What is a Caregiver Leave?
In the state of California, you may be eligible for caregiver leave if you need to care for a seriously ill family member.
A qualifying family member is defined by California as one of the following: a child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or registered domestic partner.
How do I receive state benefits from CA EDD while caring for a loved one?
If you have paid taxes in the state of California for a qualifying period, you may be eligible to receive benefits from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) during the duration of your caregiver leave. You will need to submit a Claim for Paid Family Leave (PFL) Benefits.
What if I am leaving the country to care for a loved one?
The CA EDD requires all claims and medical provider certifications to be on the original paper claim. This means that you will need to have a copy of the claim with you before you leave the country to care for your loved one. The CA EDD will not accept scans or photocopies!
How will I know if I need to file by online or by paper?
While the CA EDD does have an online application form, medical provider certifications can only be performed online by California based medical providers. This means that if your medical provider is not in the state of California, you will need your claim certified by paper.
In addition, we strongly recommend filing by paper for any intermittent leaves. Intermittent leaves need a letter detailing the dates of the leave and paper claims have a higher rate of successful filing with the required additional documentation.
Check out this article for instructions on how to file by paper.
What is a Medical Provider Certification?
Under FMLA, an employer is allowed to require that an employee submit a timely, complete, and sufficient medical certification to support a request for leave due to a serious health condition. Medical providers are health care professionals that can certify leave. These include: doctors, podiatrists, dentists, clinical psychologists, optometrists, chiropractors, nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, clinical social workers and physician assistants.
This information is filled out by the recipient of care’s (your loved one’s) medical provider who is attesting to the caregiver leave. For official government information regarding the Medical Provider Certification, please see here.
How do I start an Online Claim?
You can start your claim online by creating an account on the EDD Portal, edd.ca.gov. From the home page, select “Benefits Login” in the top right corner.
From there, login or Register a new account. If you’ve used an EDD account in the past to file a claim, you’ll need to sign in with the same account. Trying to provision a new account will not work because your previous account will be linked to your identity.
What if I’m unable to login to my old account?
If you’re unable to sign-in to your previous account, you’ll need to call the EDD Help Desk:
EDD Help Desk Phone Tree
800-480-3287
Press 1 for English
Press 2 for SDI Help Desk
Press 4 for Having Trouble
If you’re still not able to login, you can file your claim by paper. Please check out this article on how to file by paper.
How do I start the Claim once I’m signed in?
First go to the “New Claim” tab and select “Paid Family Leave Care” to start the claim.
Information you’ll need to get started. This information is all about you as the claim beneficiary:
SSN
Full Name
Date of Birth
Mailing address
Preferred language
Gender
Phone Number
Next, fill out the Employer Information section with your employer’s name, your occupation, the company address, and the yes/no questions. The image below includes the recommended answers for the yes/no questions, but always double check for accuracy.
The next page includes additional questions about your leave.
Q1 - Date you last worked
This should be the last workday before your leave began
Q2 - Date you want your PFL claim to begin
This should be the first day of your leave
Q3 - Do you want to use all PFL benefits now
If your leave is less than 8 weeks, select “No”
Q4 - If no, enter the last date of your leave in the next line
If your leave is equal to or more than 8 continuous weeks, select “Yes”
If your leave is intermittent, please reach out to [email protected] to request instructions on how to file a paper claim
Q5 - Date you returned to work
If your leave is over, please put the first weekday after the end of your leave
If your leave is not over, please move onto next box
Q6 - Date you will return to work
If your leave has not yet entered, please put the first weekday after the end of your leave
Q7 - Will you work at any time during your leave
Answer “no” if you are taking a continuous (not intermittent) leave
Q8 - Employer pay
Option question, leave blank. Your employer will also be asked this question and will respond accordingly
Q9 - Answer honestly
Q10 - If you are receiving funds for an open worker’s compensation claim, then select “Yes.” If you don’t have a worker’s compensation claim, then mark “No.”
The next set of questions are about the person that you’re caring for.
Please enter their:
Name
Gender
Date of birth
Mark “No” for if anyone else is able to care for your recipient
Select the relationship of the person to you
Residence
The last step is to attest to the accuracy of information provided. Once you attest and submit the claim, you’ll get a receipt number. This Receipt Number is the only thing your medical provider needs to complete their portion of the claim online.
Section D: Medical Certification
The main difference between a caregiver leave and parental leave for claims purposes is that a caregiver leave requires a medical certification from the recipient of care’s (your loved one’s) medical provider.
Please send the claim receipt number as well as your planned leave dates to your loved one’s medical provider. The receipt number should be the only thing they need to complete the certification online.
The claim will pay out based on the dates the medical provider certifies that your loved one is under your care.
What do I do after my claim is certified?
Once everything is submitted, including the medical certification, the claim will take 2-3 weeks to process.
Please keep track of any letters or messages that you receive from the EDD and let us know if you have questions on how to fill them out.
Have Questions? We're here to help!
Email us at [email protected]