By Laurie Nooren, SPHR, PHRca, SHRM-CP
California’s Paid Family Leave Insurance program (“PFLI”), administered by the California Employment Development Department (“EDD”), is a wage replacement program much like State Disability Insurance (“SDI”). This program allows California workers to take paid leave to bond with a new child (via birth, adoption, or foster care), care for a seriously ill family member, or participate in a qualifying military event.
While PFLI does not grant a leave entitlement, it provides up to eight weeks of wage replacement benefits (covering approximately 60-70% of an employees’ pay) during a 12-month period while an employee is off work for a qualifying reason.
A new grant program has been established to support small businesses impacted by PFLI-related costs such as training of existing staff, potential hiring and training of additional staff, recruiting and other training costs incurred while employees are absent and are receiving PFLI wage replacement benefits.
Small businesses in California who have 1-100 employees and who have at least one employee who received wage replacement benefits under PFLI on or after June 1, 2024, are eligible for the program.
Paid Family Leave Grant Amounts:
- Businesses with 1-50 employees may receive up to $2,000 per employee receiving PFLI wage replacement benefits.
- Businesses with 51-100 employees may receive up to $1,000 per employee receiving PFLI wage replacement benefits.
Eligibility requirements:
- Your business must be registered in California and be in active status with the CA Secretary of State’s Office.
- You must have an active California Employer Account Number (“CEAN”) under which your employees are listed for payroll. Your CEAN is eight-digits and is used to file your California Employer Payroll Taxes. You can find this number on your DE-9. If you do not know your CEAN, go to https://edd.ca.gov/or call the EDD at 1-888-745-3886. Note: The Employer listed on the DE-9 must be your business, not a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) (if you use one).
- You must provide the employee’s EDD Customer Account Number, which is a unique 10-digit number provided to the employee by the EDD. It is NOT the employee’s social security number. You may need to ask your employee if they will provide it to you.
The grant period is June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2026, or until funds run out. If you have employees who were/are receiving PFLI wage replacement benefits on or after June 1, 2024, you may apply.
The application can be found here ( https://californiapfl.com/apply-now) and more detailed information can be found here: PFL Program Overview (californiapfl.com), FAQs (californiapfl.com) and Eligibility (californiapfl.com). You can also go to Contact | Paid Family Leave Grant Application (californiapfl.com) for more questions or information about the application.