Senate Bill 135 could expand family and medical leave protections to many more California employees

UPDATE: On May 30, 2019, SB 135 was ordered to the inactive file at the request of Senator Jackson. However, several of the changes proposed in the bill were subsequently adopted during the following legislative session as part of Senate Bill 1383, which became effective on January 1, 2021. Among other things, SB 1383 expanded CFRA to:

See our post on Senate Bill 1383 here.

On January 15, 2019, Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson of California’s 19th District introduced Senate Bill 135 (“SB 135”). The bill seeks to significantly expand California workers’ access to job-protected, paid family and medical leave by extending coverage under the California Family Rights Act and California’s Paid Family Leave program. The legislation follows Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent announcement that he is committed to expanding paid family leave.

Senator Jackson introduced SB 135 with four main goals:

1. Ensuring that all workers have job protection when they take paid family leave.
2. Extending the time period workers can take paid family leave to care for an ill family member and so that every newborn can be cared for by a parent or close family member for their first six months of life.
3. Expanding and harmonizing the definition of family member in our family leave laws to reflect the realities of today’s working families.
4. Increasing the wage replacement amount to ensure families can afford to take leave.

1. OVERVIEW OF EXISTING PROTECTIONS

To understand the potential impact of SB 135, it is helpful to start with an overview of California’s existing family and medical leave laws.

The Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (“PDLL”) allows employees to take up to four months of unpaid, job-protected leave for pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions. The law covers all employees at companies with five or more employees; employees are covered from their first. . .