Will EDD PFL calculate benefits using both jobs if working 2 full-time positions?

Good news - California EDD will use your combined wages from both jobs when calculating your benefit amount as long as you paid SDI taxes at both employers. They look at your highest quarter of earnings during your base period (roughly 5-18 months before your claim starts) and the weekly benefit amount is approximately 60-70% of that. So yes, both incomes should count! Make sure both employers complete their portions of your claim forms correctly showing all wages.

im in almost the EXACT situation right now!!! took baby bonding when my daughter was born 2 months ago, was working both hospital job and clinic job. EDD definitely used BOTH incomes for calculating my benefit amount, and I got way more than I expected. like $1,250/week which was awesome. just make sure u list both employers on ur application.

When I applied for PFL baby bonding last year, I just submitted one claim form (DE2508) but listed both of my employers in the employment history section. EDD then contacted both employers to verify wages and dates. One important thing to note - if one of your jobs doesn't withhold SDI contributions (rare but happens with some employers), then those wages won't count toward your benefit calculation. Double-check your pay stubs from both jobs to make sure you see the "SDI" or "CASDI" deduction on both.

i dont think this is right guys. when i took pfl they only looked at my main job even tho i had a weekend gig too. they told me something about only using the job you're taking leave FROM not all jobs. maybe the rules changed or maybe i just got a lazy caseworker who didnt want to do the extra paperwork lol

Just wanted to chime in that when I tried calling EDD to ask this exact question when I was applying for baby bonding leave, I spent HOURS trying to get through. If you need to actually speak to someone, check out a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com). They have this system that basically calls EDD for you and then connects you when they get through. Saved me so much frustration! You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/DOLxZQb92wM?si=6N1iCQ3a8Cdb2Ay5

Congrats on the upcoming baby! One thing no one mentioned yet - make sure both jobs know your leave plans well in advance. My sister-in-law worked two jobs and had issues because one employer didn't process her leave paperwork properly, which delayed her whole claim. Give yourself at least 3-4 weeks buffer before your expected leave date to get all the paperwork submitted. You can apply for PFL up to 41 days before you plan to start leave.

Just to clarify something that seems to be confusing - there's a difference between Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL/SDI) and Paid Family Leave (PFL) for baby bonding. Are you the birth mother or the non-birthing parent? If you're the birth mother, you'll likely qualify for pregnancy disability first (typically 4 weeks before birth and 6-8 weeks after), THEN you can transition to baby bonding PFL. If you're the non-birthing parent, you just apply for PFL directly. The forms and processes are slightly different.

One more thing to consider - when you return to work, you need to report it to EDD immediately. If you return to either job (even part-time), you must notify them or you could face overpayment issues. You can work part-time during PFL but your benefits will be reduced proportionally based on how much you're earning compared to your normal wages.

To answer your follow-up question about partial return to work: Yes, you can return to one job and continue receiving partial benefits if you're still taking leave from the other job. EDD will calculate the appropriate reduction based on the percentage of your total pre-leave income that you're now earning. Just be very clear and prompt in reporting any return to work - even partial - to avoid complications later.

One small but important detail to add - make sure you keep detailed records of your wages from both jobs during your base period (the 12-18 months before your claim). Sometimes EDD's wage records aren't complete, especially if you recently started one of the jobs. Having your own pay stubs can help resolve any discrepancies quickly. Also, if either employer changes their payroll system or gets acquired by another company, that can sometimes cause wage reporting delays that could affect your claim timing. Good luck with everything!

Great advice from everyone here! Just want to add one more tip since you mentioned March 2025 - make sure you understand the timing of when your base period wages are calculated. Since PFL looks at earnings from roughly 5-18 months before your claim, your base period will likely include wages from around late 2023 through mid-2024. If you started either job recently or had any significant pay changes, this could affect your benefit calculation. Also, don't forget that as the father, you can take your 8 weeks of bonding leave anytime within the first year after birth - you don't have to take it immediately. This flexibility might help you coordinate with your partner's leave and maximize your family's total time off together. Congrats on the upcoming addition to your family!

Just wanted to share my recent experience since it might help! I took PFL baby bonding leave last summer while working two jobs (office job and freelance consulting where I was classified as W-2). EDD definitely used both incomes in my benefit calculation, and I ended up getting about $1,400/week which was roughly 65% of my combined weekly earnings. The process was pretty straightforward - I filled out one DE2508 form and listed both employers. Each employer had to complete their own portion (DE2515) confirming my wages and leave dates. One tip: make sure you get confirmation from both employers that they received and submitted their paperwork to EDD, because my consulting job initially thought they didn't need to do anything since I was "just freelance" (they were wrong). The whole process took about 3 weeks from application to first payment once all the employer forms were submitted. Good luck with your claim and congratulations on your growing family!

Hey Amara! I'm actually in a very similar situation - expecting my first baby in April 2025 and working two jobs (office job during the day and teaching fitness classes in the evenings). I've been researching this extensively and can confirm what others have said - EDD absolutely should use wages from both jobs when calculating your PFL benefits, as long as both employers are paying into SDI. I'd recommend creating a simple spreadsheet to track your wages from both jobs over the past 18 months, since that's roughly the period they'll look at. Also, start gathering contact info for HR/payroll at both jobs now - you'll need them to complete their portions of the paperwork quickly. One thing I learned is that you can actually start the application process up to 49 days before your intended start date (not 41 like someone mentioned), which gives you more buffer time for any employer delays. Best of luck with your claim and congratulations on the upcoming arrival!

Just wanted to add my experience since I went through this exact situation about 6 months ago! I was working full-time at a manufacturing plant (40 hrs/week) plus part-time at a grocery store (25 hrs/week) when my son was born. EDD definitely calculated my benefits using BOTH jobs - ended up getting around $980/week which was about 62% of my combined weekly earnings. The key thing is making sure both employers know their responsibilities upfront. I actually scheduled meetings with HR at both jobs about 6 weeks before my leave to walk them through the DE2515 form they'd need to complete. This prevented any delays because they knew exactly what to expect. Also, keep copies of EVERYTHING - your application, employer forms, pay stubs, etc. EDD's online portal lets you track the status of your claim and see when they've received employer documentation. One last tip: if you're planning to stagger your return (like going back to one job first), make sure you understand exactly how the partial benefit calculation works before you make that decision. Sometimes it's more beneficial financially to return to both jobs on the same date. Good luck and congrats on the upcoming baby!

Hey Amara! I just went through this exact situation when my daughter was born in October. I was working full-time at a tech company (40 hrs/week) and part-time at a restaurant on weekends (20 hrs/week). EDD absolutely used both incomes - my weekly benefit ended up being $1,185 which was about 68% of my combined weekly earnings from both jobs. The process was pretty smooth once I got both employers on the same page. Here's what I learned: 1) Start the conversation with both HR departments NOW - give them at least 4-6 weeks notice about needing to complete the DE2515 forms. 2) Make sure you have recent pay stubs from both jobs showing the SDI deduction. 3) When you fill out your DE2508 application, be very detailed about both employment histories including exact start dates and wage amounts. The restaurant initially tried to tell me they didn't need to do anything since I was "just part-time" but that's completely wrong - any employer paying SDI taxes needs to complete their portion. EDD's system actually flagged my claim as incomplete until both employer forms were submitted. One thing that helped me was creating a simple timeline document with both jobs' HR contact info, deadlines, and what forms they needed to complete - kept everyone accountable. Feel free to reach out if you have more questions, and congrats on the upcoming arrival!

Just wanted to jump in here since I'm in a somewhat similar situation - currently working two jobs and planning for PFL when my baby arrives in June 2025. This thread has been incredibly helpful! Based on what everyone's shared, it sounds like the key takeaways are: 1) EDD will definitely use both jobs' wages if both pay SDI taxes, 2) start coordinating with both HR departments early (4-6 weeks minimum), and 3) keep detailed records of everything. One question I haven't seen addressed - has anyone dealt with jobs that have different pay schedules? My main job pays biweekly but my second job pays weekly, and I'm wondering if that complicates the wage calculation at all. Also, for those who mentioned getting $1,000+ per week in benefits - roughly what was your combined monthly income from both jobs? Trying to get a sense of what percentage that actually works out to. Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed experiences, this is exactly the kind of real-world info you can't get from the EDD website!

Amara, just wanted to add another perspective since I was in a very similar boat! I worked two jobs when my son was born last year - full-time at an accounting firm (42 hrs/week) and part-time doing bookkeeping for a small business (18 hrs/week). EDD definitely used both incomes and I ended up with about $1,050/week in benefits, which was around 64% of my combined weekly earnings. One thing I'd recommend is requesting your wage and benefit statement from EDD about 2-3 months before you plan to apply (you can do this online through your EDD account). This shows you exactly what wages they have on file from both employers and helps you estimate your benefit amount ahead of time. I found a small discrepancy where one employer had under-reported my wages by about $500 for one quarter, and I was able to get it corrected before applying for PFL. Also, regarding your question about returning to work - I actually did a staggered return and it worked out great financially. I went back to my part-time bookkeeping job first at 6 weeks (keeping my main accounting job on leave) and still received partial PFL benefits. The reduction was proportional, so I was still getting about $800/week in benefits plus my part-time wages. Just make sure you report any return to work immediately through the EDD portal or by phone. Best of luck with everything and congrats on the upcoming arrival! The dual-job PFL situation definitely works in your favor benefit-wise.

Hey everyone! I'm actually in a very similar situation to Amara - expecting my first baby in February 2025 and working two jobs (full-time at a logistics company and part-time at a coffee shop on weekends). This entire thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I had no idea EDD would use both incomes for the calculation - I was only planning around my main job's salary which would have left us way short financially. A few things I'm taking away from everyone's experiences: definitely going to start talking to both HR departments now (even though my due date is still months away), going to request that wage statement from EDD to check for any discrepancies, and I'm going to create that timeline document someone mentioned to keep both employers accountable for their paperwork. One question for those who've been through this - did any of you have issues with timing if your baby came early or late? I'm wondering if there's any flexibility in the system if your leave dates need to change from what you originally applied for. My coffee shop job is pretty understanding but the logistics company is very rigid about scheduling, so I want to make sure I understand all the potential scenarios. Thanks to everyone for sharing such detailed experiences - this is way more helpful than anything I found on the official EDD website!

Hey Amara! I went through this exact situation when my twins were born last spring - was working full-time at a medical office and part-time at a retail store. EDD absolutely used both incomes for my benefit calculation and I ended up getting about $1,320/week which was roughly 66% of my combined weekly earnings from both jobs. One tip that saved me a lot of stress: I actually printed out copies of both the DE2508 (your application) and DE2515 (employer form) and hand-delivered them to both HR departments with a cover letter explaining the timeline and deadlines. This way I knew for sure they received everything and understood what was needed. My retail job's HR was pretty overwhelmed and I think having the forms in hand with clear instructions made all the difference. Also, since you mentioned March 2025 - start gathering your pay stubs from both jobs now covering at least the past 18 months. EDD's wage database is usually accurate but having your own records as backup can speed things up if there are any discrepancies. The whole process took about 2.5 weeks from application to first payment once both employers submitted their paperwork. One last thing - as the dad you have up to a full year to use your 8 weeks of bonding leave, so you have flexibility to coordinate with your wife's schedule and maximize your family time together. Congrats on the upcoming arrival and good luck with the application process!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a similar situation - currently working two part-time jobs (30 hrs/week at a daycare and 25 hrs/week doing admin work) and expecting my first baby in May 2025. Reading everyone's experiences has given me so much confidence that EDD will actually use both incomes for the calculation, which is a huge relief since I was worried about only getting benefits based on one job. I'm definitely going to follow the advice here about starting early with both HR departments - the daycare is pretty good with paperwork but the admin job is just a small office that probably hasn't dealt with PFL before. Creating a timeline document and hand-delivering the forms sounds like the way to go. One quick question for those who've been through this - did you find it helpful to give your employers a specific deadline for submitting their DE2515 forms, or did you just ask them to do it "as soon as possible"? I'm thinking of giving them a date that's maybe a week earlier than when I actually need it submitted, just to build in some buffer time in case they're slow to respond. Thanks again to everyone for sharing such detailed experiences - this is exactly the kind of real-world info that makes all the difference when planning for something this important!