can grant him a personal leave of absence, but you are not compelled to do so by either state or federal law.
If you choose to grant the employee the time off, he would be eligible to receive the Paid Family Leave benefit from the state while he is away from work, for up to 8 weeks.
Column based on questions asked by callers on the Labor Law Helpline, a service to California Chamber of Commerce preferred members and above. For expert explanations of labor laws and Cal/OSHA regulations, not legal counsel for specific situations, call (800) 348-2262 or submit your question at www.hrcalifornia.com.
