hrc blog

California's New Parent Leave Law (SB63)

Governor Brown signed SB63 into law, requiring employers with at least 20-employees to provide 12-weeks of unpaid, job-protected parental bonding leave. This law will take effect on January 1, 2018.

This law applies to private, state and municipal employers that directly employee 20-49 employees within 75-miles of each other. To be eligible, an employee must have more than 12-months of service and at least 1,250 hours of service with the covered employer during the 12-month period prior to commencing leave. This new leave does not apply to employees who are covered by both the federal FMLA and California CFRA (already provides similar leave).

This law requires employers to maintain and pay for the employee's continued coverage under a group health plan at the level and under the same conditions that coverage would have been provided had the employee continued to work. However, employers are entitled to recover their portion of the premium in the event the employee fails to return from the leave and the failure to return is not due to the continuation, recurrence or onset of a serious health condition, or "other circumstances beyond the control of the employee."

When preparing for this new leave law, employers should first determine if the law applied to them, if so, draft a compliant leave policy, and train appropriate HR personnel and managers about the requirements of the law, including addressing the laws no-retaliation and no-discrimination provisions.