The California Family Rights Act: Understanding Employee Leave Rights and Employer Obligations
The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) is one of several employee leave laws, imposing detailed obligations on covered employers while providing substantial job-protected leave rights to eligible employees. Although CFRA is modeled in part on the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), California’s statute and regulations are broader in several key respects and are enforced independently under state law. Understanding how CFRA works in practice is essential for employers administering leave and for employees seeking to exercise their rights.
CFRA’s origins trace back to a broader national shift in how work and family life intersect. When Congress enacted the federal FMLA in 1993, it did so against the backdrop of profound economic and social change. Dual-income households had become the norm, workforce participation by women had increased sharply, and employees were increasingly forced to choose between job security and caring for a new child, an aging parent, or their own serious health condition. FMLA represented a legislative compromise: it provided unpaid, job-protected leave, but limited coverage to larger employers and defined eligibility and family relationships narrowly.
California did not stop there. Even before the federal FMLA, California law already required job-protected leave in certain contexts, most notably pregnancy disability leave under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. After FMLA’s passage, California moved quickly to build on the federal framework by enacting the CFRA, expanding family leave protections under state law and embedding them within California’s broader civil rights framework.
Legislative amendments and regulatory updates have steadily broadened CFRA’s reach, expanding the definition of family member, lowering the employer coverage threshold, and strengthening reinstatement and anti-retaliation protections. What began in the 1990s as a more limited entitlement has become, in California, a core workplace entitlement.
Covered Employers and Eligible Employees
CFRA applies to any employer that directly employs five or more employees anywhere in the United States. There is no requirement that those employees work in California, work full-time, or work at the same location. Public employers, including the State of California and its political subdivisions, are covered regardless of size.
To be eligible for CFRA leave, an employee must have been employed by the employer for at least 12 months and must have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the start of the leave. Once these eligibility requirements are met and the employee takes leave for a qualifying event, the employee does not need to requalify based on hours worked for additional leave taken for the same qualifying event during the applicable 12-month leave period.
Qualifying Reasons for CFRA Leave
Eligible employees may take up to 12 workweeks of CFRA leave in a 12-month period for several qualifying purposes. These include bonding with a new child following birth, adoption, or foster care placement; caring for a family member with a serious health condition; the employee’s own serious health condition; or certain qualifying exigencies related to a family member’s covered military service.
CFRA defines “family member” broadly. In addition to a child, parent, or spouse, the statute and regulations include grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, domestic partners, and a designated person whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. This expansive definition is one of the most important ways CFRA differs from federal law and frequently comes as a surprise to employers accustomed to FMLA’s narrower scope.
Employee Notice and Medical Certification
An employee requesting CFRA leave must provide sufficient information to make the employer aware that the leave may be CFRA-qualifying, including the anticipated timing and duration of the leave. The employee is not required to cite CFRA or use legal terminology. When the need for leave is foreseeable, such as for a planned medical treatment or expected birth, an employer may require up to 30 days’ advance notice. When advance notice is not practicable, notice must be given as soon as practicable.
Employers may require medical certification for leave based on a serious health condition of the employee or a covered family member. Certifications are limited in scope and generally may not require disclosure of a diagnosis. The focus is on functional limitations, duration, and whether the condition warrants the employee’s participation or absence from work.
Once a complete and sufficient certification is provided, the employer must accept it unless it has a good-faith, objective reason to doubt its validity, in which case the CFRA regulations permit a narrow verification process. That process allows the employer, at its own expense, to require a second medical opinion from a provider it selects, and, if that opinion conflicts with the original certification, a third opinion jointly chosen by the employer and employee. The third opinion is final and binding, and the process may not be used to demand diagnoses or otherwise interfere with the employee’s leave rights.
Employer Obligation to Designate CFRA Leave and Provide Timely Notice
Once an employer has enough information to determine that a requested leave qualifies for CFRA protection, the employer has an affirmative duty to designate the leave as CFRA leave. This responsibility rests with the employer, not the employee, and applies even when the employee does not expressly reference CFRA when requesting time off.
CFRA regulations require the employer to respond to a leave request as soon as practicable and no later than five business days after receiving sufficient information to determine whether the leave is CFRA-qualifying. When a medical certification is required, the employer may wait until a complete and sufficient certification is received, but once that occurs, the five-business-day deadline applies.
Employers must notify the employee that the leave has been designated as CFRA leave and must advise whether the leave will run concurrently with FMLA, if applicable. CFRA generally prohibits retroactive designation of leave after the employee has returned to work, except in limited circumstances where the employer’s failure to timely designate did not cause harm or injury to the employee.
How the 12-Month CFRA Leave Period Is Calculated
CFRA allows employers to choose how they will measure the 12-month period in which an employee may use up to 12 workweeks of leave. The regulations permit one of four methods: using the calendar year; using a fixed 12-month leave year such as a fiscal year or anniversary year; measuring forward 12 months from the date an employee first begins CFRA leave; or using a rolling 12-month period measured backward from the date the employee uses any CFRA leave.
The employer must apply its chosen method consistently and uniformly to all California employees and must inform employees requesting CFRA leave of the method being used. If an employer fails to select or communicate a method, the regulations require that the method most beneficial to the employee be applied. Employers may change their chosen method only with at least 60 days’ advance notice and may not implement a change in a way that reduces employee leave entitlements.
“Twelve workweeks” means the equivalent of 12 of the employee’s normally scheduled workweeks. For employees who work alternative schedules or variable hours, leave entitlement is calculated using the employee’s normal or average schedule.
Pay, Benefits, and Health Coverage During CFRA Leave
CFRA leave is generally unpaid. However, employees may elect, or employers may require, the use of accrued vacation or paid time off during otherwise unpaid CFRA leave. Accrued sick leave may be used for the employee’s own serious health condition and, in some circumstances, for family care leave if mutually agreed.
If the employer provides group health benefits, it must continue those benefits during CFRA leave at the same level and under the same conditions as if the employee had continued working, for up to 12 workweeks in a 12-month period. The employer may recover premiums it paid during unpaid leave only if the employee fails to return from leave for reasons other than a continuing or recurring serious health condition or circumstances beyond the employee’s control.
Reinstatement Rights After CFRA Leave
CFRA provides a strong guarantee of reinstatement. At the conclusion of CFRA leave, an employee is entitled to reinstatement to the same position held before the leave or to a comparable position that is virtually identical in pay, benefits, working conditions, duties, and status. An employee is entitled to reinstatement even if the employer filled the position or restructured duties during the leave.
An employer may deny reinstatement only if it can prove that the employee would not otherwise have remained employed, such as due to a legitimate layoff or elimination of the position unrelated to the leave. In these circumstances, the burden of proof rests squarely with the employer.
When an Employee Does Not Return at the End of Certified Leave
Situations often arise where a health care provider’s certification expires but the employee still has remaining CFRA leave available within the applicable 12-month period. In those circumstances, the employer should proceed cautiously. The expiration of a certification does not automatically end leave protection. If additional leave is requested and remains available, the employer may request recertification but should not treat the absence as unprotected without engaging further with the employee.
Premature termination in this context can give rise to claims for CFRA interference or retaliation, or claims under other overlapping laws, particularly where the employee has attempted to provide updated medical information or otherwise communicate ongoing limitations.
CFRA and Overlapping Leave and Accommodation Laws
CFRA rarely operates in isolation. Employers must also analyze CFRA obligations alongside overlapping laws, including the federal FMLA, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL), and California’s Paid Sick Leave (PSL) law under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act.
PDL is a notable and important interaction for employees experiencing health problems relating to pregnacy or childbirth. PDL runs concurrently with FMLA but not with CFRA. As a result, an eligible employee may take up to four months of PDL and still remain entitled to a full 12 weeks of CFRA leave for bonding after childbirth. Additional leave laws, such as bereavement leave and reproductive loss leave, may also apply depending on the circumstances.
Failure to consider these overlapping entitlements together is a common compliance pitfall and can lead to unintended violations even where the employer mistakenly believed it was acting lawfully.
Protection From Retaliation and Interference
CFRA strictly prohibits interference with, restraint of, or denial of CFRA rights. Employers may not discourage employees from using CFRA leave, count CFRA leave as a negative factor in employment decisions, or retaliate against employees for requesting or taking protected leave. Employees cannot waive their prospective CFRA rights, and attendance or conduct policies must be applied in a manner consistent with CFRA’s protections.
Key Takeaways for Employers
CFRA compliance depends as much on process as on policy. Employers must be able to recognize CFRA-qualifying requests, obtain and evaluate medical certifications lawfully, timely designate leave, accurately track the 12-month leave period, and ensure proper reinstatement at the end of leave. Missteps in any of these areas can potentially convert an otherwise routine leave request into a costly legal dispute. For employers navigating California’s complex leave landscape, proactive planning and careful administration remain the most effective tools for managing risk under CFRA. Case-specific legal advice from competent and experiened employment counsel is imperative.
Resource Links
Civil Rights Department: Job-Protected Leave for Employees in California