Am I eligible for FMLA ?

[fmla2017CA]

Jurisdiction

California

I started working for my Employer in March 1 2016 and I am due for delivery on Feb 2017. So I am planning to take FMLA leave from Jan 20 2017 Onwards. I will be completing 11 months of my employment then and almost 1800 hours my service till then. I want to know if I will be eligible to get FMLA ?

 

[hrforme]

No, because you have not completed a full year of service (it's an "AND" statement with 1 year of service AND at least 1250 hours). However, your employer could decide to allow you the time off. You should ask if what the leave policy is for those not currently eligible for FMLA. Obviously they are going to know you need timeoff for childbirth/healing.

eta: noticed California and just responded to FMLA federal. I know CA has some other pregnancy/family leave laws that might help you out but I don't know if they have the same service requirement

 

[cbg]

The service requirement is the same for the CA state version. It's 12 months of service AND 1,250 hours, not OR 1,250 hours.

 

[Betty3]

This is how it works in Ca. "if/when" a pregnant employees qualifies for all
available leaves (PDL, FMLA, CFRA)

It's possible for an employee to get up to 7 mos. of job protected pregnancy leave in Ca. though all women will not qualify for the total 7 mos.:
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 can be invoked for an add'l. 3-mo. leave. (for bonding)

An employee will not get the total 4 mos. of PDL (pregnancy disability leave) unless they are disabled for 4 mos. Also for FMLA & CFRA the requirements for them must be met. Ca. employees are entitled to leave under PDL regardless of the length of employment or hours worked. Most employers with 5 or more employees are subject to PDL.

While off on disability, an employee should get Ca. SDI (state disability insurance) to get paid while off on disability.
The PFL (paid family leave) pays employee while off on bonding leave.
(SDI & PFL are not leaves but income you get when out on leave.)