Exempt salaried employees denied SDI & UI benefits? California eligibility confusion

Your HR department is 100% WRONG. Exempt status has NOTHING to do with SDI eligibility. In California, almost all employees (including exempt salaried workers) have SDI automatically deducted from their paychecks, which means you ARE eligible for SDI benefits if you have a qualifying medical condition. As for unemployment, exempt status doesn't disqualify you either. UI eligibility depends on whether you're unemployed through no fault of your own and meet other EDD requirements, not on your exempt/non-exempt classification. I've been an exempt employee for 8+ years and successfully claimed both types of benefits when needed. Print out the EDD eligibility requirements and take them to your HR department!

i think it depends on if ur company has a private insurance plan instead of the state one. some bigger companies opt out of the state program and have their own disability insurance. maybe thats what ur HR meant?

I literally just went through this exact situation last month. I'm an exempt employee (marketing director) and successfully applied for SDI after a surgery. The process was pretty straightforward: 1. Had my doctor complete their portion of the SDI claim form 2. I completed my section online through the EDD website 3. Received confirmation within 10 days 4. Started receiving benefits about 2 weeks after that The only complication was that I had to call EDD to clarify something on my application, and it took FOREVER to get through. After 30+ attempts over 3 days, I finally tried a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an EDD agent within 15 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km Don't let your HR department mislead you - your exempt status is completely irrelevant to SDI eligibility!

wait i'm confused now too... i thought exempt meant u were like an independent contractor? isn't that different from salaried?

Some companies try to pull this nonsense because they don't want their unemployment insurance rates to go up. They're hoping you don't know your rights. I work in HR (not for your company obviously) and this kind of misinformation makes my blood boil. If you've had SDI deductions from your paychecks, you ARE eligible - period. For unemployment, the only thing that matters is: 1. Were you separated from employment through no fault of your own? 2. Are you able and available to work? 3. Are you actively seeking employment? 4. Did you earn enough wages during the base period? Your exempt status has ZERO bearing on this. Please report your HR department to the California Labor Commissioner if they continue giving you incorrect information that could prevent you from receiving benefits you're entitled to.

Fwiw my wife is exempt (financial controller) and she took 6 weeks SDI after having our baby last year. Zero issues with eligibility.

Update: I spoke with HR again today and showed them the information everyone shared. Turns out the person I initially talked to was new and confused exempt status with being an independent contractor! The HR director apologized and confirmed that I AM eligible for both SDI and UI benefits (though obviously not at the same time). They're going to provide additional training to their team. Thank you all for helping me straighten this out before I made medical decisions based on incorrect information!

This is such a great example of why it's so important to verify information from HR departments! I'm a benefits administrator and I see this confusion all the time - companies mixing up employment classifications with benefit eligibility. Just to add some additional clarity for anyone reading this: California Labor Code Section 2626 specifically states that SDI coverage applies to most employees regardless of their exempt/non-exempt status. The only real exclusions are certain government employees, some railroad workers, and people who earn above the wage cap (which is quite high). For UI benefits, the key statute is California Unemployment Insurance Code Section 601, which defines "employee" broadly and doesn't exclude exempt workers. The classification that matters for UI is whether you're an actual employee versus an independent contractor. Really glad you got this sorted out with your HR team - hopefully this will help them avoid giving incorrect information to other employees in the future!