Update: I talked to my doctor and had her complete a new DE2501 form specifically stating I'm "medically restricted to a maximum of 20 hours of work weekly due to pregnancy complications." She was happy to rewrite it that way! I filed the claim online last Friday and uploaded the doctor's certificate. Fingers crossed it processes smoothly. Thanks everyone for your help and advice on this - I had no idea partial disability was even an option and was panicking about losing half my income without any support.

I've been through this!!!! My pregnancy last year had similar restrictions at 24 weeks and I got partial disability while working 15 hrs/week instead of my usual 40. My advice: CALL EDD if your claim doesn't show as processing within a week. Mine got stuck because my employer reported my earnings wrong and it took FOREVER to fix. Don't wait like I did thinking it was just normal processing time. Also, hot tip: the disability payments are based on your highest quarter earnings from like 15-18 months ago, NOT your current salary. So if you got a raise recently, it won't be reflected in your benefit amount. I was so confused when my payments were lower than expected!

Update: I finally got through to EDD this morning. They were using my income from a different employer that I haven't worked for since 2023! The agent fixed it and recalculated my benefit - should be getting $1,240/week which is a HUGE difference. Thanks everyone for the advice. They're sending an adjusted payment within 7-10 days.

btw for anyone else reading this thread, when ur taking care of a family member with PFL make sure u get the right medical certification form filled out correctly!! my doctor didnt check the right box for care duration and my initial claim was denied. had to resubmit everything and lost 3 weeks of benefits during the appeal process

To answer your follow-up question about employer verification - EDD does contact the employer directly, but sometimes employers don't respond promptly. Your husband can call his HR department to verify they received and responded to EDD's request. This is often the biggest cause of delays with PFL claims.

Update: Just wanted to let everyone know that my husband's claim was FINALLY approved yesterday (so it took exactly 22 days). The status changed to approved on his EDD account, and we got an email notification too. Thanks for all the helpful advice! Now we're just waiting for the payment to come through.

just wondering how ur pregnancy leave was? i'm due in 3 months and nervous about the whole process. was the mail claim easy? did u have any complications with payment?

btw dont freak out if theres a few days gap between SDI ending and PFL starting! mine took 5 days to process so there was like a week with no payment then they did back pay

Update us if you manage to get through! I'm curious if that Claimyr service actually works as well as some people say. It would be nice to have a reliable way to reach EDD when necessary.

UPDATE: I finally got through to EDD! I tried calling right at 8AM as suggested but still couldn't get through after 7 attempts. So I used the Claimyr service mentioned above and got connected to a representative in about 25 minutes. Turns out my claim was flagged because my employer accidentally listed my return-to-work date incorrectly (they put the date I started leave instead of the date I'm returning). The EDD agent fixed it immediately and said my payments should be processed within 3-5 business days for the full 8 weeks. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions! If anyone else is stuck in PFL limbo, definitely try either calling right when they open or use a service to get through if you're desperate like I was.