Paid Family Leave – Employers

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Paid Family Leave (PFL) provides benefit payments when your employee needs time off from work to:

  • Care for a seriously ill family member.
  • Bond with a new child entering the family through birth, adoption, or foster care placement.
  • Support a family member in the US armed forces who is deploying to a foreign country.

Eligibility Requirements

To get PFL benefits, your employee must:

  • Be unable to do their regular work.
  • Have lost wages due to their need for family leave.
  • Be working or looking for work when their family leave starts.
  • Have earned at least $300 and paid into State Disability Insurance (SDI) in the last 18 months.
  • Submit any required supporting documents.

For more information, visit Employee Eligibility for PFL.

Employer Requirements

We fund PFL benefits through State Disability Insurance (SDI) contributions. These are withheld from your employees’ paychecks. They most often show up as CASDI on their paystubs.

Employers must:

  • Collect employee payroll contributions and send them to us.
  • Provide your employees with information about benefit programs.
  • Respond to employee claims for PFL benefits.

For more information, visit Employer Requirements.

Alternatives to State Disability Insurance

Disability Insurance Elective Coverage – Self Employed and Independent Contractors

We offer optional Disability Insurance Elective Coverage (DIEC). This program is for self-employed or independent contractors who don't pay into SDI. DIEC can protect you against income loss with PFL and disability coverage for when you can't work. You pay quarterly premiums to fund the program.

For more information about the elective coverage program, visit Disability Insurance Elective Coverage.

If you have approved Elective Coverage and need to apply for family leave visit Paid Family Leave.

Voluntary Plans

A Voluntary Plan (VP) is an employer alternative to State Disability Insurance (SDI). VPs are a private short-term disability insurance option. A VP must provide all the benefits of SDI and at least one benefit that is better than SDI. It can’t cost employees more than SDI. An employer or a majority of employees can apply for approval of a VP to provide PFL and disability benefits.

For more information, visit Voluntary Plan Information.

If your employer has a voluntary plan and you need to apply for family leave, talk to your employer’s personnel or benefits office for more information.

Additional Information