When Life Gets in the Way: Federal and California Employment-Leave Laws

September 21, 2012

Juggling work and home life can be a challenge under normal circumstances. But sometimes, it's downright impossible. When illness, pregnancy, military service or childbirth significantly affect the personal or family life of an employee such that work becomes temporarily impossible or highly unfavorable, federal law may provide for unpaid leave with job and benefit protection.

The Family and Medical Leave Act

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, was enacted in 1993 during the Clinton administration to protect members of the changing work force. Increasingly, working families included single parents with kids and two-parent families where both parents were employed. When any of these adult workers had pressing family problems that took them away from work, no legal protections were in place to preserve their jobs and accompanying benefits.

The FMLA was passed to "promote the stability and economic security of families." Its basic thrust is to guaranty in a 12-month period a maximum of 12 weeks of unpaid family leave to a qualifying employee of a covered employer. After returning from leave, the employee must be returned to his or her previous position or something equivalent.

Currently, the following are protected reasons for FMLA leave:
- The birth of the employee's child
- To care for a new baby
- To care for a newly adopted or fostered child
- To care for the employee's child, parent or spouse with a serious health condition
- To recover from the employee's own serious health condition that prevents him or her from working, including conditions related to pregnancy
- To handle pressing family matters stemming from the employee's child, parent or spouse being called to active military duty

Different leave provisions apply to two other situations:
- An employee whose spouse, parent, child or next of kin is an eligible military servicemember can get a maximum of 26 weeks of leave in 12 months to care for that relative. (The 26 weeks includes any time taken under the other nonmilitary provisions.)
- Airline flight crews' leave times are calculated differently by regulation to reflect their unique work scheduling patterns.

The FMLA is fairly complex. For example, certain types of covered leave allow that the time off may be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule. If an employer provides accrued paid leave benefits like vacation or sick time, the employee may use up this paid time at his or her discretion during the FMLA leave, or the employer may require this for some types of covered leave.

If an employee is taking leave for a foreseeable reason like an impending birth, a planned medical procedure or military deployment, certain notice provisions kick in.

To fall within the FMLA's provisions, both employees and employers must meet complicated eligibility criteria. Most employers with at least 50 employees are covered, both public and private. Employees must meet specific hour, length of employment and location requirements.

The California Family Rights Act

With passage of the California Family Rights Act, or CFRA, Californians had received similar leave protections under state law even before the FMLA. Most of the main provisions of the state leave law have evolved to be the same as the federal, but not all.

For example, under CFRA, registered domestic partners are included in the same ways that spouses are under the FMLA.

Another big difference is how pregnancy leave is handled. FMLA treats a leave based on pregnancy complications as a regular serious health condition so it would count toward the 12-week annual total. But in California, a special law covering most employers and employees provides a "pregnancy disability leave," or PDL, up to a maximum of 4 months.

And sometimes pregnancy leave may be even longer under California law. Significantly, if a covered employer gives nonpregnant employees more generous temporary disability leave than the four-month statutory PDL leave, its pregnant employees are also legally entitled to the more generous leave terms that their male or nonpregnant female colleagues get, In addition, complex differences in leaves related to military service exist between federal and California state laws.

California Paid Family Leave

A huge benefit for Californians that federal law does not provide is the availability of partial wage replacement during FMLA-eligible leaves. Since 2004, California has provided this paid family leave, or PFL, funded by the state disability insurance program through payroll taxes. PFL is available for up to six weeks in a 12-month period and makes it easier for families with tight budgets to take this important time off.

Legal Advice Important

California state and federal leave laws are complicated; this article only scratches the surface of their many provisions. Any employee in California who is denied protected unpaid leave or state PFL should speak with an experienced employment law attorney to explore his or her rights and legal remedies. Remedies may potentially include administrative complaints with public agencies, and lawsuits with potential damages for lost wages or other monetary losses, interest, legal and expert fees, court costs, equitable relief like job reinstatement, and more.

Article provided by The Rubin Law Corporation
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