Human Resource Blog

Termination of Employee on a non work related medical leave

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Can I terminate an employee on a non work related medical leave in excess of 120 days? The employee filed a state disability claim. The company has less than 50 employees and is based in California.

As with most HR questions concerning California, the answer is: that depends. If any portion of the leave was due to pregnancy disability, then probably not.

California actually has 5 different family leave laws. The Pregnancy Disability Leave law applies to employers with 5 or more workers. It entitles pregnant employees to 4 months of disability leave, in addition to their 12 weeks of unpaid leave for baby bonding under CFRA or FMLA. Both Pregnancy Disability and FMLA/CFRA are job-protected.

The CFRA is the California version of the federal FMLA, which entitles employees to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave. The CFRA covers every employer with 50 or more full-time and part-time workers. The coverage is slightly different, and in some cases an employee may qualify for 12 weeks of unpaid CFRA leave in addition to 12 weeks of FMLA. Both CFRA and FMLA are job protected.

The Paid Family Leave Act provides state benefits for parents who are covered under state disability insurance. They can take up to 6 weeks of leave to bond with a new child. This is not job-protected leave, but applies to most employers with 2 or more workers.

Other laws permit employees to take time off for children\\\’s school events, or to use sick leave to care for their family members who are ill.

An employee who has exhausted his or her paid and unpaid leave under all the California family leave laws can legitimately be terminated.

Employers are required by law to display posters on California family leave, and to provide info on the various state family leave laws in the employee handbook.

Read more about the different laws at: http://www.paidfamilyleave.org/pdf/FiveKeyLawsPoster.pdf