CFRA bonding leave in California

You need 12 months with your employer, 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months before your leave, and an employer with 5 or more employees. Since 2021 that includes small employers too.

CFRA covers bonding, not your own pregnancy disability, so it never runs at the same time as PDL. It starts once your disability ends and lasts up to 12 weeks. You can take it all at once or in pieces, as long as it’s within a year of the birth.

• You return to the same job or a comparable one — with virtually identical pay, benefits, duties, schedule, and location. That’s a small change from PDL, which guarantees the same job.
• Your employer keeps paying its share of your health insurance for up to 12 more weeks, on top of the coverage during PDL.
• While you’re receiving Paid Family Leave, your employer can’t make you use PTO. In unpaid bonding weeks it can require vacation, and sick leave can’t be used unless you both agree.

CFRA holds your job; it doesn’t pay you. Paid Family Leave pays 8 of the 12 weeks. The other 4 are unpaid unless you use vacation or PTO, or your employer offers paid parental leave.

CFRA tops out at 12 weeks. If your employer offers more parental leave than that, the extra weeks are held by its policy rather than by state law — ask HR to confirm your return date in writing.