Medical and family leave under CFRA in California

What California law protects

CFRA is part of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), California's main workplace civil rights law. Government Code section 12945.2 governs family care and medical leave. The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) enforces these protections.

Job protection and pay are different. CFRA does not itself require your employer to pay wages during leave. Accrued paid time off or wage replacement benefits may provide income under separate rules.

• To qualify, you must have more than 12 months of service, have worked at least 1,250 hours for that employer in the 12 months before leave, and work for an employer with 5 or more employees. Source: CRD family care and medical leave fact sheet
• Eligible employees may take up to 12 workweeks in a 12-month period. Source: Official guidance
• Covered reasons include your own serious health condition, and caring for a child of any age, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or one designated person with a serious health condition. A designated person is someone related to you by blood or whose relationship with you is like family. Your employer may limit you to one designated person in a 12-month period. Source: Official guidance
• CFRA leave does not always have to be taken all at once. Leave for a serious health condition may be taken in separate periods when medically needed. Bonding leave must be taken within 1 year of the birth, adoption, or foster placement, and can be taken in blocks of at least 2 weeks. Source: Official guidance
• Your employer may require 30 days of advance notice when the need is foreseeable. For unexpected needs, give notice as soon as practicable. The employer must respond as soon as possible and no later than 5 business days. Source: CRD family care and medical leave fact sheet
• If your employer provides group health benefits, it must continue making those benefits available during CFRA leave. Return rights generally cover the same or a comparable position, subject to limits such as an unrelated layoff. Source: Official guidance

What it can look like

These situations can raise questions about leave rights. They do not prove a violation by themselves. Eligibility, the reason for the absence, and the employer's explanation all matter.

• You ask for time off for surgery and recovery. Your manager says medical leave is never allowed, without checking whether you qualify.
• You return from approved leave to care for your parent. Your supervisor cuts your shifts and says you were gone too long.
• You need separate absences for treatment of a serious health condition. Human resources says all protected leave must be taken at once.
• You request leave to bond with a child placed with you for adoption. Your manager says bonding leave is only for birth parents.
• You receive attendance warnings that count days already approved as CFRA leave. You ask for a correction, but the warnings remain.
• You are ready to return after approved leave, but your employer tells you to resign because someone else has filled your job.

What usually is not covered

A medical absence is not automatically CFRA leave. Check the coverage and eligibility rules rather than relying only on the name your workplace uses for the absence.

• A personal trip or time off for a reason outside CFRA does not become protected medical leave just because you request it.
• CFRA does not promise continued wages. EDD benefits and employer paid leave have their own requirements.
• Leave does not shield you from a genuine layoff or another employment action unrelated to taking leave. The employer's actual reason matters.
• Pregnancy-related disability is covered by pregnancy disability leave, not CFRA medical leave. Eligible workers may use CFRA for bonding separately.
• Not qualifying for CFRA does not settle every possible right. Disability accommodation or another leave protection may still need review.

Related protections

A health problem can raise both leave and accommodation questions. An accommodation is a change at work that helps you do your job. Pregnancy disability leave and baby bonding also have different rules, so do not treat them as the same benefit.

• Disability accommodationChanges at work or leave for a disability.
• Pregnancy protectionsPregnancy leave, workplace changes, and lactation.
• RetaliationPunishment for using protected rights.

What to keep a record of

Keep a simple timeline that connects your request, the response, and any job changes. Separate what you personally saw or heard from what someone else told you.

Do not take confidential company documents that you are not allowed to keep.

• Save your hire date, schedules, pay stubs, and your own time records to help check service and hours worked.
• Keep your leave request, any certification you provided, approval or denial messages, and expected return dates.
• Write down dates, names, and the words used when a supervisor discusses your absence or asks you to resign.
• Keep texts and emails you received, reviews, attendance notices, and schedules before and after the leave.
• Save complaints you made, the employer's responses, and any explanation for a denied return to work or a changed position.

Where to file and deadlines

CRD handles CFRA complaints. Explain the leave you needed, how you requested it, and what happened next. EDD administers State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave income benefits; those benefits are separate from a CRD complaint about job protection. Government Code section 12960 addresses the CRD filing deadline.

Deadlines can depend on your facts, so talk to a lawyer soon.

• For employment complaints, you must submit an intake form to CRD within 3 years of the unlawful act. In limited cases this can be extended, for example up to 90 days when you discovered the facts later, or up to 1 year after you turn 18 if you were a minor. Source: Official guidance
• After you receive a right-to-sue notice, you generally have 1 year from the date of the notice to file a lawsuit. That period can be paused in some situations, such as during CRD dispute resolution. Source: Official guidance
• If you also want to keep federal rights, the EEOC deadline for California workers is generally 300 days from the discrimination. For California workers, the deadline to file an EEOC charge is generally 300 calendar days, including for age claims, because California has its own law on the same bases. Filing a charge with either the EEOC or CRD generally counts as filing with the other agency. Source: Official guidance

• Where to file in California

Common questions

Sources

• Government Code section 12945.2, CFRA
• CRD family care and medical leave fact sheet
• CRD pregnancy disability leave fact sheet
• CRD complaint process
• Official guidance
• Official guidance
• Official guidance
• Official guidance
• Official guidance
• Official guidance

Last reviewed October 28, 2026

This website provides general information about California law and is not legal advice. Information here may not apply to your situation.