Combined Wages With Benefits

You can use any combination of your available leave credits with your claim benefits.

Leave credits can include:

• Sick leave.
• Vacation leave.
• Other paid time off.
• Employer-provided short-term or long-term disability plans.

If your employer does not combine benefits, we may reduce your benefits for that period. It will depend on the type of pay you receive.

If you combine wages, there may be times when you get more than your regular wages. You must report all payments you get from your employer. We will decide if these wages qualify as non-conflicting wages. If they are non-conflicting, they will not change your benefit payments.

You and your employer both need to make sure your combined wages are not more than your regular pay.

For example:

• You earn $500 per week (your gross before taxes and deductions).
• You get a $450 weekly benefit amount from DI or PFL.
• Your $500 wages minus $450 benefit amount equals a $50 per week wage loss.
• Your employer can combine $50 leave per week with your benefits.
• $450 benefits plus $50 paid leave equals a total combined $500 wages.
• A combined amount that exceeds $500 may result in a reduced DI or PFL payment.

DI claims: You can use any available leave credits during the seven-day waiting period.

PFL claims: PFL does not have a benefit waiting period. You can combine your wages on the first day of your claim.

San Francisco workers: If you work in San Francisco, your employer may need to pay extra wages in addition to your weekly PFL benefit when you take PFL bonding with a new child joining your family through:

• Childbirth
• Adoption
• Foster care placement

For more information, visit the Paid Parental Leave Ordinance.

You should ask your employer if they have a policy to combine wages.

Your employer may need to contact us to verify how much you are being paid. We can share this claim information if you:

• Answer Yes to the question: “May we disclose benefit payment information to your employer(s)?” on your SDI Online or paper claim form.
• If you don’t answer the question or answer No, we can’t share payment information to your employer, which may delay your claim.
• If your answer was No or it was left blank when you submitted your claim, you can send us a letter stating we can give this information to your employer.

Note: Your personal claim information and diagnosis are confidential. We will not share this information with your employer.

When you file your DI or PFL application, we send you a Notice of Computation (DE 429DF).  This confirms we received your claim and provides your estimated benefit amount.

If we approve your claim, we will send an Electronic Benefit Payment (EBP) Notification (DE 2500E). This form shows your actual benefit payment information. Share the information on these forms with your employer to prevent benefit overpayments.

Disability Claims

If you’re using SDI Online:

1. Select Yes to the question, “Has or will your employer continue to pay you during your disability leave?”
2. Check the box for the type of pay you will receive.
3. Use the field labeled Other and enter the option that applies to you:
   • Less State Disability Insurance (LSDI)
   • Coordinated Benefits
   • Integrated Benefits
   • Regular Pay minus DI

If you file by mail using a paper Claim for Disability Insurance (DI) Benefits (DE 2501) form:

1. Check the box for the type of pay you will receive on Question A26.
2. Use the field labeled Other and write the option that applies on your form:
   • Less State Disability Insurance (LSDI)
   • Coordinated Benefits
   • Integrated Benefits
   • Regular Pay minus DI

You can review a list of common types of pay to help you report your wages correctly.

You can also attach a letter to the DE 2501 to report all wages.

Paid Family Leave Claims

New mothers after a pregnancy-related disability
If you’re using SDI Online Under Section 5 – Employer Information:

1. Select Yes to the question, “Will you continue to receive wages from your employer(s) during the period you are claiming Paid Family Leave benefits?”
2. Select the type of pay from the dropdown menu.
3. Provide the starting and ending pay dates.

If you’re using a paper Claim for Paid Family Leave (PFL) Benefits – New Mother (DE 2501FP) form:

1. Answer Yes for question 6, “Will your employer continue to pay you wages during your family leave?”

New father, adoptive or foster parent, or new mother who did not have a pregnancy-related disability claim
If you’re using SDI Online Under Section 7 – Additional Questions:

1. Use the checkboxes and dropdown menu to provide your answer:

“If you will receive any type of pay from your employer(s) during your family leave, indicate type of pay”.

If you’re using a paper Claim for Paid Family Leave (PFL) Benefits (DE 2501F) form:

1. For question A22, check the box for the type of pay you will receive.
2. Use the field labeled Other and write the option that applies on your form:
   • Less Paid Family Leave (LPFL)
   • Coordinated Benefits
   • Integrated Benefits
   • Regular Pay minus PFL

You can review a list of common types of pay to help you report your wages correctly.

You can also attach a letter to the DE 2501FP or DE 2501F to report all wages including any combined wages.

It is your responsibility to create and maintain a policy for how much you pay your employees. You do not need approval to combine wages, and we do not regulate this process.

We keep a list of LSDI/LPFL employers who combine wages which speeds up our processing. If you want to join our employer list, refer to the next section. If you are not on the employer list, we may need to contact you which can delay your employee’s claim.

When your employee applies for DI or PFL, we will send them a Notice of Computation (DE 429DF). This tells your employee we have their claim and gives them an estimated benefit amount. If we approve their claim, we send an Electronic Benefit Payment (EBP) Notification (DE 2500E). Your employee should share this information with you to prevent any benefit overpayment.

If you are not on our employer list, you have the option to join the SDI Integration List (LSDI/LPFL).

The benefits of joining our list:

• Less follow-up contact from us, reducing the time spent responding to our inquiries.
• Faster claim process for your employees since we don’t investigate wage information.
• You can apply the process to any current and future employees.

To add or remove your company from our LSDI/LPFL list of employers, contact us at one of these numbers:

• The Employer line at 1-855-342-3645.
• The DI Automated Phone Service at 1-800-480-3287.
• The PFL Automated Phone Service at 1-877-238-4373.

You can also write to:

Employment Development Department
PO Box 826880 - DICO, MIC 29
Sacramento, CA 94280-0001

Disability Claims

Your employee can use their leave credits during the seven-day unpaid waiting period for DI claims.

If you’re using SDI Online, in Section 4D - Wage Information:

• Select Yes to the question “Will the employee’s wages be coordinated/integrated with the State Disability Insurance benefits (Less State Disability Insurance)?”

If you’re using the paper Notice to Employer of Disability Insurance Claim Filed (DE 2503) form:

• Answer Yes to question 5 and Skip question 7.

Paid Family Leave Claims

PFL does not have a waiting period. You can combine your employee’s leave credits on the first day of their PFL claim.

On the paper Notice of Paid Family Leave Claim Filed (DE 2503F) form:

• Answer Yes to question 6 and add all the pay dates and wages paid.

Note: Currently, there is no online option for employers to complete the DE 2503F.

Your employee’s wages (excluding overtime) plus DI or PFL benefits can’t be more than their normal wages before the start of the benefit period.

Review the law about combined wages and benefits here: California Unemployment Insurance Code Section 2656.