California FMLA is a title that merges several pieces of legislation. The first applicable piece of legislation is the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), another is the California Pregnancy Disability Act (PDL), and the last is the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Combined, these pieces of legislation provide covered California employees with some of the best leave benefits available, anywhere. Qualifications for CFRA are the same as federal FMLA, but unlike FMLA, eligible “care for” serious condition benefits under CFRA also apply to a domestic partner. Same-sex married partners were not covered under federal FMLA, until the Supreme Court disallowed the “one man and one woman” marriage definition promoted by the Defense of Marriage Act. This left the determination of a marriage definition up to individual states and California law recognizes same-sex marriage, so leave used for a qualified married care of spouse deducts from both federal FMLA and CFRA, two of three components in California FMLA.
California FMLA, like supplemented federal FMLA in other states, has become a regular source of confusion for covered employers. Reports that the Department of Labor will be increasing audits, fines and investigations has more than just the attention of employers. The same business section is typically filled with articles about the recent flurry of judgments handed down to employers who were determined to be non-compliant with federal FMLA. And reports placing the average cost to defend a FMLA lawsuit at $100,000 are causing employers to re-evaluate their compliance plan. The best leave administration solutions address the full spectrum of California FMLA.
Many have found the solution to California FMLA compliance in the form of Qcera’s LeaveSource™ web-based software. LeaveSource™ provides a daily task worklist to leave administrators and if it is completed on a daily basis, the company is administratively efficient, financially healthy from a cost-effectiveness perspective, and compliant with state and federal legislative requirements, as well as any company-specific policies. More than a million employees are administered by clients utilizing LeaveSource™ software and more than a dozen of those clients are Fortune 500 Companies. But you don’t have to be a large company to achieve compliance success with California FMLA.
Compliance success with California FMLA is achieved on a daily basis for companies that are small to medium with LeaveSource Express. Companies with multiple leave administrators attain compliance success with LeaveSource™ Enterprise. And companies looking to maintain employee contact, while accepting a leave request, are finding tremendous success with LeaveSource™ Entrust, which utilizes LeaveSource™ software but also provides back office administration by Qcera, to handle all required notifications, certification analysis, and ongoing communication up to the employees return to work. Request a demonstration or peruse more information under the “Products” tab to find your own solution to California FMLA.