Medical leave in California: how FMLA, CFRA, pregnancy disability leave and paid sick leave fit together

The short answer

Ask two separate questions: Is my job protected? and Will I get paid? Different laws answer each one.

• Job protection comes mainly from the California Family Rights Act (CFRA: 5 or more employees, up to 12 workweeks), the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA: 50 or more employees, 12 workweeks, usually alongside CFRA), pregnancy disability leave (5 or more employees, up to four months per pregnancy) and paid sick leave (nearly all employers, at least 40 hours or five days a year).
• Pay comes mainly from paid sick leave, vacation or paid time off, and State Disability Insurance (SDI): Disability Insurance (DI) for your own illness, injury or pregnancy, and Paid Family Leave (PFL) for caregiving or bonding with a new child. In 2026 both replace about 70 to 90 percent of usual wages, from $50 up to $1,765 a week. The Employment Development Department (EDD), which runs SDI, says these benefits "do not provide job protection." Only a leave law holds your job.
• Pregnancy is where the laws stack the most: up to four months of pregnancy disability leave, then up to 12 more workweeks of CFRA leave to bond with the baby.

This is general information, current as of October 21, 2026, not legal advice.

Decision table: if you work for…, then…

Employer size decides most of this. Count all employees, full or part time; for CFRA, those in other states count too.

Then match the reason for your leave

The laws one at a time

Paid sick leave

Since SB 616 took effect on January 1, 2024, California employers must generally let you use at least 40 hours or five days of paid sick leave a year, whichever is more. You are covered after 30 days with the same employer within a year in California, and can start using sick days on your 90th day. Part-time, per diem, temporary and In-Home Supportive Services workers are included.

• Your employer can give the full amount each year or let you earn it (at least one hour per 30 worked), and may cap your saved balance at 80 hours or 10 days.
• Use it for your own or a family member's illness, treatment or preventive care. Family includes a parent, child, spouse, registered domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, sibling or a designated person. It also covers certain needs after a qualifying act of violence, such as domestic violence or stalking.
• Give advance notice when the time off is planned. Your employer cannot deny sick leave only because you lack a doctor's note, or punish you for using it. Any minimum it sets for each use cannot exceed two hours.
• Outdoor agricultural workers may use sick days to avoid smoke, heat or flooding during a declared emergency. See also California's two workplace heat standards.
• If you are rehired within 12 months, your unused balance generally returns. Where a city requires more, the more generous rule applies.

CFRA

CFRA covers private employers with 5 or more employees and all public employers. You are eligible with more than 12 months of service and at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before your leave. You can take up to 12 workweeks in a 12-month period, all at once or in parts, for your own serious health condition (one involving inpatient care or continuing treatment), a family member's, bonding with a new child, or certain military-family needs.

Family care covers a child of any age, spouse or registered domestic partner, parent (including a parent-in-law or stepparent), grandparent, grandchild, sibling, and a designated person: someone related to you by blood, or whose relationship with you is like family. Your employer may limit you to one designated person per 12 months.

Your employer must return you to the same or a comparable job and keep your group health coverage on the same terms for up to 12 workweeks. It may ask for a provider's certification of when the condition began, its likely duration, and why you cannot work or care is needed, but under state regulations not your symptoms or diagnosis. For foreseeable leave, it can require 30 days' notice.

FMLA

FMLA covers private employers with 50 or more employees (in 20 or more workweeks of the current or prior year) and all public agencies and schools. You need 12 months with the employer, 1,250 hours in the past year, and 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite. It differs from CFRA mainly by counting pregnancy disability toward its 12 weeks and by adding up to 26 workweeks of military caregiver leave.

Pregnancy disability leave

If pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition leaves you unable to work, an employer with 5 or more employees must allow up to four months of leave per pregnancy, with no minimum time on the job. Four months means the hours you would normally work in about 17⅓ weeks (693 hours on a 40-hour schedule), taken all at once or in pieces.

If your employer normally pays for group health coverage, it must keep doing so for up to four months. Unless you are receiving SDI, it may require you to use accrued sick leave during the unpaid part; using vacation is your choice. With your provider's advice, you can also ask for an accommodation or a temporary transfer to less strenuous or hazardous work.

The key interaction: pregnancy disability is covered by FMLA but not by CFRA. So pregnancy disability leave and FMLA run together, and your 12 workweeks of CFRA remain afterward for bonding. State regulations put the combined maximum at four months plus 12 workweeks.

Bereavement and reproductive loss leave

After 30 days with an employer of 5 or more employees (or any public employer), you can take up to five days of bereavement leave when a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner or parent-in-law dies. The days need not be in a row but must be used within three months. If asked, provide proof such as a death certificate or obituary within 30 days.

Under SB 848, in effect since January 1, 2024, the same employers must allow up to five days of reproductive loss leave after a miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy or unsuccessful assisted reproduction, including a partner's or surrogate's loss when you would have been the parent. No documentation is required, the employer must keep it confidential, and it can cap the total at 20 days in 12 months. Use it within three months of the loss, or of the end of another protected leave you are on. Both leaves are unpaid unless your employer pays.

Accommodation and the interactive process

California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) requires employers with 5 or more employees to reasonably accommodate a known physical or mental disability unless that would cause undue hardship. Federal law adds similar duties at 15 or more employees (the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act for pregnancy-related limits).

• Your employer must engage in a "timely, good faith, interactive process": a back-and-forth to find changes that let you do the essential parts of your job.
• If your disability is not obvious, it may ask for reasonable medical documentation, but you need not disclose its nature.
• Leave can itself be an accommodation. Holding a job open, or extending CFRA or FMLA leave, may be required if it is likely to let you return and does not cause undue hardship. Indefinite leave is not required.
• If you have used up CFRA or FMLA leave and your provider says you still need time or changes, your employer must start the process. If another accommodation would let you keep working, it may not require leave instead.

For a policy analysis of essential functions, medical inquiries and leave in health care workplaces, see Disability Accommodation in Medical Employment.

How it stacks: two examples

Getting paid: SDI in 2026

Disability Insurance pays when a non-work illness, injury, surgery or pregnancy keeps you from your regular work for at least eight days. The first seven days are unpaid; benefits can last up to 52 weeks. File 9 to 49 days after the disability begins, with a licensed health professional's certification.

Paid Family Leave pays for up to 8 weeks in a 12-month period, with no waiting period. File between the first day of family leave and 41 days after it begins.

For both:

• You must have earned at least $300 with SDI deducted ("CASDI" on your pay stub) during a past 12-month "base period."
• EDD estimates about 90 percent of weekly wages if you earned up to about $65,000 in the base period and about 70 percent above roughly $83,700, with a flat amount between, for a 2026 range of $50 to $1,765 a week. EDD's online calculator gives an estimate.
• Workers fund SDI through a 1.3 percent payroll deduction on all wages in 2026.
• Your employer can let you combine benefits with sick leave or paid time off, up to your regular pay. If it is covered by FMLA and CFRA, it may also count your weeks on DI or PFL as FMLA or CFRA leave.
• Citizenship and immigration status do not affect eligibility.
• EDD tells your employer about a DI claim but says it does not share your medical information.

What is changing

• January 1, 2027: SB 1149, signed September 27, 2026, adds a "designated person" to the family members whose death qualifies for bereavement leave (employers may limit it to one per 12 months).
• January 1, 2027: AB 2292, signed September 28, 2026, bars physicians and other practitioners from charging an administrative fee just to complete the medical certificate for a Disability Insurance claim or a Paid Family Leave caregiving claim; they may still bill for an actual exam and your copay.
• July 1, 2028: SB 590, signed in October 2025, lets workers receive PFL to care for a seriously ill designated person.
• Each January: EDD's benefit range and deduction rate can change.

Checklist before and during leave

• Check your employer's size and your own service against the decision table.
• Give written notice: 30 days ahead when foreseeable, otherwise as soon as you can. Keep a copy.
• Ask HR which laws apply, when each starts, whether you must use sick time, and whether your health coverage continues.
• Have your provider complete any certification requested; share timing and work limits, not your full record.
• File with EDD on time: within 49 days for DI, 41 days for PFL.
• If you need more time or changes at work, ask for an accommodation before leave runs out.

If something goes wrong

Deadlines differ by law. If you have been fired or disciplined, talk soon with an employment lawyer or legal aid; the nonprofit Legal Aid at Work offers free help. See also recent California law changes, benefits after a job loss, explaining a career gap after illness or caregiving, and the postpartum support checklist.

Sources

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3. Leave for Pregnancy Disability and Child Bonding: Quick Reference Guide — California Civil Rights Department; accessed October 21, 2026.
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