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Jul31

California Short Term Disability (SDI) Questions

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I have heard that in

California, workers can collect short-term disability even if they are unemployed. I’ve also heard that gay employees who take time off to care for a domestic partner are entitled to SDI benefits, and that healthy people can collect SDI in some cases. Is any of this true?

All of the  rumors that you mention are completely TRUE.

California has one of the most generous short-term disability programs of any state. Almost every employee in the state is covered by the State Disability Insurance program, or SDI. This program is not optional – it is mandated by law and funded through employee payroll deductions. In all, more than 12 million

California workers are covered under this program.

California is one of just 5 states nationwide that mandate short-term disability coverage. Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and

Hawaii also require short-term disability coverage for employees. Throughout the rest of the nation, a worker who is out of work for less than 5 months due to a serious illness, is usually out of luck. (Some employers do choose to offer short-term disability insurance in other states but no law requires them to do so.)

As a general rule, California SDI pays 55% of the employee’s weekly wages up to a maximum of $728 per week. Workers can collect SDI for a maximum of 52 weeks. SDI is designed primarily to provide partial income to people who are unable to work due to a serious medical condition, as certified by a doctor. However, under some circumstances healthy people can collect SDI.

Some people can qualify for SDI, even if they are unemployed. To qualify for SDI, an employee must be working or actively looking for work at the time that he or she becomes disabled. Employees who are in doubt should file for SDI to get a determination.

Paid family leave is a type of SDI that can provide benefits to healthy workers who take time off for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are to bond with a newborn, or with a newly adopted child. Leave may also be taken to bond with a foster child under the age of 18 who has been recently placed in the home.

California workers can also take Paid Family Leave when they take time off to care for a seriously ill family member. This includes a child, spouse, parent or a domestic partner.

Under the Paid Family Leave program, workers can collect SDI benefits for up to 6 weeks in each calendar year, even though they are perfectly healthy. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 3:07 pm and is filed under
Attendance Management, Benefits, Compensation, Human Resources Management, Labor Laws, Performance Management, Workplace Management.
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8 Responses to “California Short Term Disability (SDI) Questions”

  1. Suzanne Van Hooser Says:
    September 18th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    My son is a part-time worker at [employers name deleted] who is on disability due to severe medical problems. Is it legal for [employers name deleted] to no longer honor his employee discount? They specify that employees must work a given number of hours per month for this discount.

  2. Caitlin Says:
    September 19th, 2008 at 7:21 am

    Hi Suzanne! Yes, it is legal for employers to offer employee discounts only to workers who put in a specific number of hours. In fact, many retail stores offer discounts only to full-time employees.

    If your son is making payments on an item he purchased before he went on short term disability, the store might have to honor those payment arrangements. However, the store is not under any obligation to permit employees on disability leave to purchase new items at a discount. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Caitlin

  3. Heather Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    If an employee has a surgery and is out 1 week and then comes back to work part time for a while does can the employee get disability and paid from their employee to make the difference of their normal salary?

  4. Caitlin Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    Hi Heather! If an employee who must work a reduced schedule due to a disability, and has a resulting loss of income that lasts 8 days or more, the employee can collect partial SDI benefits. However, the employees salary plus the SDI may not equal her previous salary, since SDI only replaces part of the lost income. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Caitlin

    Read more about this at: http://www.edd.ca.gov/Disability/DI_Part-time_Worker.htm

  5. Heather Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    Hi and thank you for the response,
    So how would workers comp fit into the mix. This employee hurt her knee, has to have surgery, will be out for a week and then back partime for a couple of weeks?
    Thanks,

  6. Caitlin Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    Hi Heather! Sorry, that answer does not apply if the employee has a work-related injury covered by workers comp. California SDI does not cover work related injuries — they are covered by workers comp. They are two entirely different beasts. An employee on Workers Comp does not qualify for SDI. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Caitlin

  7. Jerry Says:
    December 28th, 2009 at 8:26 pm

    If a dr. puts an employee on disabilility for 2 weeks due to illness, does the employer pay the difference of hourly rate and does employer pay for holiday time during the disability period? In this case holidays were included in the two week period.
    thank you

  8. Caitlin Says:
    December 29th, 2009 at 7:40 am

    Hi Jerry! No, the employee receives only his or her disability check. The employer is not obligated to provide holiday pay, or supplemental income. HTH, and thanks for reading the blogs!~ Caitlin

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