Confused about Baby Bonding PFL vs 'state bonding time' - What's left after my 6 weeks of PFL ends?

Sounds like your HR is referring to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) leave, which gives you up to 12 weeks of job-protected time off to bond with your new baby. The catch? It's UNPAID unless your employer has some kind of paid program on top of the state benefits. Your leave summary shows you still have 6.60 weeks of CFRA available. Basically, you've used all your PAID state benefits (disability + PFL), but you still have the right to take more unpaid time off with job protection. That's probably what they're asking about.

This is a common misunderstanding with California's leave system! Let me clarify: 1. Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL): You used 10 weeks total (4 before birth + 6 after) 2. Paid Family Leave (PFL): You used 6 weeks for baby bonding 3. CFRA: This gives you 12 weeks of job-protected bonding leave Here's the key: CFRA baby bonding leave does NOT run at the same time as PDL. So when you were on PDL, you weren't using CFRA time. Your 6 weeks of PFL DID use up some CFRA time, but you still have 6.6 weeks of CFRA protected leave remaining. So yes, you can take additional time off (6.6 more weeks), but it would be unpaid unless your employer offers supplemental paid leave. Your job would be protected during this time.

yep ur HR is just checking if ur gonna use the rest of ur protected leave time. i took the full cfra time with my kid last yr but yeah the last 6 wks were unpaid and it SUCKED financially but was worth it for me. depends on ur situation i guess

I went through EXACT same confusion when my twins were born!! The CA leave system is RIDICULOUS!!! Nobody explains that PFL and CFRA are different things! My HR dept gave me wrong info TWICE and I almost lost my job protection because of their mistakes. When I tried calling EDD for clarification I spent 4 HOURS on hold only to be disconnected!!! Beyond frustrating!!!

To put it simply: you've used all your PAID leave from the state, but you still have protected unpaid leave available. Here's what each program gives you: - PDL: Up to 17.33 weeks of job-protected leave for pregnancy-related disability (you used 10 weeks) - PFL: 8 weeks of partial wage replacement (not job protection) for bonding (you used 6 weeks) - CFRA: 12 weeks of job-protected leave for bonding (you used 5.4 weeks, have 6.6 weeks left) - FMLA: 12 weeks of federal job protection (you used 11.2 weeks, have 0.8 weeks left) Your HR is asking if you want to use your remaining CFRA time. It's job-protected but unpaid. The reason your CFRA and FMLA usage amounts differ is because FMLA runs concurrently with PDL, while CFRA bonding leave does not overlap with PDL.

Quick update on your PFL usage - I notice you mentioned you've used 6 weeks of PFL, but California increased PFL to 8 weeks in 2020. So you might actually have 2 more weeks of paid benefits available! Double-check with EDD to make sure you're getting all the paid benefits you're entitled to before deciding whether to take unpaid leave.

Your leave summary actually makes sense to me - I'm an HR manager (not yours obviously lol). Your FMLA and PDL time ran together for your pregnancy/birth recovery. Then your CFRA and PFL ran together for bonding. But CFRA gives more weeks than PFL pays for. So you have used: - Most of your FMLA (overlapped with PDL and part of PFL) - About 6 weeks of CFRA (during your PFL) - All of your paid benefits So you have about 6.6 weeks of unpaid but job-protected CFRA leave remaining.

Also, check if your employer offers any supplemental paid leave that might cover the remaining CFRA time! Some companies have policies that will provide partial pay during CFRA leave after state benefits run out. Worth asking HR about when you talk to them.

Update: I called my HR back and you all were right! They were asking about the remaining unpaid CFRA time. I also asked about the PFL being 8 weeks instead of 6, and they confirmed I actually DO have 2 more weeks of paid leave left! Apparently there was some miscommunication about my leave schedule. So I'm going to take the 2 more weeks of paid PFL and then probably return rather than taking unpaid time. Thank you all SO much for your help - would have been completely lost without your explanations!

Wow, what a journey you've been on! I'm so glad you got it sorted out and discovered you had those extra 2 weeks of paid PFL - that's a huge difference maker financially. Your experience really highlights how confusing California's leave system can be, even for HR departments! I'm currently pregnant and trying to figure out my own leave plan, and your post has been incredibly helpful in understanding how all these different programs work together. Thanks for sharing your story and for providing that update - it gives me hope that I'll be able to navigate this maze too when my time comes. Enjoy those extra weeks with your baby!

This thread has been so educational! I'm a new parent myself and had no idea about the complexity of California's leave system. Reading through everyone's experiences really shows how important it is to advocate for yourself and double-check everything with both HR and EDD. The fact that you almost missed out on 2 weeks of paid PFL because of miscommunication is exactly why these discussions are so valuable. It's frustrating that such an important system is so poorly explained, but I'm grateful for communities like this where people share their real experiences. Congratulations on your new baby and I'm so glad you got those extra paid weeks figured out!

As a California parent who just went through this exact situation last year, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to get everything in writing from both your HR department and EDD! I had a similar experience where my HR initially told me I only had 6 weeks of PFL, but when I called EDD directly, I discovered I was entitled to the full 8 weeks. The key lesson I learned is that even HR departments sometimes aren't fully up to date on all the changes to California's leave laws. I also recommend keeping detailed records of all your leave dates and payments - it really helps when you're trying to figure out what benefits you've used and what's still available. Congratulations on your new baby, and I'm so happy you discovered those extra 2 weeks of paid leave! Those early weeks are so precious.