CFRA

Using Sick, Vacation and PTO while receiving SDI and PFL

EDITOR’S NOTE: As of January 1, 2018, SDI and PFL claim benefit amounts have been increased from 55% to either 60% or 70%. The examples provided below still use the outdated 55% SDI/PFL information; however, the information remains consistent. 

It’s no secret that you’re going to try to stretch out every last minute and dollar out of your maternity leave. No shame in that game! One obvious method is to utilize any of your accrued sick, vacation, or PTO time to offset the reduction in pay. There are restrictions and regulations to doing this, so read on for more knowledge.

NOTE: The following applies to usage of sick, vacation and PTO while you are receiving wage replacements from State Disability Insurance (SDI) and Paid Family Leave (PFL). 

Sick Leave

The EDD treats sick leave as wages earned, so you can’t receive SDI or PFL benefits for any time you are receiving sick leave wages that are equivalent to your full salary. 

But wait, there’s a caveat to this! You can coordinate or integrate a portion of sick leave pay to make up the difference between the SDI/PFL benefit amount and your normal full wage. So, by combining 45% of sick leave with the 55% SDI/PFL benefit, you can theoretically get 100% of your normal gross weekly wages for the benefit period, or up until you’ve exhausted your accrued sick time. Here’s an example provided by the EDD:

An employee’s current gross weekly wage is $500. The weekly benefit amount from PFL is $275 [note: 55% of $500]. The $500 minus $275 equals a $225 per week wage loss. Consequently, the employer can integrate/coordinate a maximum amount of $225 per week in gross wages to the employee, resulting in the employee receiving the equivalent of his/her normal weekly gross pay.

Integrating/coordinating your sick leave will not affect your eligibility for SDI or PFL benefits. If you and your employer decide to go this route, your HR rep must notify the EDD that only 45% of wages are being paid, otherwise you may be denied benefits.

Vacation Leave

SDI: Vacation pay is not in conflict with SDI benefits, so your employer can pay you vacation time while receiving SDI benefits at the same time.

PFL without CFRA: If an employer requires that vacation be used during PFL, then vacation pay is in conflict with PFL and will need to be supplemented.

PFL with CFRA: If you are CFRA-eligible, an employer can not require an employee to use sick, vacation, or PTO while receiving PFL (as per CFRA reg 11092 b(3)). As such, vacation is not in conflict with PFL, and you’ll be able to receive both at the same time without it affecting PFL benefits.

Additionally for vacation and PFL, regardless of being CFRA eligible, an employer may require you to use up to 2 weeks of accrued vacation (but not sick) before receiving PFL benefits. This has no affect on your PFL amount once it kicks in.

Paid Time Off

While receiving SDI or PFL, PTO pay is considered the same as sick leave wages, if the payments are made as a replacement for sick leave when you’re out on leave.

This means that if you just accrue PTO, as opposed to sick and vacation time, then the only way to utilize PTO to offset pay reduction is to integrate/coordinate it with your SDI/PFL benefits.

Vacation/PTO/Sick Usage Situations

So, now that we’ve gone over how we can use vacation, sick and PTO time, let’s discuss common usage situations.

Unpaid CFRA time: In most traditional maternity leave scenarios (aka uncomplicated pregnancy with vaginal delivery), you’ll get partial pay for 16 out of the 22 weeks of maternity leave via SDI and PFL benefits (see timeline below). [Check out this post for a thorough overview on maternity leave].

FMLA/CFRA Eligible Maternity Leave

FMLA/CFRA Eligible Maternity Leave

As you can see from the timeline, the last 6 weeks of CFRA are unpaid. So, what to do? According to CFRA laws, you can chose (or an employer may require you) to use any accrued vacation time or PTO time during the unpaid portion of the CFRA leave. You can use sick leave during this time only if the leave is for your own serious health condition or any other reason mutually agreed between you and your employer.

SDI 7-day waiting period: There’s a mandatory 7-day unpaid waiting period that you have to serve before receiving SDI benefits. (Benefits are paid once the waiting period has been completed and all other eligibility criteria are met.) During the non-payable waiting period, you are allowed to utilize any form of wages paid by employer (sick, PTO, vacation, etc) to make up for the loss of wages.

As of January 1, 2018, there is no longer a 7-day waiting period for PFL claims.

How did I navigate the system, you ask?

I was able to coordinate/integrate over 100 hours of accrued PTO (my company only did PTO; no separate vacation or sick time) with 160 hours of company-sponsored leave pay (company perk), giving me full pay for about 14 weeks, 6 weeks partial pay, and 4 weeks unpaid during my 24-week maternity leave. Not too shabby, right?

How did you utilize your sick, vacation and PTO time during your maternity leave? Tell us about it in the comments.

Which family members do FMLA and CFRA cover?

Super basic question, but I’ve yet to find a simple, easy-to-read answer on the World Wide Web. So, here ya’ go!

FMLA and CFRA both cover the following:

  • Spouses:
    • Husbands and wives
    • Legal, same-sex married couples. As of March 27, 2015, those in legal, same-sex marriages – regardless of where they live – have the same rights as those in opposite-sex marriages to federal job-protected leave under FMLA and CFRA.
  • Sons or daughters:
    • Biological child
    • Adopted child
    • Foster child
    • Stepchild
    • Legal ward
    • Child of a person standing in loco parentis, who is either under age 18, or age 18 or older and “incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability.” Loco parentis is defined as someone with the day-to-day responsibilities to care for and financially support a child, or, in the case of an employee, who had such responsibility for the employee when the employee was a child. A biological or legal relationship is not necessary.
  • Parents:
    • Biological
    • Adoptive
    • Step
    • Foster father or mother
    • Any other individual who stood in loco parentis to the employee when he/she was a child. This does not include in-laws.

Additional coverage under CFRA is registered domestic partnerships. Effective July 1, 2015, CFRA leave may be taken to care for the serious health condition of a registered domestic partner, as defined by Family Code sections 297 through 297.5. If you live in California, where the FMLA law and the CFRA law differ, the most generous/less restrictive leave provisions must be applied. 

Additionally, there are couple other bonus coverage areas under California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) that are worth noting. In July 2014, PFL was expanded to also cover siblings, grandparents, grandchildren and parent in-laws. Under the law, the term “sibling” is defined as “a person related to another person by blood, adoption, or affinity through a common legal or biological parent,” and “parent-in-law” is defined to include the parent of a spouse or domestic partner. Do remember though that PFL only provides partial wage replacement – and does NOT provide job security. So, if you’re thinking of taking leave to care for a sibling, grandparent, grandchild or an in-law, be sure to talk to your employer about job security.

You never know what kind of curve balls life will throw at you. I do feel some relief that federal and state leave benefits extend out to family – blood and non-blood – members. [Cue music!…]

Have you taken leave for an extended family member? Tell us about it in the comments below.

 

Common Maternity Leave Questions

Oh, maternity leave: the never ending abyss of questions and uncertainty. If you’re just starting to navigate the maternity leave waters check out my previous post on how to Milk Your Benefits. After reading about California maternity leave and you’ve found yourself like this, you’re not alone….

confused-britney

To help ease the process a bit, I’ve listed some of the most common questions I’ve been seeing in various “mommy” forums.

1) Can you accrue vacation days while on maternity leave? Typically, no – vacation and sick accrual usually stops when you start your leave. A company may chose to continue sick/vacation/PTO accrual as a benefit, but that is up to the company. Definitely something to confirm when you first talk to HR about your maternity leave benefits.

2) Will I still get health insurance through my company while I’m leave? Yes, you are entitled to the continuation of health benefits through your employer for the entire duration of your PDL and CFRA (if eligible) leave. However, depending on your employer’s policy, you may be responsible to pay the monthly premium. This amount is usually the amount you are paying each paycheck, but get that confirmed with HR too as they may cover some or all of the premium.

3) What’s the best way to fill out the EDD forms? In California, you can file claims for both SDI and Paid Family leave via the SDI Online system.

4) How does my doctor submit the medical portion of the SDI claim? If you submit the SDI claim online, you will be given a Form Receipt Number (FRN) which you have to provide to your doctor. They will then use your FRN to file the physician certificate online (or by mail). IMPORTANT NOTE: Filing online does NOT automatically kick things over to your doctor, you must notify your doc of your Form Receipt Number. Also, your SDI claim is not complete until the EDD gets the certification from your doctor.

5) If I work up until my baby is born will I get more time with my baby? No. Under the Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) law, most doctors will certify a pregnancy disability leave of 10-12 weeks for a normal pregnancy — 4 weeks before childbirth and 6 weeks after a vaginal delivery (or 8 weeks after delivery by cesarean section). This means that regardless of when you give birth you are either allotted 6 or 8 weeks after birth. Then, if eligible for CFRA, you are entitled to an additional 12 weeks of bonding leave following PDL. (More info on that here). So, my tip: If you can afford it (you will be paid 55% of your weekly wages under State Disability Insurance), definitely take some time before the baby is born to relax and get things organized since it is a “if you don’t use it; you lose it” situation.

I’ll continue to post common questions as I see them. In the meantime, if you have any questions send them my way by commenting below.

Happy Maternity Leave!