Leave of Absence & FMLA Attorneys in Pasadena, California

What Qualifies As a Serious Health Condition for a Leave of Absence?

The phrase “serious health condition” is an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition involving inpatient care or continuing treatment. However, under the CFRA, disabilities caused by pregnancy or childbirth are not considered serious health conditions. Instead, those conditions are protected under separate leave of absence laws.

If you take CFRA leave for a qualifying reason, you can be reinstated to the same or equivalent job when your leave ends. While CFRA leave is unpaid, you can still receive compensation while out on CFRA leave if you have sick time, PTO, or vacation time.

Notifying Your Employer for Leaves of Absence

If you need to take leave for a reason covered by the CFRA, you must notify your employer. That said, you don’t need to reference the CFRA specifically, as it’s your employer’s responsibility to know whether the CFRA covers the reason you need to take leave.

You should also provide reasonable advance notice to your employer if you know ahead of time that you’ll need to take leave. You should estimate the time and duration of the leave and supporting medical documentation.

You’re not required to provide, nor should your employer ask for, the medical condition causing you to take leave.

If you believe your employer is violating your rights under the CFRA, a leave of absence lawyer from our team can help you pursue remedies. We can also help you take legal action if your employer discriminates, harasses, or retaliates against you for requesting CFRA-protected leave.

Speak with an experienced leave of absence lawyer in Pasadena from Domb Rauchwerger LLP when you schedule a free initial consultation. Complete an online form or call (213) 772-5882. We speak English and Spanish.

Pregnancy Disability Leave

According to the Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL), you’re entitled to four months of unpaid leave if you work for an employer with at least five employees and need to take time off for one of the following reasons:

• Pregnancy
• The birth of a child
• A pregnancy-related disability

While PDLL leave is unpaid, you may receive payment for some of the time you take off through sick pay, vacation pay, or California State Disability Insurance. In addition, while on PDLL leave, your employer has to maintain and pay for your health coverage just as it would have if you had not taken PDLL leave and continued employment. 

If you’re eligible to take pregnancy leave, you can take 12 weeks of CFRA leave after taking four months of PDLL, allowing you to take seven months of protected time for the birth of a child. Additional leave beyond seven months may be possible as an additional reasonable accommodation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).

You Have the Right to Return to Your Job After PDLL Leave

According to the law, you must be reinstated to the same position after the conclusion of your PDLL leave unless the position is no longer available for reasons unrelated to your leave.

An employer may also deny you your old position if holding the position open would have substantially undermined the safety or operation of the employer’s business. If the employer attempts to rely on this justification, the employee must still be reinstated to a comparable position.

Reasonable Accommodation Leave

Under the FEHA, your employer must provide reasonable accommodations to you if you have a disability and need accommodations, such as modifications to your work environment to perform essential functions of your job. 

If you need to take time off to recover from a disability or injury, you could receive such accommodation as a finite leave of absence. When you return to work, you’re still entitled to accommodations to help you perform essential duties.

Examples of reasonable accommodations can include a reduced work schedule, restrictions on carrying heavy objects or being provided with software or equipment to allow you to perform the essential functions of your job. 

How Long Your Finite Leave of Absence Can Be

The amount of leave considered a reasonable and finite amount of time is determined on a case-by-case basis. Typically, leaves that last only a few weeks or months will be considered valid.

On the other hand, leaves that last longer than a year aren’t likely to be considered reasonable. Each situation must be analyzed individually, so there’s a chance your leave could exceed a year. 

Have  questions about California leave of absence law? Reach out to a Pasadena leave of absence lawyer at Domb Rauchwerger LLP. Call (213) 772-5882. 

Taking Reasonable Accommodation Leave When You’ve Exhausted Other Types of Leave

If you need to take time off from work to recover from a disability or injury, but you’ve exhausted your CFRA leave (or your CFRA leave and PDLL leave combined), you may still be entitled to reasonable accommodation as a leave of absence.

As a result, you generally cannot be fired because you are out of CFRA leave and only need a few more weeks to recover from an injury or medical condition to return to work with or without reasonable accommodations.

If you’ve been fired or had your rights violated for requesting or taking protected disability leave, we encourage you to consult with an experienced leave-of-absence attorney at Domb Rauchwerger LLP and explore your legal options.

California Paid Sick Leave

Generally, once you’ve worked for your California employer for at least 30 days within one year, you are eligible for at least three paid sick days, or 24 hours, depending on how many hours per day you typically work. Certain counties or cities require employers to provide their employees with more paid sick days.

Paid sick days or hours can be used starting on your 90th day of employment for either the diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition or preventative care for:

• Yourself
• Your biological, adopted, or foster child
• Your biological, adopted, or foster parent
• Your spouse or domestic partner
• Your grandparents, grandchild, or sibling
• A designated person

Employer Distribution of Sick Leave 

Your employer can front-load your sick time, giving you all three days at the beginning of each year, or they can have you accrue sick time at a rate not less than one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. 

If your employer uses the accrual method, they may cap the paid sick leave you can earn for six days or 48 hours. 

They can also limit your use of paid sick leave to 24 hours or three days in a given year, even if you’ve accrued more than that amount. Again, certain counties or cities may provide additional paid sick leave days. Lastly, your employer is not required to pay you for unused sick time upon the end of your employment.

Other Types of Leave

Depending on the size of your employer, California law may offer numerous other types of protection in particular situations, including, but not limited to:

• Bereavement leave
• Jury duty leave
• Military leave
• Leave for a victim of crime or abuse
• Leave to testify as a witness
• Leave for school activities
• Leave to attend drug and alcohol rehabilitation
• Leave for volunteering as a firefighter, police officer, or emergency personnel
• Leave to vote
• Literacy education leave
• Organ and bone marrow donation leave
• Civil air patrol leave
• Vacation pay

While California law doesn’t require your employer to provide vacation time, they cannot maintain a policy that forces you to give up your vacation time if you don’t use it in a certain period. These “use it or lose it” vacation policies are prohibited in California.

Your employer can cap the amount of vacation time you can accrue. In addition, any vacation time you’ve accrued must be paid out upon your termination or resignation.

An experienced leave of absence lawyer can take legal action against your employer if they’ve forced you to forfeit vacation time or failed to pay out the unused time you accrued.

California Paid Family Leave Benefits

Paid Family Leave benefits (PFL) allow you up to eight weeks of compensation to let you bond with a young child within one year of birth or placement in your home or foster care. You can also receive PFL compensation if you have to take time off to care for a seriously ill grandparent, parent, spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild, or sibling.

Finally, PFL can be used to compensate an employee in connection with the covered active duty or call to duty of an employee’s parents, spouse, domestic partner, or child. PFL is not a type of leave; it is only a method for employees to receive compensation that may be available when taking other types of leave. 

PFL benefits are typically 60% or 70% of an employee’s wages, depending on how much the employee earned. PFL differs from disability insurance compensation, which cannot be received simultaneously. 

To learn more about California leaves of absence, get in touch with Domb Rauchwerger LLP. A leave of absence lawyer from our firm is ready to answer your questions. Contact us or call (213) 772-5882.

Employer Liability for Illegal Actions 

Employers may violate the rights afforded to you under the CFRA, FEHA, and other state laws regarding leaves of absence in several ways. 

Fortunately, our firm can help you fight back against your employer if they commit one or more of the following violations:

• Denying a request for leave that you’re eligible to take
• Unlawfully changing your role upon your return to work
• Failing to provide the same or similar position when your leave ends
• Not paying for health insurance benefits while you’re on leave
• Retaliating or discriminating against you for taking protected leave
• Harassing you for taking leave
• Firing, demoting, or lowering your pay for taking leave

Situations in Which You Can Be Fired While on Leave

Unfortunately, certain circumstances allow your employer to discharge you while on leave. They may terminate your employment if you’re subject to a company-wide layoff or take leave that isn’t protected by California law.

In addition, if you’re one of your company’s 10% highest-paid employees, your employer can deny you reinstatement of your job when your leave ends, but only if your return would cause the company significant financial hardship. 

Start a free consultation with a Pasadena medical leave of absence lawyer. Contact Domb Rauchwerger LLP online or call (213) 772-5882.  Se habla Español.