The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: bryan995 on May 25, 2017, 10:11:32 PM
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So - my wife and I are expecting our first child in Sept 2017! Horray! :)
My company grants a total of 6 weeks:
6 weeks 100% pay - parental/family leave.
My wife's company grants her a total of 16 weeks:
10 weeks 100% pay - maternity leave
6 weeks 100% pay - parental/family leave (can be used after maternity or up to 1 year post-birth, in 1 week increments)
It looks like CA SDI also covers 10natural/12cesarian weeks at 55% pay, which can start up to 4 weeks prior to delivery, and an additional 6 weeks of parental leave at 55% pay, which can be used up to 1 year post-birth.
Question - is it possible to mix these two in CA? Or do these run concurrently? Or is this policy set company per company.
My wife's HR did to seem to be of much help...
e.g.
Is something like this possible for my wife? (mixing CA SDI with company benefits?)
-4 -> 0: 4 weeks prior to delivery, 55% pay via CA SDI
0 -> 10: 10 weeks post delivery, 100% pay via company (maternity)
10 -> 16: 6 weeks post maternity leave, 100% pay via company (parental/family)
16 -> 22: 6 weeks post parental leave, 55% pay via CA SDI
22+: vacation and then unpaid leave, job protection via FMLA?
OR
0 -> 10: 10 weeks post delivery, 100% pay via company (maternity)
10 -> 16: 6 weeks post maternity leave, 100% pay via company (parental/family)
16+: vacation and then unpaid leave, job protection via FMLA?
Is CA SDI only meant to supplement the lack of a company benefit, e.g. or supplement a non-100% pay company benefit?
This would mean in our above case, we cannot make good use of the CA SDI and it wouldn't be worth applying for.
Thanks!
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What your wife's company chooses to do will depend, but I can give you the low-down on CA (which my company didn't know either. When I had my first kid, another coworker was pregnant. We were the first two ever. I went back at 13.5 weeks, and she planned to take the full time - 24 weeks - and was at week 20 when the company said "you have to come back at 22!")
So, in a nutshell, for a vaginal delivery, max PROTECTED leave is 22 weeks (assuming company is covered by FMLA and CFRA - certain sized company, and she has to have worked there for a certain amount of time).
Here's what you need to know:
FMLA and CFRA are guaranteed time off and CONCURRENT
PDL (which is time off and disability pay) and CFRA are NOT-CONCURRENT
PFL (paid family leave) is money and not "time off"
What this means: Weeks
-4 to 0: PDL (pregnancy disability leave with 55% pay) AND FMLA
0 to 6: PDL (pregnancy disability leave) AND FMLA
6 to 18: CFRA (concurrent with remaining FMLA). Some of this is partially paid (taxable) by PFL paid family leave.
Total weeks of protected leave = 22 weeks.
Pregnancy disability leave can go longer than 6 weeks after the birth - 8 weeks for a C-section, and maybe longer if something bad happens (had a friend with temp paralysis)
Neither of my companies were overly generous in allowing to stack maternity for after FMLA and CFRA. It's expected that it's concurrent. Company #1 had a maternity benefit, but it was the same as CA state SDI (our HQ was in another state)
Company #2 paid me full pay for 12 weeks ("made up the difference"), meaning I got my full paycheck, but I paid them back for the state SDI/ PDL check.
*MOST LIKELY* what she will get is this:
- 4 to 0: 100% pay, maternity leave, PDL & FMLA (but she won't be allowed to collect PDL)
0 to 6: 100 pay, maternity leave, PDL & FMLA (But she won't be allowed to collect PDL)
6 till 18: FMLA & CFRA - a total of 12 weeks because that's CFRA and it's NON-CONCURRENT with PDL. 6 of which she would get full pay.
Sorry if this isn't much help, but *most* companies aren't going to let you stack like that.
Bottom line: 22 weeks job-protected leave for vaginal delivery, 24 for c-section.