The new CFRA provisions eliminate CFRA’s current exception to coverage for employers with fewer than 50 employees within 75 miles of the employee’s worksite. However, the other current leave qualifications — that an employee must have at least 12 months of service with the employer and must have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12-month period before taking a leave — remain in place.
The new CFRA, like its predecessor, still requires that employers guarantee employees reinstatement to the same or a comparable position upon return from CFRA leave. However, the new CFRA eliminates the “key employee” exception, which permitted an employer to deny CFRA leave to employees who are among the highest-paid 10% of their workforce, if “necessary to prevent substantial and grievous economic injury” to the employer’s operations.
Who Is a “Family Member”?
Under existing law, employees are entitled to CFRA leave to bond with a new child or to care for the employee’s own serious health condition or that of a “family member.” Presently, family members include minor children, adult dependent
children, spouses, and parents.
Going forward, family members also will include siblings, grandparents, grandchildren and domestic partners. In addition, family members will include all
adult children, regardless of whether they are dependents of the employee, and the children of domestic partners.
“Baby Bonding” Leave
The new law also eliminates the CFRA mandate that both parents, if they are employed by the same employer, may take only a combined total of 12 weeks to bond with a newborn child or newly adopted child or foster care placement.
Starting January 1, 2021, if both parents are employed by the same employer, they each
will be entitled to take 12 weeks (or 24 weeks total) of unpaid protected “baby bonding” leave.
CFRA Compliance for Small and Large Employers
Employers that have five to 49 employees and are not covered by the CFRA need to adopt new policies and procedures. Also, supervisors and human resources personnel should be trained to properly implement the requirements of the new CFRA.
Employers with 50 or more employees need to revise existing policies to address the January 1 changes and ensure that all appropriate employees are trained on the new requirements.
In addition, small and large employers need to examine or re-examine how they will track leave under the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and CFRA, as the two will not always run concurrently.
