CFRA Leave in California: A Guide for Employees

Reviewed by Eliot J. Rushovich, Managing Partner, Rise Law Firm, PC. Last updated October 2026.

The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to recover from a serious health condition, care for a seriously ill family member, or bond with a new child. CFRA is broader than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), covers more employers and more family members, and protects employees from being fired or punished for requesting or taking leave.

This guide explains who qualifies for CFRA leave, what it can be used for, what rights you have during and after your leave, and what you can do if your employer denies your leave or retaliates against you for taking it.

Who Qualifies for CFRA Leave

CFRA applies to private employers with five or more employees and to all public employers in California, including the state, cities, counties and school districts (Gov. Code § 12945.2). An employee is eligible for CFRA leave if he or she meets two requirements:

1. At least 12 months of service with the employer. The 12 months do not have to be consecutive.
2. At least 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months before the leave begins. That is roughly 24 hours a week over a year, so many part-time employees qualify.

Unlike the FMLA, CFRA does not require that the employer have 50 employees within 75 miles of the employee’s worksite. This means many employees who do not qualify for FMLA leave are still protected by CFRA.

If you do not meet the 12-month or 1,250-hour requirement, you may still have other protections that allow you time off for a serious health condition. Pregnancy disability leave has no minimum length of service, and an employee with a disability may also be entitled to leave as a reasonable accommodation under FEHA. Our California maternity leave guide and disability discrimination page explain those rights.

What CFRA Leave Can Be Used For

An eligible employee may take CFRA leave for any of the following reasons:

• Your own serious health condition that makes you unable to perform your job. A serious health condition generally means an illness, injury, impairment or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care or continuing treatment or supervision by a health care provider.
• To care for a family member or designated person with a serious health condition.
• To bond with a new child after birth, adoption or foster care placement. Bonding leave must be taken within one year of the child’s birth or placement.
• A qualifying military exigency related to the active duty, or call to active duty, of your spouse, registered domestic partner, child or parent in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Disability caused by pregnancy or childbirth is not covered by CFRA. That time is covered by pregnancy disability leave (PDL) instead, and CFRA bonding leave can begin after PDL ends. Our maternity leave guide explains how these two leaves fit together.

Family members covered by CFRA

CFRA allows leave to care for a seriously ill:

• Child (including an adult child)
• Parent or parent-in-law
• Spouse or registered domestic partner
• Grandparent or grandchild
• Sibling
• Designated person, meaning someone related to you by blood or whose association with you is the equivalent of a family relationship

An employer may limit an employee to one designated person in a 12-month period. The federal FMLA covers a much narrower group, generally limited to a spouse, child or parent.

How Much Leave You Can Take and How It Works

CFRA provides up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period. The leave does not have to be taken all at once.

• Intermittent or reduced-schedule leave. Leave for a serious health condition can be taken in separate blocks of time or as a reduced work schedule when medically necessary, such as for recurring treatment. Your employer must allow intermittent leave in increments as small as the shortest period its payroll system uses to account for absences, as long as that period is not more than one hour. In other words, you can take CFRA leave an hour at a time, or in smaller increments if that is how your employer tracks time.
• Bonding leave. Bonding leave does not have to be taken all at once, but it must be completed within one year of the child’s birth or placement. Each period of bonding leave must generally be at least two weeks long, but your employer must grant a request for bonding leave of less than two weeks on any two occasions, and it may agree to more.
• Notice. If the need for leave is foreseeable, such as a planned surgery or the expected birth of a child, you should generally give 30 days’ notice. If it is not foreseeable, notice should be given as soon as practicable. You do not have to mention CFRA by name; it is enough to tell your employer that you need time off for a reason CFRA covers.
• Medical certification. Your employer may ask for a certification from a health care provider stating the date the condition began, how long it is expected to last and why leave is needed. For your own condition, your employer cannot require additional information, such as your symptoms or diagnosis. If your employer has a good-faith, objective reason to doubt the certification, it may require a second opinion at its own expense.

Your employer’s duty to respond and give notice

Once you request leave, your employer must respond as soon as practicable and no later than five business days after receiving your request. If the leave is approved after it has already begun, the approval applies retroactively to the first day of leave. Your employer is also responsible for designating your leave as CFRA leave based on the information you provide, and for telling you that it has done so. California’s CFRA regulations also adopt the federal FMLA regulations to the extent they are consistent with California law (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 11096). Under those rules, once your employer learns that you may need leave for a qualifying reason, it must generally notify you within five business days whether you are eligible for leave and give you written notice of your rights and responsibilities, including any requirement to provide medical certification and how your health premiums will be paid. An employer’s failure to give these notices can itself interfere with your leave rights.

California employers must also post a notice of CFRA rights in the workplace and include CFRA policies in any employee handbook that describes other types of leave. If your employer asks for medical certification, it must tell you at that time what will happen if you do not provide adequate certification. And if your employer did not give employees reasonable advance notice of its rules for requesting leave, it cannot deny your leave or take other action against you for failing to give advance notice.

Pay during CFRA leave

CFRA leave is unpaid, but most employees can replace part of their income. You may use accrued vacation or other paid time off during CFRA leave, and in some situations sick leave. Through the California Employment Development Department, you may also qualify for State Disability Insurance (SDI) while you are unable to work because of your own condition, or Paid Family Leave (PFL) while you are caring for a family member or bonding with a new child. SDI and PFL replace a portion of wages but do not themselves protect your job; the job protection comes from CFRA.

Your Rights During and After CFRA Leave

Health coverage. Your employer must continue your group health plan coverage during CFRA leave at the same level and under the same conditions as if you were working, and must continue paying its share of the premiums. If you normally pay part of the premium, you remain responsible for your share during leave. Your employer must tell you in writing in advance how to make those payments, and it cannot add an administrative charge. If your payment is more than 30 days late, your employer may stop maintaining coverage, but only after giving you at least 15 days’ written notice. Your employer can recover the premiums it paid during unpaid leave only if you do not return to work after your leave (or return for less than 30 days) for a reason other than a continuing serious health condition or other circumstances beyond your control.

The right to return to your job. When your leave ends, you are entitled to return to the same position or a comparable one, with the same or similar pay, benefits, shift, location and other terms of employment. You also keep the seniority you had accrued before your leave.

An employer can refuse to reinstate an employee only in narrow circumstances, such as when the employee’s job would have been eliminated even if the employee had not taken leave, or when the employee obtained the leave fraudulently. The employer bears the burden of proving those defenses. A “restructuring” or layoff that conveniently eliminates the position of an employee on leave deserves close scrutiny.

Protection from interference and retaliation. It is unlawful for an employer to deny CFRA leave to an eligible employee, discourage an employee from taking leave, count CFRA leave against an employee under an attendance policy, or fire, demote, discipline or otherwise punish an employee for requesting or taking leave.

CFRA, FMLA and Pregnancy Disability Leave Compared

CFRA and the federal FMLA often run at the same time, so leave taken for a reason both laws cover counts against both. Pregnancy disability leave is separate and does not use up CFRA leave.

	CFRA (California)	FMLA (federal)	Pregnancy disability leave (California)
Employers covered	Private employers with 5+ employees; all public employers	Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles of the worksite; public employers	Employers with 5+ employees
Employee eligibility	12 months of service and 1,250 hours in the prior 12 months	12 months of service and 1,250 hours in the prior 12 months	No minimum service
Amount of leave	Up to 12 workweeks in 12 months	Up to 12 workweeks in 12 months	Up to 4 months per pregnancy, while disabled
Reasons	Own serious health condition, family care, bonding, military exigency	Same, but includes pregnancy-related incapacity	Disability caused by pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition
Family members	Child, parent, parent-in-law, spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, designated person	Child, parent, spouse	Not applicable
Health coverage continued	Yes	Yes	Yes
Right to return to job	Same or comparable position	Same or equivalent position, with an exception for certain highly paid employees	Same position in most cases

This table is a summary, and each law has additional rules and exceptions. Our Los Angeles FMLA lawyer page discusses the federal law in more detail.

Common CFRA Violations

We frequently see employers violate CFRA in ways such as:

• Denying leave to an eligible employee, or telling the employee they do not qualify without checking
• Pressuring an employee to cut leave short, or contacting the employee repeatedly to perform work while on leave
• Counting CFRA absences against the employee under an attendance or point system
• Allowing time off only on the condition that the employee make up the hours at night, on weekends or on other days off
• Firing or laying off the employee during or shortly after leave, often citing a reorganization or performance concerns that were never raised before
• Returning the employee to a lesser position, with reduced pay, hours, responsibilities or a worse schedule
• Giving the employee poor reviews, discipline or reduced opportunities after they return from leave

These examples are not exhaustive. When the employee’s own serious health condition is also a disability, the same conduct may violate FEHA’s protections against disability discrimination and failure to accommodate. Our article on being fired while on medical leave in California explains how these claims are evaluated.

If your employer also refused to adjust your job because of your health condition, our reasonable accommodation page explains your rights under FEHA.

What to Do If Your CFRA Rights Are Violated

1. Request leave in writing. An email to your supervisor or human resources that explains why you need time off creates a record that your employer was on notice.
2. Keep track of what happens. Note the dates of your requests, your employer’s responses and any comments about your leave.
3. Save the documents you already have, such as leave approvals or denials, medical certifications, performance reviews and messages about your leave or your return.
4. Speak with an employment lawyer as soon as possible, so that deadlines and evidence are protected.

CFRA claims are brought under FEHA. An employee generally has three years to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, and then one year after receiving a right-to-sue notice to file a lawsuit. Our article on California wrongful termination deadlines explains these deadlines in more detail. An employee who was wrongfully fired or otherwise retaliated against may be entitled to lost wages, emotional distress damages, punitive damages in appropriate cases (public entities are not liable for punitive damages) and attorney’s fees and costs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I be fired while on CFRA leave?

Your employer cannot fire you because you requested or took CFRA leave. An employer may end employment during leave only for a reason unrelated to the leave, such as a genuine layoff that would have affected you anyway, and the employer must prove that reason. A termination during or shortly after leave is often a sign of retaliation.

Do I get paid during CFRA leave?

CFRA leave is unpaid, but you may use accrued vacation or paid time off, and you may qualify for State Disability Insurance or Paid Family Leave benefits through the Employment Development Department.

Can I take CFRA leave if I work part time?

Yes, if you have at least 12 months of service and worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before your leave.

Can my employer require a doctor’s note for CFRA leave?

Yes. Your employer may require a certification from a health care provider confirming the need for leave and its expected length. For your own health condition, however, your employer cannot require additional information, such as your symptoms or diagnosis.

Do I have a CFRA case?

You may have a case. If your employer denied leave you were eligible for, discouraged you from taking it, or fired, demoted or disciplined you during or after your leave, you may have a claim for CFRA interference or retaliation. The best way to find out is to contact us to request a free, confidential consultation.

How long do I have to bring a CFRA claim?

An employee generally has three years from the violation to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, and then one year after receiving a right-to-sue notice to file a lawsuit. Because other deadlines may apply, it is best to speak with an attorney as soon as possible.

Talk to a California Employment Lawyer

If your employer denied your CFRA leave, interfered with it or punished you for taking it, Rise Law Firm can help. Our attorneys have secured millions of dollars for employees in leave, discrimination and retaliation cases, and we represent employees with no fees or costs unless we recover compensation for you. Please contact us to request a free, confidential consultation.