How Much Will I Get Paid for Parental Leave in California?
I've talked to you a lot of you in consulting calls lately that didn't know you could find out ahead of time how much you'll get paid through California disability insurance and Paid Family Leave so let’s walk through the steps to calculate how much you’ll get paid while you’re on parental leave in California.
Before we talk numbers, let’s quickly go over who qualifies for paid parental leave in California. I wish it was as simple as if you welcome a child into your family you qualify, but of course, there are a few more hoops to jump through. To qualify, you must:
-Be welcoming a child into your home whether that be by birth, adoption, or fostering
-you must be employed or looking for work at the start of your claim
-you must have lost wages because you are taking care of or bonding with a new child (PFL) or have lost wages because you are disabled due to your pregnancy or birth (SDI)
-you have paid into CASDI 5 to 18 months before your claim date.
If this describes you, you qualify! Now let’s get to how much you’ll be paid.
The simplest way to calculate how much you’ll be paid while you’re on leave is through the EDD’s calculator. You will need your paystubs or if you're on salary you just need to know how much you make annually. Input those numbers into the calculator. Click “next step” and the calculator spits out your highest quarter earnings and an estimate of your weekly benefit amount. This is the amount you can expect to be paid weekly for the length of your SDI and PFL leave. Easy as that!
If you’re interested in how the EDD calculates your pay it’s a bit more complicated than inputting numbers into a calculator, but I think it’s important you understand so you also know when to advocate for yourself if your payments seem wrong. Hang on tight. This is going to be a doozy.
CA short-term disability and Paid Family Leave are both insurance programs that most CA-based employees pay into. It’s a deduction on your paycheck just like social security, and you’ve been paying into it your entire working life in Ca since the program began in 2004. The deduction is called CASDI and is .09% of your earnings up to an annual maximum contribution of $1,378.
When you make a SDI or PFL claim, you’ll receive 60-70% of your wages. To calculate your wages, the EDD takes into account your monthly pay 5 to 18 months before your claim date and pinpoints the amount you earned in the quarter you made the most. If in that quarter you made between $929 and $7,154.32, you’ll receive approximately 70% of your pay. If in that quarter you made more than $7,154.33 you’ll receive approximately 60% of your pay, with a maximum weekly benefit amount of $1,620 in 2023.
Let’s look at a couple of examples.
Example 1:
Amelia currently makes an annual salary of $85,000 a year ($7,083 a month) and has been making this much for the last 8 months. Prior to that she was making $75,000 a year ($6,250 a month). If she were to make her claim this month, her monthly breakdown would look like this:
Based on this, she made $21,249 in her highest-earning quarter ($7,083 x 3 months) and her estimated weekly benefit amount will be $981 a week.
Example 2:
Sophie works in sales and has highly variable pay, but usually makes around $120,000 a year. If she were to make her claim this month, here is what her monthly breakdown would look like:
In her highest-earning quarter, she made $34,530 and can expect a weekly benefit amount of approximately $1,594.
Keep in mind these are estimations and the EDD will confirm your wages with your employer so try to be as accurate as possible so you can get the most accurate benefit estimate.
SDI/PFL payment tips:
-The max weekly benefit amount is $1,620 a week and you'll reach that if you make around $145,000 a year
-Payments are retroactive and generally late. The EDD states they pay within 2 weeks of certifying your claim, but I've seen it take months.
-You can elect to get paid through a debit card that the EDD will send you or direct deposits into your bank account.
Did you know about the EDD benefits calculator and use it to estimate your benefit payments? Was it accurate? Let us know in the comments below!
The Park helps parents-to-be navigate parental leave so they can max out their job-protected and paid leave, return to work feeling supported, and thrive as a working parent. We answer all your questions and give you all the tips and tricks you need to advocate for yourself on TikTok and Instagram, 1:1 consulting calls, and through our parental leave guides.
