California Paternity Leave in 2024

Recently, there has been a push for paternal leave in California. California has known to make several employee-friendly laws within the recent couple of years to make sure that employees have a proper work-life balance. However, despite several of these laws being in place, many employers still may not respect it. If you think your employer has violated any employment law in California, give our top-rated California attorneys a call today to discuss what you may recover.

 It is very important that you protect your rights as an employee. Oftentimes, an employee that is not well aware of their rights may have their rights taken advantage of by coworkers, or by their current employer.

Does California have paternity leave?

Paternity leave is considered a leave similar to maternity leave but for fathers. Some employees in California recently became eligible for paternity leave. During this time, employees could take time out of work to bond with their newborn child, and some could even get compensated for it.

 Currently, there has been a push for a more relaxed work-life balance, especially after COVID-19 increased the opportunity for many remote careers. A large percentage of fathers in California have now also found themselves wanting to take time out of work to care for their children.

How long is paternity leave generally?

With several of these new laws in place, paternity leave could be around 6 to 8 weeks in California. But this may differ depending on the type of employment, and the employer. To specifically look into your circumstance and see how long of a paternity leave you may have, give our employment attorneys a call today to review your employment contract. We offer free case evaluations, and one-on-one opportunities with clients to review employment contracts and make sure that no employer is taking advantage of your rights.

What are paternity leave laws?

Several laws in California allow a father to take time out of work to care for their child. It is not a single direct type of law, but a combination of several different acts in place. Below are the acts that cover paternity  leave:

•  The Family and Medical Leave Act, also known as FMLA, is a federal law that gives employees the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. This includes taking time out of work to care for a newborn child. However, it is important to note that FMLA only applies for companies that have more than 50 employees, and to employees that have worked at the workplace for more than 12 months. The Family and Medical Leave Act was meant to offer employees some time off without having to worry about their jobs being gone by the time they return to work to care for their children.
•  New Parent Leave Act is an act that was just recently passed in California, and allows unpaid parental leave to employees who work at companies that have less than 49 employees and more than 20 employees. This act was made in response to the FMLA not making several employees eligible. However, to qualify for the New Parent Leave Act, an employee must have worked at their employer for more than 12 months.
•  The California Family Rights act is an addition to the federal law, and goes into detail concerning paternity leave.

Besides the above three laws, the employment development department may also allow employees to take time out of work to care for their children. Some employees could also qualify for disability insurance in California. With these three laws combined, employees have the right to take time out of work to care for their newborn child, whether as the father or as the mother.

Do I qualify for paid paternity leave?

Although no specific law requires that companies offer paid paternity leave, many companies have now started to offer paid paternity leave as an enticing way to reach out to more potential employees.

How do I qualify for paternity leave?

In general, there are some requirements that you must have to meet in order to qualify for paternity leave in California. These include:

•  Working at an employer who has more than 50 employees. This could include private companies and governmental agencies. 
•  You must have worked at your employer for at least a year, or at least 1,250 hours.
•  You as an employee must have a relationship with the child, meaning that you must be the child’s biological father, adopted father, or foster father. 

If you do not meet any of these above requirements, you will not be eligible for paternity leave in california.

Why should you hire our employment attorneys?

Our employment attorneys do a very thorough investigation into the circumstances of every claim and lawsuit to make sure that we hold your employer accountable for violations of rights and duties. We have decades of experience representing employees who have been denied paternity leave. Give us a call today to discuss how we can help you with your case.

How much do our paternal leave employment attorneys cost?

Our employment attorneys have contingency fee agreements, which essentially means that you do not owe our employment attorneys anything until we win compensation for you. Give us a call today to discuss what contingency fee agreements are, and what your contingency fee agreement could be for your case.

We handle all paperwork from beginning to end to make sure that we have secured successful compensation for you. Many people do not even know that they may have the right to recover compensation in the event that their employer has denied them paternal leave. For example, if your employer allows paid paternity leave, and did not approve your paternal leave, you then may be able to receive back pay for the time that you missed out on with paternal leave. 

Employment Attorneys Near Me

Here at Heidari law,  we understand the importance of taking time out of work to care for a newborn child. It could be very difficult to take care of a child while also going back to work. It could also be very difficult to take time out of work with the fear that you may lose your job. However, several California laws in place allow employees to take time out of work without having to worry about their jobs when they return back.

 Fathers should take time off of work to bond with their newborn child, and be with their wife or partner after childbirth. There are several rights afforded to employees in California, and employees should take advantage of these opportunities. However, the minute that an employer denies an employee this opportunity unfairly, an employee has the right to file a claim or a lawsuit.

Give us a call if you suspect that your employer has denied paternity leave, or has limited the amount of paternal leave time you may have.

If you have been a victim of retaliation for taking paternity leave, you may also be able to file a lawsuit for workplace retaliation. Give our employment attorneys a call to further discuss your case. Workplace retaliation is a serious issue, and no employer has the right to retaliate against their employee, whether they fire the employee, shorten the employee’s hours, discriminate against the employee, or treat the employee unfairly simply because they went on paternal leave.

Contact us today for a free case consultation.

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