California Family Rights Act Lawyer
The California Family Rights Act (CFRA), also sometimes known as the Moore Brown Roberti Family Right Act, gives certain employees the right to take unpaid temporary leave from their job. The Act is administered by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). The CFRA is very similar to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), although there are some important differences.
Reasons for Taking Leave
Like the FMLA, the CFRA only allows eligible employees to take unpaid leave for certain reasons. These are as follows:
- Birth of a child
- Adoption of a child
- Foster placement
- To care for a serious medical condition
- To care for a family member with a serious medical condition
Leave is Generally Unpaid
Leave taken under the CFRA is usually unpaid. However, an employee may opt to use their sick leave, accrued vacation time, or other accumulated paid leave during CFRA leave. If an employee is taking leave to treat their own serious medical condition, the employer can require them to use this accumulated leave. Eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of leave in one 12-month period. Part-time employees can take leave that is proportional to their employment.
Employees do not need to take all 12 weeks of their leave consecutively. Instead, they can divide it up and take portions of the 12 weeks of leave at a time.
Requirements of CFRA for Employers
The CFRA covers employers that employ 50 or more employees, regardless of whether those employees are full-time or part-time workers. Employers must continue to provide employees the same benefits while they are on leave that they enjoyed while they were working, such as health insurance.
Employees on leave also continue to accrue seniority and they must be returned to the same position, or an equivalent one, when they return from leave. Employers are also not allowed to retaliate against employees for taking or requesting CFRA leave. An employer cannot terminate an employee, demote them, or otherwise punish them for requesting or taking CFRA leave. Employers are also prohibited from refusing to hire an employment candidate because they have taken CFRA leave in the past.
Notice Requirements
Employers do have the right to require 30 days notice when an employee needs to take CFRA leave. When it is not possible for the employee to provide that much notice, they should provide verbal or written notice as soon as possible. When providing notice, employees should include when the leave will start, and the duration of time the employee will be away from work. Employers must respond to a request for leave within ten calendar days of receiving the notice.
Our Family Rights Act Lawyer in California Can Help with Your Case
If you need to take leave and your employer has wrongfully denied you, or your employer has retaliated against you for taking leave, our California Family Rights Act lawyer at Litigation, P.C. can assist with your case. Call us today at 424-284-2401 or fill out our online form to schedule a consultation.