The mistake is almost never the decision to go. It is doing one of the two things and assuming it did the other — telling HR and expecting money, or filing with the state and expecting a job.
The short answer: two systems run in parallel and neither knows about the other. State Disability Insurance pays 70–90% of wages, to a 2026 maximum of $1,765 a week, for up to 52 weeks, after an unpaid waiting period of seven consecutive days.¹ ² California's leave law holds your job for 12 workweeks in a 12-month period, at employers with five or more employees, if you have more than 12 months of service and 1,250 hours in the past year.³ You make both requests in the same week, in writing, and the certification that goes to your employer contains three facts — none of which is your diagnosis.⁴
Fill this in before the first conversation. It takes twenty minutes and it is the difference between a plan and a scramble.
Fix the dates
First day you were unable to do your regular work: / /
Earliest SDI filing date (day 9): / / · Final SDI filing date (day 49): / /
Seven-day waiting period ends (day 7): / / — first payable day is day 8²
Date you will notify your employer: / /
Expected return date, from your provider: / /
Week-8 review date (set it now, not later): / /
All six dates are in a calendar I will still be looking at in six weeks
Run the eligibility check, in four lines
| Check | Where to look | |
|---|---|---|
| I paid into SDI | A pay stub line reading CASDI | |
| My employer has 5 or more employees | Anywhere in the company, not just my site³ | |
| More than 12 months of service | Start date: / / | |
| At least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months | Roughly 24 hours a week for a year — count, do not assume³ |
If the last two fail, job protection under the leave law does not apply — but a change that lets you keep working is a reasonable accommodation and has no service threshold at all. What you can ask for at work →
Find out who can sign the state certification
This is the step that fails, and it fails late. The list of practitioners the state accepts for the medical certification is narrower than the list of people who treat mental health conditions.
My treating clinician: · Licence type:
I have confirmed on EDD's current page that this licence type can certify a disability claim It cannot — the clinician who will certify instead is: That clinician has an appointment booked for: / /
Book the certifying appointment before day 40. The certification has its own deadline, not just the claim.
Decide what your employer gets, and what they do not
The certification your employer may require has to establish three things: the date the condition began, its probable duration, and that you cannot perform one or more essential functions of your position.⁴ Identifying the condition is at your option — the regulation says a certification "need not, but may, at the employee's option, identify the serious health condition involved."⁴ And the employer "may not ask the employee to provide additional information (e.g. symptoms, diagnosis, etc.) in the medical certification beyond that allowed by these regulations."⁵
My provider has been told which parts of the employer's form to complete, and which to leave blank I have kept a copy of everything that went to HR
The sentence to use, out loud or in an email:
"My provider has certified a serious health condition, the date it began, its probable duration, and that I cannot perform the essential functions of my position. Under the CFRA regulations that is a complete certification."
Make both requests in the same week
To the state. File the SDI claim between day 9 and day 49. Your provider files their part. Filed on / / · Claim or confirmation number:
To your employer. In writing, and keep the copy. Sent on / / · To:
"I am requesting job-protected medical leave for a serious health condition beginning [date]. My provider will supply a certification. Please confirm receipt and let me know what else the process requires."
Written confirmation of receipt from the employer, dated / /
Map the money
| Source | Covers | Mine? |
|---|---|---|
| SDI — 70–90% of wages, 2026 maximum $1,765/week, up to 52 weeks¹ | My own condition | |
| Accrued sick leave — at least 40 hours or five days a year⁶ | The unpaid seven-day wait | |
| Accrued vacation or PTO | The employer may require me to use it during unpaid leave⁷ | |
| Employer short- or long-term disability plan | May be substituted during the unpaid portion⁷ | |
| Paid Family Leave | Not for my own condition — caring for a family member or bonding³ |
Health coverage continues: 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 12 workweeks in a 12-month period.⁷
Estimated weekly benefit: $ · Weekly shortfall against normal pay: $ · Weeks of shortfall I can absorb:
Hold the plan while you are out
Appointments kept — extensions are certified on treatment records, not on how you sound on the phone One point of contact at work agreed, and nobody else expects updates Week-8 review done: on track · needs an extension request Extension request, if needed, sent with a specific expected return date on / /
An extension of leave can itself be a reasonable accommodation where a return is foreseeable; an open-ended one need not be granted.⁸ A date is what makes the request one your employer must engage with. How long leave can actually last →
Plan the return
Return date confirmed in writing: / / Any adjustments requested before the return date — hours, start time, remote days, phased duties Job checked against the pre-leave role: base pay · shift pattern and differential · bonus or commission eligibility · reporting line · duties
Your employer may require a release from your own provider where they require one of everyone under a uniformly applied policy. They may not require a fitness-for-duty examination as a condition of your return.⁵
Anything that changed for the worse after the leave has been noted, with the date, on the day it happened
Coming back, in full → · If things change after you come back →
What happens next
Two decisions come back from two places on two timetables. EDD decides the claim; your employer decides the leave. Neither tells the other, and neither will chase you. Keep the dated file, keep the appointments, and put the week-8 review in the calendar now rather than discovering week twelve from a letter.
Q&A
Q: Do I have to tell my employer what is wrong with me? A: No. The certification establishes the date the condition began, its probable duration, and that you cannot perform essential functions of your job; identifying the condition is at your option, and the employer may not ask for symptoms or a diagnosis beyond what the rules allow.⁴ ⁵
Q: How long is the unpaid wait? A: Seven consecutive days of disability, with the first payable day being the eighth.² If you return to work and file again for the same or a related cause within 60 days, you do not serve a second waiting period.²
Q: Does filing with the state protect my job? A: No. They are two systems. File with EDD for the money and request leave from your employer for the job, in the same week.
Q: My employer has eleven people. Am I covered? A: California's leave law starts at five employees, so probably yes, if you also meet the 12-month and 1,250-hour service tests.³ CFRA or FMLA — which one covers you →
Our therapist directory: See its current status →
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 — a waiting period of seven consecutive days, and the exception for a subsequent claim for the same or a related cause filed within 60 days — california.public.law.
- California Family Rights Act, Gov. Code §12945.2 — five or more employees, more than 12 months of service and 1,250 hours, 12 workweeks in a 12-month period — california.public.law; California EDD, Paid Family Leave — eight weeks, for caring for a family member, bonding or a military deployment, with no job protection — edd.ca.gov.
- Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, §11087 — the three contents of a certification for the employee's own serious health condition, and the option not to identify the condition — law.cornell.edu.
- Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, §11091 — no additional information such as symptoms or diagnosis, release to return to work only under a uniformly applied policy, and no fitness-for-duty examination as a condition of return — law.cornell.edu.
- 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 — use of accrued vacation and PTO during unpaid CFRA leave, substitution of disability plan benefits, and maintenance of health coverage — law.cornell.edu.
- Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, §11068 — extending leave as a reasonable accommodation, and no requirement to provide indefinite leave — law.cornell.edu.
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