California businesses have to follow two laws when it comes to granting or denying sick leave for their employees. First of all, the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies to all companies with more than 50 employees, it requires these companies to grant their staff up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for specific health reasons. Second, California has the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). This law is similar to the FMLA, but applies to companies with only five employees.
Both laws protect employees from retaliation when they use their medical leave. That means your employer cannot legally fire you for using your time for medical reasons. It also cannot demote you, reduce your pay, discriminate against you, or punish you in any way.
Are you entitled to medical leave in California?
In order to qualify for this benefit, every employee must meet certain specific requirements. You are eligible to disenroll for health reasons if:
- Has been working for your company for at least a year
- You have worked at least 1,250 hours on it in the last year
- Your company had more than 5 employees for 20 weeks in the last year
If all this is true, you can opt out if a health-related event occurs that meets the necessary conditions. These events include:
- Recovery from serious illness
- Caring for a parent, spouse, or child with serious health problems
- Being in contact with a new child
- Address specific problems arising from a family member’s military service
Even when your 12 weeks of leave is used up during your treatment, it is important to understand that you may still have protection under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. Unless your employer can irrefutably demonstrate that keeping that position available to you or not laying you off would place a significant burden on the business, you may have additional leave time available, provided you can demonstrate that this request is reasonable.