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Disability Insurance Elective Coverage (DIEC)

We offer an optional Disability Insurance Elective Coverage (DIEC) program for people who don’t pay into State Disability Insurance (SDI) but want to be covered by Disability Insurance (DI) and Paid Family Leave (PFL).

DIEC protects small business owners, entrepreneurs, independent contractors, and self-employed people who make up a large part of companies doing business in California.

DI provides benefits to eligible DIEC participants when they are unable to work and lose income due to their own non-work-related illness, injury, pregnancy, or childbirth.

PFL provides benefits to eligible DIEC participants when they need to take time off from work to:

  • Care for a seriously ill child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or registered domestic partner.
  • Bond with a new child entering the family through birth, adoption, or foster care placement.
  • Participate in a qualifying event because of a family member’s (spouse, registered domestic partner, parent, or child) military deployment to a foreign country.

Am I Eligible for DIEC?

Any self-employed person, independent contractor, or general partner who meets the requirements may apply for DIEC. It is not required that all active general partners be included in the application.

A general partnership can include married co-owners who both actively manage the business. Limited partners and corporate officers are not eligible.

You can find more details on DIEC eligibility, including:

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