Paid Family Leave for Military Family Members

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for PFL benefit payments, you must:

• Need time off of work to participate in a qualifying event because of a family member’s military deployment to a foreign country. A family member is a spouse, registered domestic partner, parent, or child.
• Have worked in California and paid into State Disability Insurance (SDI) (noted as “CASDI” on most paystubs) in the past 5 to 18 months.
• Not have taken the maximum eight weeks of PFL in the past 12 months.

Visit Eligibility Requirements to learn more about qualifying for PFL.

Citizenship and immigration status do not affect eligibility.

Note: U.S. military members are not eligible to receive PFL benefit payments because they do not pay into SDI. PFL military assist benefit payments are only available to their eligible family members to participate in qualifying events.

Did You Know?

Deployment is defined as covered active duty, a call or notice of impending covered active duty, or a rest and recuperation leave from covered active duty.

A qualifying event is any military event or an essential need resulting from the family member’s deployment. For PFL, the military event does not have to occur in California.

Qualifying events may include:

• Arranging for childcare or parental care during the deployment.
• Assisting in making legal or financial arrangements during the deployment.
• Attending counseling.
• Assisting the military member during rest and recuperation leave.
• Attending military sponsored events or ceremonies.
• Representing the military member at federal, state, or local events.
• Addressing issues due to the military member’s death.

Your claim must include supporting documentation for the qualifying event. For more information, visit PFL Claim Process. Also, speak to your employer about eligible qualifying events.

Rest and Recuperation leave can be done anywhere as long as you can provide the orders for your military family member showing the rest and recuperation leave.