CA SB 63: Protected family bonding leave for 2.7 million California parents
SB 63, the New Parent Leave Act, ensures that more Californians can take leave to care for a newborn without the fear of losing their jobs.
Under the old law, employees could only take job-protected leave to spend time with newborns or recently adopted children if they worked for an employer that employed 50 or more eligible employees. Because over 40% of California workers work for smaller employers with less than 50 employees, many workers were unable to take this critical time off to bond with their new children.
Now, under the bill recently signed into law by Governor Brown, all California parents who work for employers with at least 20 employees are entitled to take 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected maternity or paternity leave.
As a reminder, California prohibits an employer from refusing to maintain and pay for coverage under a group health plan for an employee who takes this leave. In addition, Employers cannot retaliate against employees who exercise their rights to this leave.
This change gives 2.7 million more California workers access to job-protected maternity or paternity leave to spend time with their new children. For more information, please contact your labor law counsel.
By Caitlin Gray
