The Pregnancy Disability Leave Act (PDL for short) is a
California State law that entitles pregnant woman up to 16 weeks (112 continuous days) of leave from work due to the disability of their pregnancy. There is no minimum eligibility requirement for an employee to use this time, however it can only be used for disability, and not for bonding – unlike the
California Family Rights Act.
PDL can not run concurrently with CFRA time, however it can run
concurrently with
FMLA time. The reason for this is *CFRA time is for bonding only.
If a woman exhausts her PDL time while she is disabled, and is eligible for CFRA (which has the same requirements as FMLA – 12 months of prior work to date of
disability and a minimum of 1250 hours worked), the remainder of her leave will be protected by CFRA.
If an employee is not eligible for FMLA leave while on a PDL leave, the employer can choose whether or not to continue to carry the employee’s health insurance; unlike FMLA, where health insurance coverage must be continued (paid by the employee or the employer, depending on the company’s
policy).
*The exception for an employee using CFRA time for disability is if she exhausts all her FMLA time and all her PDL time, then she is required to use up her CFRA time. An
employee can not be left with a duration of leave that is unprotected, when she is eligible for job protected leave.