The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) have long required large employers with 50 or more employees to provide unpaid job-protected parental leave for employees to bond with a new child. Effective January 1, 2018, the New Parent Leave Act (NPLA) extends similar parental leave requirements to California employers with 20 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.

The NPLA adds section 12945.6 to the Government Code, requiring these mid-size employers to provide up to 12 workweeks of unpaid job-protected leave for employees to bond with a new child within one year of the child’s birth, adoption, or foster care placement.  As with the FMLA and CFRA, employees must have worked for the company at least 12 months, and at least 1,250 hours during the preceding 12 months, to qualify for NPLA leave.
Continue Reading Protected Leave For New Parents Now Applies to Mid-Size Employers in California

On October 12, 2017, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 63 (“the New Parent Leave Act”).  Under the new law, employers may not refuse to allow certain employees to take up to 12 weeks of parental leave to bond with a new child.  When the leave is taken, the employer must guarantee the same