Maternity Leave - California?

Question

I work for a co. that has only 14employees (2 are not on payroll). I wonder how much maternity leave I can count on? And how to apply for maternity leave? Thank you!

Answer 1

You are covered by two laws.
State Disability(Which was formely known as Maternity leave) that gives you 6 weeks paid.
California Paid Family Leave-another 6 weeks paid and can be taken right after your disability ends, or whenever you want before your baby turns 1.With these 2 laws it doesnt matter how small your company is.
So basically you can take up to 12 weeks.
FMLA-offers 12 weeks of UNPAID time if you work for a company of 50 or more employees, which you are not covered.

Answer 2

The standard is 6 weeks for vaginal delivery and 8 weeks for C-Section. You can apply for disability through the EDD. They have a website in which you can download a form and mail it in. Disability only pays about 65%-70% of your income- so if your employer doesnt pay maternity leave, you have to consider options. Also if you would like more time off- there is something called the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) which could also get you more time off- but I am not sure if you are paid by the state or not.

Very Important- Fill out your EDD disability Application the moment you go into labor and mail that same day. You dont want to sit on that.

Also inform your employer that you intend to take maternity leave for ____amount of time. You dont want to burn any bridges in case you decide to come back.

Answer 3

Unfortunately you need to have at least 15 employees at your job to have job security under the law. You get your 6 weeks disability and anything beyond that is up to your employer. I have a friend who works at a lawfirm with only 12 employees and they told her they will not grant her anytime beyond disability. She's an attorney and knows they are within the law so she's looking for a new job, somewhere where there is at least 15 employees so that with her next baby she will have job security.

I was lucky that I worked at a big office, and so I got 12 weeks paid, 6 weeks disability and 6 weeks paid family leave. Your job has to have at least 50 employees to get the 2nd 6 weeks of pay though.

Answer 4

The state ensures 6 weeks (disability pay) and then there is FLMA which gives another 6 weeks. FLMA is basically the same thing as disability and you can take it immedietly after your initial 6 weeks or you can use it anytime within the first year of your childs birth. Your employer cannot deny you any of this time.

Something to remember (and I got messed up on this) is that the state will pay you for 12 weeks, but will not ever pay for the first week that you take off. For example, if you take 13 weeks off, you will get paid for 12. If you take 12 weeks off, you will get paid for 11, etc.

The best thing to do is to talk to the person in your company who handles employment (HR person) and have them walk you through all the appropriate steps to taking your time off.

Answer 5

http://www.edd.ca.gov/direp/difaq1.htm#Pregnancy

Here you go all your answers are in here. You do not qualify for FMLA, that is with 50 employees and over and they pay you to stay home with the baby 12 weeks after your 4 weeks from State is up. Hope that made some sense.

Answer 6

do you have an HR department?? you need to check with them every company is different..