Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1188730
48 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E www.edd.ca.gov/Disability/Am_I_Eligible_for_PFL_Benefits.htm www.edd.ca.gov/Disability/Am_I_Eligible_for_DI_Benefits.htm www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla www.edd.ca.gov/Payroll_Taxes/Disability_Insurance_Elective_Coverage.htm In the Family Way? Read This FAMILY & MEDICAL LEAVE ACT Workers who have a loss of wages when they need to take time off work to care for a seriously ill child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, registered domestic partner, or to bond with a new child entering the family through birth, adoption, or foster care placement, may be eligible for Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits. You must: • Be unable to do your regular or customary work due to the need to provide care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child. • Be employed or actively looking for work at the time your family leave begins. • Have lost wages because you were caring for a seriously ill family member or bonding with a new child. • Have earned at least $300 from which State Disability Insurance (SDI) deductions were withheld during your base period. FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE (FEDERAL) The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees. Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Also check out these resources: takes effect July 1, 2020, and applies to both parents. And since laws that cover paid family leave and disability hinge on employee status, there will likely be big changes afoot thanks to California bill AB 5, which was signed into law in September. Backed by labor unions and passed by the state Assembly in May, the law makes it difficult for companies to clas- sify workers as independent contractors – and at least theoretically, expands the number of people enjoying employment protections. "There's an acknowledgement that a whole group of people are being left out of state protections," Gerry said. "It's in the early stages, but there's a movement to fix the loophole" for freelance workers. There is a little known program avail- able to entrepreneurs, small business owners, and other self-employed work- ers, she said, called Disability Insurance Elective Coverage. Only about 126 people are enrolled in it statewide, and applica- tions must be submitted six months prior to a baby's birth. "It's not something that can be done on the fly," Gerry said. "And it's complicated, but we're working with EDD on a revamp. The goal is to make it more accessible." The situation may be improving for families, but there's still a long way to go. Druez, who has a 9-year-old son and twin daughters who are 6 ½, spends a lot of time juggling work and family duties with her husband, who works as a grip. "This business can be very unfriendly to people with families. You think your situation would elicit compassion, but sometimes that's not the case," she said. But there are some silver linings, beyond the satisfactions of building a family. "Having children makes you gutsy," she said. "You don't put up with a lot of BS because you have a family to consider. You make sacrifices in some ways, but you stand up for yourself in others." ■