California CFRA vs. FMLA: What’s Covered & What’s Not?

If you’re a California employee needing time off for a serious health condition or to care for a family member, you may be covered by two laws: the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). While these laws provide similar protections, there are key differences every employee should understand.

Here’s what you need to know about how the FMLA and CFRA interact and what rights they provide.

Overlapping but Not Identical

The FMLA is a federal law that provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for specified family and medical reasons. The CFRA is the California state equivalent of the FMLA. It was amended in 2021 to expand its coverage and differ from the FMLA in several respects.

Where the FMLA and CFRA overlap, they run concurrently, meaning an employee is using up both types of leave at the same time. But in some situations, an employee may be entitled to leave under one law but not the other, or may be able to stack the leave for a longer period of job-protected time off.

Key Differences Between the FMLA and CFRA

Some of the main differences between the FMLA and CFRA include:

Covered Employers

• FMLA applies to employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles of the worksite.
• CFRA applies to employers with 5 or more employees, with no geographical restriction.

Eligible Employees

• FMLA requires the employee to have worked 1,250 hours in the 12 months prior to taking leave.
• CFRA has no hours worked requirement. The employee must only have been employed for 12 months prior to taking leave.

Covered Family Members

• FMLA allows leave to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition.
• CFRA also allows leave to care for a grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or domestic partner. In 2023, CFRA was expanded to allow leave to care for a “designated person,” defined as any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.

Qualifying Reasons for Leave

Both laws allow leave for the employee’s own serious health condition, to bond with a new child, or for a qualifying exigency related to a family member’s military service.

Only the FMLA allows leave for the employee’s own pregnancy-related incapacity. This is because California has a separate law, the Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL), that provides leave for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions. An employee may be entitled to up to 4 months of job-protected leave under the PDLL in addition to the 12 weeks under CFRA.

Minimum Duration of Leave

Under FMLA, an employer can require that leave be taken in increments of at least one hour.

Under CFRA, an employer must grant leave in shorter increments if medically necessary. For leave to bond with a new child, the minimum duration is two weeks, but the employee can request two occasions of shorter leave, which the employer must grant.

Practical Effects on Employees in California

What does this all mean for California employees? It often means enhanced leave rights compared to their counterparts in other states.

For example, because the CFRA covers smaller employers than the FMLA, more California employees are eligible for job-protected leave. And because CFRA doesn’t have the same hours worked requirement as the FMLA, part-time employees or those who recently started a job have greater access to leave.

The expanded definition of family members under CFRA is also significant. It means employees can take job-protected leave to care for a wider range of loved ones, including siblings, grandparents, and designated persons who may not have a biological or legal relationship to the employee.

Perhaps most notably, the differences between the FMLA and CFRA mean that California employees may be able to take more than 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 12-month period in some circumstances. This is because leave that qualifies under one law but not the other doesn’t count against the employee’s entitlement under the non-qualifying law.

For instance, an employee could take 12 weeks of CFRA leave to care for a sibling with a serious health condition. That leave wouldn’t count against their FMLA entitlement because caring for a sibling isn’t an FMLA-qualifying reason. The employee would still have 12 weeks of FMLA leave available if needed for an FMLA-qualifying reason later in the year.

Interaction with Other Employment Laws

It’s important to remember that the FMLA and CFRA aren’t the only laws that may provide leave rights to California employees. In addition to the PDLL, mentioned above, California has a paid sick leave law that allows employees to accrue and use sick days for their own or a family member’s health needs.

There are also laws providing leave for specific purposes like organ donation, domestic violence, and school activities. Employers must apply the most generous provisions of all applicable laws. An employment attorney can help navigate the interaction between different leave laws and protect your rights.

Protect Your Right to Family and Medical Leave

Navigating the FMLA and CFRA can be confusing, but one thing is clear: California employees have strong rights when they need time off for family or medical reasons. If you believe you’ve been wrongfully denied leave or experienced retaliation for taking leave, you have options.

At TONG LAW, we’re dedicated to helping employees assert their rights to family and medical leave.

Contact us for a confidential consultation if you have questions about your leave rights or believe your employer has violated the FMLA or CFRA. We’re here to help you protect your job, your health, and your family.