Beginning January 1, 2018 the new paid family leave law otherwise known as AB 908 will take effect.
The purpose of the bill is to increase the amount that an employee can receive while they are onPaid Family Leave.
PFL what is it?
PFL is sponsored by the state of California and is available to all employees who qualify. It is provided through the State Disability Insurance (SDI). Employees can use the PFL to take time off from work for the purpose of taking care of a family member that is seriously ill, or to bond with a child as long as they take this time to bond within one year of the child’s birth. The PDF also allows foster parents to bond with a foster child that has joined the home within one year.
How Does Someone Get PDF?
Paid Family Sick leave provided through the Employment Development Department better known as (EDD). Employees will go down and apply at the Employment Development Department when they want to take PDF.
This program is funded by the employee’s deductions taken from their pay. When an employer withholds SDI, from an employee’s check the Paid Family Leave is being funded.
What are the employer’s responsibilities to an employee who is on PFL?
This leave of absence while it is a paid absence is not paid by the employer, and the employer has no duty to hold the job of an employee who elects to take advantage of this leave. That being said the employee can use this leave to help support a qualified leave that is an unpaid leave such as the FMLA or the CFRA.
The PFL is only there to be a partial wage replacement while the employee is on a qualified leave.
So what does this Bill do?
AB 908 simply increase the amount that an employee can get while they are on the leave. Presently an employee can receive 55 cents of their earnings, this will be up to a maximum of a weekly benefit. Under the new law the benefits will increase to a max of 60 to 70 % the amount will depend on the employee’s income, even under the new law there will be a cap on the benefit amount.
Since Paid Family Leave is funded the by the employee contributions the employer does not have to contribute.
Reference Links:
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB908