The California Family Rights Act already provides most employees in the state with up to 12 workweeks of family care and medical leave in a year.

And now the law has been amended, allowing workers to take leave for care of a designated person in addition to family members. 

Here’s what California employees should know about the new law, Assembly Bill No. 1041, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Sept. 30.

What workplaces are covered?

Any government entity in the state, and businesses that employ five or more workers.

Who can I take leave for?

Under AB 1041, family care and medical leave can be taken:

• For the birth of a child or the placement of a child in connection with adoption or foster care.
• To care for a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, or designated person who has a serious health condition.
• For an employee’s own serious health condition that prevents them from performing their job functions, except for pregnancy or childbirth, or related medical conditions.

In addition, California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 generally allows employees to use paid sick days for diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition of, or preventive care for, an employee or an employee’s family member. AB 1041 expands the definition of the term “family member” to include a designated person. 

What’s a serious health condition?

According to the bill, it’s an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential health care facility, or continuing treatment or continuing supervision by a health care provider.

Also keep in mind that the California Family Rights Act provides for five days of bereavement leave, which do not need to be taken consecutively. This leave is unpaid, though employees would be allowed to use accrued paid sick or vacation days.

How are family members defined under the law?

• Child means a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, a child of a domestic partner, or a person to whom the employee stands in loco parentis.
• Parent means a biological, foster, or adoptive parent, a parent-in-law, a stepparent, a legal guardian, or other person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a child. Parent-in-laws include parents of a spouse or domestic partner.
• Sibling means a person related to another person by blood, adoption, or affinity through a common legal or biological parent.
• Designated person means any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. The designated person may be identified by the employee at the time the employee requests the leave. An employer may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period for family care and medical leave.

Will I be paid on leave?

Not necessarily. The law says employers aren’t required to pay an employee for family care and medical leave unless it’s taken for the birth of a child or placement of a child to an employee by an adoption or foster care agency. And in that case, an employee may elect, or an employer may require, to substitute leave for accrued vacation time or time off, or any other paid or unpaid time off.

If an employee takes leave because of their own serious health condition, they may also elect, or the employer may require, to substitute accrued sick leave. However, an employee shall not use sick leave during a period of leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care of a child, or to care for a family member or designated person with a serious health condition unless mutually agreed.

Paid sick days can also be taken under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014.

Can I be terminated before I return from leave?

No. Under the law, leave is not granted unless employers provide the employee a guarantee of employment in the same or a comparable position upon the termination of the leave.

Also, employers must maintain and pay for coverage under a group health plan and employees can continue to participate in employee health and benefit plans while on leave. Employees on leave must return with no less seniority then they had when the leave started.

Keller Grover represents workers in employment-related disputes and we can help you better understand your rights, protections and options. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation.