Your maternity leave rights!

That's right ladies you can get up to 7 months pregnancy related leave in California! Don't even get me started on how hard it was to find that out. Let's just say 20 calls to HR/my manager later, a bunch of research of my own.... & I JUST really got a good understanding of what my rights are as far as taking maternity leave (my baby is now 3 months old). You would think they would make some sort of employee packet for us pregnant californians but no that would be way to easy & too many people might actually know their rights ha!











SO...Here's the basics (to the best of my knowledge lol):

up to 4 months Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL)

• paid 55% (of regular pay) by disability & depending on your employer you can take from your sick time, if you have it, to get paid (mine pays the other 45%)

• does not have to be taken all at once (ie you're allowed up to 4 weeks before birth & 6 weeks after for vaginal delivery{8wks for cesarean} but if you have some pregnancy or post partum related illness then you can take the rest to total up to 4 months)

up to 6 weeks Paid Family Leave (also known as "baby bonding")

• paid 55% (of regular pay) by disability & depending on your employer you can take from your vacation time, if you have it, to get paid (mine pays the other 45%)

• can be taken within 1 year of birth

up to 12 weeks covered under CFRA

• begins when PDL ends

• unpaid by disability unless you are on Paid Family Leave (PFL) or your employer allows you to use vacation time

• runs congruent with PFL & can be taken within 1 year of birth

PDL & PFL are done by EDD (disability) & this is how you get paid
FMLA & CFRA are the acts that protect your job etc while you are out on disability/leave


BUT there are also certain qualifications you must meet so...

are u CONFUSED? me too! luckily i found some sites that helped me understand this a lil better:

GO HERE 1st, this guide is very user friendly & easy to unsterstand
Know Your Rights! Family Leave Guide








http://www.working-families.org/learnmore/ca_family_leave_guide.pdf

 I love this GUIDE because it takes the confusion out of it!!

THE SITE THE GUIDE COMES FROM: paidfamilyleave.org
this site has info on PDL, PFL, FMLA, CFRA & Family-School Partnership and how they all work together as well as flyers & guides you can print or have mailed to you for FREE! 
Here's link to

Five Key Laws Poster: 

http://www.paidfamilyleave.org/pdf/FiveKeyLawsPoster.pdf 







also:
Pregnancy Disabilty Leave (PDL)
Paid Family Leave (PFL)
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)/California Family Rights Act (CFRA)
HOW THEY ALL WORK TOGETHER