California Amends Rules for Paid Family Leave

California has enacted legislation that will prohibit employers from requiring that employees use two weeks of accrued vacation time before they can access paid family leave benefits. The change is a result of enactment of Assembly Bill 2123 and takes effect Jan.  1, 2025.

The details

The state’s paid family leave program provides wage replacement benefits to workers who take time off work to care for certain seriously ill family members, to bond with a minor child within one year of birth or placement, as specified, or to participate in a qualifying exigency related to the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of certain family members.

Under existing law, employers may require an employee to take up to two weeks of earned but unused vacation before, and as a condition of, the employee’s initial receipt of paid family leave benefits during any 12-month period in which the employee is eligible for these benefits.

Beginning, Jan.  1, 2025, employers may no longer require employees to use vacation before accessing paid family leave.

Next steps

California employers should:

• Review policies and procedures to determine if changes are necessary to align with Assembly Bill 2123.
• Train supervisors on the change.