The job protection is one law. The money is a different system entirely, run by a different agency, and nobody tells you that until you are already out.
The short answer: State Disability Insurance pays 70–90% of your wages, up to a 2026 maximum of $1,765 a week, for as long as 52 weeks, when a provider certifies you cannot do your regular work.¹ It is not instant: the law still requires "a waiting period of seven consecutive days" of disability before benefits start, and that week is unpaid unless you cover it another way.² Paid Family Leave — the other EDD programme people confuse it with — is eight weeks, and it is not for your own condition.³ Job protection comes from a separate law and does not pay you at all.
The four sources of money, and which apply to you
| Source | Pays | For | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Disability Insurance (SDI) | 70–90% of wages, 2026 maximum $1,765/week, up to 52 weeks¹ | Your own condition, certified by a provider | Seven consecutive days unpaid before benefits begin² |
| Paid Family Leave (PFL) | Same percentages | Caring for a seriously ill family member, bonding with a new child, a military deployment³ | Not for your own condition; "PFL provides benefit payments but not job protection"³ |
| Paid sick leave | Your normal wages | Diagnosis, care or treatment of a health condition | At least 40 hours or five days a year; it accrues at one hour per 30 hours worked⁴ |
| Accrued vacation or PTO | Your normal wages | Anything | Your employer may require you to use it during the unpaid part of CFRA leave⁵ |
The seven days nobody mentions
The waiting period is real and it is in the statute: you must have "been unemployed and disabled for a waiting period of seven consecutive days" before disability benefits are payable.² Paid Family Leave has no such wait; disability does. Plan for the week — accrued sick leave is what most people use to cover it.
The statute also carries an exception worth knowing if you have been out before: the waiting period "shall not apply to a person who has met the waiting period requirements on the initial claim for disability benefits when that person files a subsequent claim for disability benefits for the same or a related cause or condition within 60 days after the original disability benefit period."² Come back to work, find you were not ready, and file again inside 60 days for the same cause: you do not serve a second unpaid week.
What the percentages actually mean
The benefit is 70–90% "of the wages you earned 5 to 18 months before your claim start date," with the higher percentage going to lower earners.¹ At the top of the scale the rate is 70% of weekly wages up to the $1,765 maximum.¹ Two consequences follow. Your recent raise may not be in the calculation, because the base period sits well back from your claim date. And if you earn substantially above the cap, the percentage stops mattering — the cap is what you get.
Your employer, your PTO, and who decides
During the unpaid portion of CFRA leave for your own serious health condition, "an employee may elect to use or an employer may require an employee to use any accrued vacation time or other paid accrued time off (including undifferentiated paid time off (PTO))."⁵ So the choice about vacation and PTO can be made without you.
Two things soften that. Your health coverage keeps running: "the employer shall maintain and pay for an employee's health coverage at the same level and under the same conditions as coverage would have been provided if the employee had not taken CFRA leave," for the duration of the leave up to twelve workweeks in a 12-month period.⁵ And short- or long-term disability plan benefits may be substituted during the unpaid portion, on the terms of the employer's policy.⁵
Who can certify the claim
This is the detail that sends people back to square one. EDD's certifier list is narrower than the list of people who treat mental health conditions, and a therapist who is not on it cannot file the medical certification no matter how well they know your case. Check the current list before you book the appointment that is supposed to start the claim, and if your therapist is not on it, plan the certification with a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist or the prescriber who is already involved.
The printable walks the whole filing, step by step, with the exact words for each conversation. The SDI claim worksheet →
The order that saves the most money
- File SDI on day one of the leave, not once you feel organised. The clock starts when the claim starts.
- Cover the seven-day wait with accrued sick leave if you have it. It is the cheapest week in the whole plan.
- Request job protection separately and in writing. They are two systems; doing one does not do the other. CFRA or FMLA — which one covers you →
- Keep treating. Extensions are certified on the strength of ongoing treatment records, not on how you sound on the phone.
Q&A
Q: How much does SDI pay? A: 70–90% of the wages you earned 5 to 18 months before your claim start date, up to a 2026 maximum of $1,765 a week, for as long as 52 weeks.¹
Q: Is there a waiting period? A: Yes — seven consecutive days of disability, unpaid, before benefits begin. Paid Family Leave has no waiting period; disability does.² ³
Q: Can I use Paid Family Leave for my own depression? A: No. PFL covers caring for a seriously ill family member, bonding with a new child, or a qualifying military deployment, and it provides no job protection.³
Q: Can my employer make me burn my vacation? A: During the unpaid portion of CFRA leave, yes — the regulation lets the employer require the use of accrued vacation or PTO.⁵ Your health coverage continues either way.
Q: What if I need longer than the leave law gives me? A: SDI can run far longer than twelve weeks, and job protection can sometimes be extended as an accommodation. How long leave can actually last →
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Sources
- California EDD, calculating Disability Insurance benefit payment amounts — 70–90% of wages earned 5 to 18 months before the claim start date, a $1,765 maximum weekly benefit, and up to 52 weeks — edd.ca.gov.
- Cal. Unemployment Insurance Code §2627 — the seven consecutive day waiting period and the 60-day same-or-related-cause exception — california.public.law.
- California EDD, Paid Family Leave — up to eight weeks in a 12-month period, the qualifying reasons, and "PFL provides benefit payments but not job protection" — edd.ca.gov.
- California Department of Industrial Relations, paid sick leave — at least 40 hours or five days a year, accruing at one hour per 30 hours worked — dir.ca.gov.
- Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, §11092 — election or employer requirement to use accrued vacation and PTO during unpaid CFRA leave, substitution of disability plan benefits, and maintenance of health coverage — law.cornell.edu.
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