EDD PFL timing confusion - do I apply BEFORE or AFTER starting maternity leave?

Your HR packet is correct! For maternity leave in California, you actually need to apply for two separate benefits. First is State Disability Insurance (SDI) for the pregnancy/recovery period - that's your 6 weeks. THEN you apply for Paid Family Leave (PFL) for the baby bonding period - your 8 weeks. You should apply for SDI within 49 days of becoming disabled (usually when you stop working before birth). Then after your disability period ends, you apply for PFL. So you're applying for PFL after you've already been on leave for a while. Don't worry about a gap in payments - they're designed to transition smoothly if you file everything correctly!

To clarify what the previous comment said, you'll use form DE2501 for the pregnancy disability claim (SDI) and later form DE2508 for your baby bonding claim (PFL). They're separate applications with different timeframes. For your SDI claim, you can actually file up to 49 days AFTER your last day of work - but I'd recommend filing as soon as you stop working so you don't delay your benefits. Your doctor needs to certify your disability period, which is typically 4 weeks before birth and 6-8 weeks after depending on delivery type. Then for PFL baby bonding, you file after the disability claim ends. You'll need your baby's birth certificate for this one.

I was sooooo confused about this too when I had my baby in January!! The EDD website is terrible at explaining it clearly. But yes, first SDI then PFL. The stupid part is they don't tell you this stuff clearly until you're already pregnant and panicking about money lol

Hey, I just went through this exact process with my February birth! Here's what worked for me: 1. File your SDI claim online the day you stop working (don't wait 49 days!) 2. Have your doctor submit their portion ASAP 3. Once approved, you'll get payments for your pregnancy disability period 4. About 1-2 weeks before your disability ends, file your PFL claim online 5. PFL payments should start right after disability ends if you time it right One thing no one told me: if you do the PFL claim online, there's actually an option to automatically transition from SDI to PFL! It's not obvious but it's there if you look for it. I'd recommend creating your SDI online account now, before baby arrives, as it's easier to get everything set up beforehand.

idk if anyone mentioend this but make sure your doctor files their part!!!! my benefits got delayed for WEEKS bc my ob never submitted her portion of my disability claim and nobody told me until i called EDD

The worst part about this whole process is trying to get anyone on the phone at EDD if you have questions or problems. I spent LITERALLY 5 hours on hold last month when I had an issue with my transition from SDI to PFL. The phone system kept hanging up on me after 30-45 minutes. I was ready to throw my phone across the room!!! Finally used a service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual human at EDD within 20 minutes. Best $20 I ever spent considering I was about to miss a mortgage payment. They have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/DOLxZQb92wM?si=6N1iCQ3a8Cdb2Ay5 and their website is claimyr.com. Seriously saved my sanity.

Thanks everyone for your super helpful replies! I feel much less confused now. So to make sure I understand: 1. Apply for SDI when I stop working (using form DE2501) 2. After baby is born, I'll be on SDI for 6-8 weeks 3. Before SDI ends, apply for PFL (form DE2508) for the baby bonding portion 4. PFL will last 8 weeks after my SDI ends I'm definitely going to set up my online account today and talk to my doctor at my next appointment to make sure they know to submit their portion promptly. This whole process would be so much easier if they just combined everything into one application!

A quick heads up - make sure your employer has given you the right information about their leave policies too. Some employers require you to use all your accrued PTO before state benefits kick in, while others let you supplement SDI/PFL with PTO to get to 100% of your salary (since state benefits only cover about 60-70%). Worth double-checking with HR about how they handle this specifically.

I actually applied for PFL while still on SDI and it worked fine. Applied about 2 weeks before my SDI ended and the transition was seamless. Just make sure you understand that the wage replacement isn't 100% - I think it's around 60-70% of your salary up to a maximum. Caught me off guard even though I should have known better!

Just wanted to add my experience from having my baby last fall - one thing that really helped me was keeping a simple calendar/checklist of all the deadlines and forms. I wrote down when to file SDI (day I stopped working), when to follow up with my doctor about their certification, when to apply for PFL (2 weeks before SDI ended), etc. Also, don't panic if there's a small gap between your SDI ending and PFL starting - mine had about a 3-day gap but they backdated the PFL payments so I didn't lose any money. The key is just staying on top of the timeline and following up if anything seems delayed. You've got this! The hardest part is understanding the process, which you clearly do now thanks to everyone's great advice here.

This thread has been SO helpful! I'm 32 weeks pregnant and was completely overwhelmed by the EDD process until I found this discussion. Just wanted to share one more tip that helped me - I called my doctor's office ahead of time to ask about their process for submitting disability paperwork to EDD. Turns out they have a specific person who handles all the EDD forms, and she told me exactly what I need to bring to my appointment and how long it typically takes them to submit everything electronically. She also said I can call them directly if I don't see my benefits start within a week of my claim, which gives me peace of mind. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - feeling much more confident about navigating this now! 🙏

This is such a helpful thread! I'm 28 weeks pregnant and had the exact same confusion about timing. Reading everyone's experiences has been a lifesaver. One thing I wanted to add - my sister just went through this process in December and she mentioned that EDD now sends text updates about your claim status, which she found really helpful for tracking where things stood. You can opt into text notifications when you create your online account. Also, she recommended taking photos of all your paperwork before submitting anything, just in case something gets lost in the system. With pregnancy brain, it's easy to forget what you've already sent in! Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed experiences - I'm bookmarking this thread to reference when it's my turn to navigate all this! 💕

Wow, this thread is incredibly helpful! I'm also expecting my first baby (due in about 5 weeks) and was equally confused about the timing. My employer's HR department basically just handed me a stack of forms without much explanation, so I've been trying to figure this out on my own. The breakdown everyone provided about SDI first, then PFL makes so much sense now. I had no idea these were two completely separate applications! I was planning to apply for everything at once, which clearly would have been wrong. Question for those who've been through this recently - about how long did it take from when you submitted your SDI application until you received your first payment? I'm trying to budget for any potential delays and want to make sure I have enough savings to cover expenses if there are any hiccups in the process. Also, has anyone had experience with this if you're planning to return to work part-time after your leave ends? Wondering if that complicates the PFL application at all. Thanks again to everyone for sharing such detailed experiences - this community is amazing! 🙏

This thread has been incredibly enlightening! I'm 30 weeks pregnant and have been stressing about this exact same timing issue. My company's benefits coordinator told me something completely different - that I should apply for everything "when I'm ready to take leave" which made no sense to me either. Reading through everyone's experiences, I now understand it's SDI first (pregnancy disability) then PFL (baby bonding) as two separate claims. The step-by-step breakdown from @MoonlightSonata is exactly what I needed! One follow-up question - for those who've done this recently, did you find it better to take the full 6 weeks of pregnancy disability, or did some of you go back earlier and then take longer for the baby bonding portion? I'm trying to figure out the best way to split my time since my job is pretty flexible about when I return. Also super helpful to know about the automatic transition option online and definitely going to call my doctor's office ahead of time like @Joshua suggested. This community is seriously the best - thank you all for sharing your real experiences instead of just the confusing official guidance! 🤗

This thread is absolutely amazing - thank you all for breaking down such a confusing process! I'm 26 weeks pregnant and have been completely lost trying to understand the EDD system. My HR department basically just said "figure it out" when I asked about timing. The clarification that SDI and PFL are two separate applications with different forms (DE2501 and DE2508) is exactly what I needed to hear. I was definitely planning to mess this up by trying to apply for everything at once! A few questions for those who've been through this recently: 1. When you say "create your online account early" - can I actually do that now while I'm still working, or do I need to wait until I'm ready to file my first claim? 2. Has anyone dealt with complications during delivery that extended their disability period beyond the typical 6-8 weeks? Did that affect the transition to PFL at all? I'm definitely going to follow everyone's advice about taking photos of paperwork and keeping a calendar of deadlines. This pregnancy brain is real and I can barely remember my own name some days! 😅 Thanks again to this community for being so helpful - the official EDD resources are basically useless compared to real experiences from actual parents!

This has been such an incredibly helpful thread! I'm 24 weeks pregnant and was completely overwhelmed by the EDD process until I found this discussion. Like so many others here, I was confused about when to apply and thought I needed to do everything at once. The breakdown everyone provided about SDI first (form DE2501 for pregnancy disability) then PFL later (form DE2508 for baby bonding) has totally cleared things up for me. I love that @MoonlightSonata mentioned the automatic transition option - that sounds like exactly what I'll need! I'm definitely going to follow all the great advice here: create my online account now, talk to my doctor's office about their EDD submission process, keep a calendar of deadlines, and take photos of everything. The tip about text notifications is brilliant too - every little bit helps when you're dealing with pregnancy brain! One thing I'm curious about - has anyone here used the online system exclusively, or did some of you end up needing to mail in paper forms? I'm hoping to keep everything digital if possible since I tend to lose track of physical paperwork these days. Thank you all so much for sharing your real experiences. This community support is exactly what expecting parents need when navigating these confusing government systems! 💕