Will my daughter qualify for EDD pregnancy disability and PFL with work gaps and part-time hours?

First, congrats to your daughter! California has two separate benefits she might qualify for: 1) Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) - This is through State Disability Insurance (SDI) for before birth and recovery 2) Paid Family Leave (PFL) - This is for baby bonding after recovery Elgibility depends on her having paid into SDI through payroll deductions during her base period. The base period is typically 5-18 months before her disability claim begins. Since she'll be going on leave in Dec 2025, her base period would be around July 2024-June 2025. She needs to have earned at least $300 during that period and had SDI deductions taken from her paycheck. The good news is even part-time work counts as long as she's had SDI deductions! The bad news is the 10-week gap might reduce her benefit amount, which is calculated based on her highest quarter of earnings.

my sister had something similar happen last year and EDD gave her a really hard time!!!!! she had to send in like a MILLION paystubs and they kept losing them and asking for them over and over. tell your daughter to start gathering EVERYTHING now... all paystubs, doctors notes about the morning sickness, everything!!!!

The system is rigged to make it hard for pregnant women to get benefits. They WANT to deny claims so they can keep more money. My cousin worked for 3 years straight before her pregnancy and they STILL denied her claim saying she "didn't have enough wages" in the base period even though she made plenty!!! It took her FIVE MONTHS of fighting to get any money and by then she was already back at work. The whole system is a JOKE.

Your daughter should be eligible if she worked and paid into SDI during her base period. The benefit amount will be approximately 60-70% of her highest quarter wages up to the maximum weekly benefit amount (which in 2025 is $1,620). Here's what she needs to know: 1. Since she's been working part-time recently, her benefit will be based on those lower earnings unless she had higher earnings in earlier quarters of her base period. 2. For Pregnancy Disability, she'll need her doctor to certify she can't work. With a December due date, this would start around November 2025 if her doctor takes her off work 4 weeks before delivery. 3. After recovery (typically 6-8 weeks), she can transition to PFL for bonding without a new application. One important tip: She should file her claim IMMEDIATELY once her doctor certifies her disability. Claims can only be backdated 7 days, so any delay means lost benefits!

Just went thru this myself! Try calling EDD before she files to confirm eligibility so she doesnt waste time filling everything out just to get denied. But goodluck actually reaching anyone LOL i spent 3 weeks calling every day and kept getting the "we're experiencing high call volume" message then it would hang up on me 🙄

does she have short term disability thru her employer too? sometimes companies offer that on top of the state benefits which can help a lot. i got both when i had my baby last yr and it made a huge difference

omg i just remembered something important!!! make sure she tells her doctor about ANY pregnancy symptoms that might qualify as disability... not just the morning sickness but also back pain, exhaustion, swelling, etc. My doctor originally only wrote down my main issue (high blood pressure) but when I mentioned all my other symptoms she updated the form and I qualified for longer disability leave before delivery!

Just wanted to add something important about the transition from Pregnancy Disability to PFL Baby Bonding. When your daughter's recovery period ends (usually 6 weeks for vaginal birth or 8 weeks for c-section), she needs to file for PFL within 41 days to avoid losing benefits. The EDD technically auto-files this for her, but there are often glitches in their system. She should proactively check her online account after delivery to make sure the transition happens correctly. If she doesn't see her PFL claim processing about a week before her recovery period ends, she should call EDD right away to make sure she doesn't miss out on the 8 weeks of baby bonding benefits.

Based on everything you've shared, I believe your daughter will qualify for benefits, but the amount might be lower due to her part-time status. Here's a quick summary of what she should do: 1. Start gathering all employment documents now (paystubs, employment verification, etc.) 2. Have her doctor complete the DE2501 form when she's ready to stop working 3. File immediately once her doctor certifies her disability 4. Monitor her online EDD account regularly for updates 5. Watch for the transition from disability to PFL after delivery 6. Call EDD if anything seems delayed or incorrect With proper documentation and timely filing, she should receive both pregnancy disability and baby bonding benefits, even with the work gaps and part-time status.

One more thing to consider - if your daughter's morning sickness was severe enough that she had to leave work initially, she might have qualified for pregnancy disability benefits during that 10-week gap period too! If her doctor documented the severity of her symptoms at the time, it's possible she could have received SDI benefits for that period of inability to work due to pregnancy-related complications. It's probably too late to file for that period now (claims must be filed within a year), but it's worth knowing for future reference. Many people don't realize that severe morning sickness, hyperemesis gravidarum, and other pregnancy complications can qualify for disability benefits even early in pregnancy - not just the typical 4 weeks before delivery that most people think about. The key is having medical documentation from her healthcare provider stating she was unable to work due to pregnancy-related medical conditions. This could be helpful information for other expecting parents reading this thread!