New job - maternity leave in California - January 2025 Babies | Forums | What to Expect (2025)

Hi, CA native here! So here your leave is split up into sections and it all goes one after another. So the first 12 weeks is your fmla/disability = 4 weeks before delivery + 6 weeks for vaginal or 8 weeks for c section. (Take your 4 weeks before bc you can’t put it on the back end if you don’t).

The next 12 weeks is California paid family leave, aka baby bonding. This is where yes, you need to be employed for 12 months/ work a total of 1250 hours to qualify for. You only get paid for 8 weeks of it, the last 4 weeks are paid through your pto from your employer. With PFA, you don’t have to take it all at once, you can break it up and take it in parts but it all needs to be used up by your kiddos first birthday.

You apply for all of this through CA EDD, they will send you your disability payments every 2 weeks.

Hopefully that makes sense. So you will get the minimum 12 weeks of fmla/disability. My suggestion is just try to get your 6 or 8 weeks of disability extended as much as you can to get more time. also talk to your employer If there are other leaves you can dip into to get more than the 12 weeks. Also know in California your position is protected for 6 months, for any type of LOA you take.

I hope this helps explain everything! If you have any more questions let me know! ������

I had a very similar situation. I think it may depend on the size of your job. I work in a hospital so it’s over 50 employees. You need to be employed for 12 months and have accrued 1250 hours in a fiscal year. You have one year from the date of birth to take FMLA (when you qualify).

This is different from disability.. which you qualify for. You will be able to start pregnancy leave of absence (disability) generally at 36 weeks (or earlier if your OB approves) and then once baby is born, depending on how you have your baby (vaginal or c section) you will have 6-8 week (this is considered disability too). After that is over, disability ends and this is when you usually take the FMLA (12 weeks unpaid leave). even though you will not qualify when you deliver you have 12 months from the date of birth to reach that qualification and then you can take FMLA.

Hope that makes sense. Also California is one of the few states that offers paid bonding time (8 weeks). It’s unrelated to FMLA but you can use that 8 weeks bonding time payment while you are taking FMLA. Hope that makes sense!

CA resident here who took leave with her first last year. Want to note that while yes EDD will pay it is roughly only 60-70% of your pre tax salary. So if you rely on your income then work with your employer to use accrued sick/vacation to cover the remainder of your income. I did this so I could continue to not have to pay out of pocket for insurance and continue paying into my retirement. Just something to think about. I ended up starting my leave the day I went into labor to maximize my pay. The 4 weeks before is use it or lose it but i work remotely and it wasn’t worth it for me to take a pay cut for practically no reason.

There’s also a one week waiting period so you actually don’t get paid at all for the first 7 days. And all the checks you receive from Edd are pre tax so make sure to assume you’re gonna end up paying about half that come tax time.