There is no state form and no agency to file with. The application is a request made to an employer, followed by an exchange of notices and paperwork on a fixed schedule. This is one of the leave procedures covered in California labor laws: worker rights and employer obligations. What follows is the sequence in order: confirming eligibility, giving notice, handling the certification request, and arranging pay during the unpaid period.
Who qualifies for FMLA leave in California
Federal eligibility has three parts, all set by 29 U.S.C. § 2611. The employee has worked for the employer for at least 12 months. The employee has worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months immediately before the leave begins. And the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the employee’s worksite.
The 12 months of employment do not have to be consecutive. The 1,250-hour count uses hours actually worked, so paid vacation, holidays, and prior leave do not count toward it. Part-time employees frequently miss this threshold: 1,250 hours over a year works out to roughly 24 hours a week.
29 U.S.C. § 2612 lists the qualifying reasons: the birth of a child, placement of a child through adoption or foster care, caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition, the employee’s own serious health condition, and certain military family situations. An ordinary cold or a routine dental visit is not a serious health condition. The term generally covers inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider.
How the California Family Rights Act runs alongside FMLA
California employees are usually covered by two leave laws at once. The California Family Rights Act, at Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.2, provides its own 12 workweeks in a 12-month period, using the same 12-month and 1,250-hour service tests as the federal law.
The difference that matters most when applying is coverage. CFRA defines a covered employer as anyone who directly employs five or more persons, so employees at small California businesses often have state leave rights even when the federal 50-employee threshold is not met.
CFRA also reaches further into the family. The state law covers leave to care for a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, or a designated person with a serious health condition. A designated person is anyone related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship, identified by the employee at the time of the request. An employer may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period.
Giving notice to your employer
Notice timing is set by 29 C.F.R. § 825.302. When the need for leave is foreseeable, such as a scheduled surgery or an expected birth, the employee must give at least 30 days advance notice. When 30 days is not practicable because of a medical emergency or a change in circumstances, notice must be given as soon as practicable, which the regulation treats as the same day or the next business day once the employee becomes aware of the need.
The content of the notice matters less than most employees expect. An employee requesting FMLA leave for the first time does not have to say the word “FMLA” or cite the statute. The notice must be enough to make the employer aware that the absence may qualify, along with the anticipated timing and duration. For a repeat request covering the same condition, the employee must specifically reference the qualifying reason or the need for FMLA leave.
Confirm the service and hours thresholds
Check the hire date against the 12-month requirement and the hours worked in the previous 12 months against the 1,250-hour requirement. Payroll records or an HR portal usually show both. An employee who falls short of the federal thresholds may still qualify under CFRA if the employer has five or more employees.
Notify the right person
An employer may require employees to follow its usual and customary notice procedures, including contacting a specific person or number, absent unusual circumstances. Leave can be delayed or denied when an employee ignores those procedures without a good reason. The employee handbook is where those procedures are normally published.
State the timing and the reason
Verbal notice is legally sufficient, but a written request creates a record of the date. The request describes the anticipated start date, the expected duration, and enough about the condition to show the absence may qualify, such as that a family member is under the continuing care of a health care provider.
Schedule planned treatment around operations
For planned medical treatment, the employee consults with the employer and makes a reasonable effort to schedule treatment so it does not unduly disrupt operations, subject to the health care provider’s approval.
Return the certification on time
If the employer requests medical certification, the completed form goes back within 15 calendar days.
Medical certification and the employer’s response
An employer may require medical certification for leave based on a serious health condition. Under 29 C.F.R. § 825.305, the employer requests certification at the time the employee gives notice or within five business days after, and the employee must return the completed certification within 15 calendar days of the request. The employer must give written notice of the certification requirement the first time it applies.
A certification that is incomplete or unclear does not end the process. The employer identifies in writing what information is missing and gives the employee at least seven calendar days to cure the deficiency.
The employer carries its own deadlines. 29 C.F.R. § 825.300 requires the employer to notify the employee of eligibility within five business days of the leave request, absent extenuating circumstances, and to give a designation notice stating whether the leave will be counted against the FMLA entitlement within five business days of having enough information to decide.
Getting paid during unpaid leave
FMLA and CFRA leave are unpaid. Wage replacement, when it exists, comes from separate California programs and from the employee’s own accrued balances.
Paid Family Leave, administered by the Employment Development Department, pays benefits for up to 8 weeks in a 12-month period to employees bonding with a new child, caring for a seriously ill family member, or handling a qualifying military deployment. As of 2026, the minimum weekly benefit is $50 and the maximum is $1,765 per week. Paid Family Leave is a benefit claim filed with EDD; it does not create job protection on its own, which is why the FMLA and CFRA request still has to be made to the employer.
Employees taking leave for their own serious health condition claim State Disability Insurance instead, through the same EDD system. Both programs are funded by employee payroll deductions rather than by the employer.
Accrued paid time can fill gaps. An employer may require, or an employee may elect, substitution of accrued paid leave for the unpaid portion. California’s separate paid sick leave entitlement is often the first balance applied; the accrual and usage rules are covered in California sick leave law. Vacation and PTO balances can also be substituted, and unused balances remain the employee’s property under the rules described in PTO payout in California.
Returning to work
Leave under both laws is job-protected. The employee returns to the same position or a comparable one with equivalent pay, benefits, and terms of employment. CFRA requires the employer to provide that guarantee of employment when it grants the leave request.
Group health coverage continues during leave on the same terms as if the employee had kept working. The employee remains responsible for any share of the premium normally paid through payroll deduction, and the employer arranges a method for collecting it during the unpaid period.
Interfering with leave rights or retaliating against an employee for requesting leave is prohibited. Termination that follows a leave request closely in time is one of the fact patterns examined in claims described in wrongful termination in California. The California Civil Rights Department handles CFRA complaints; the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division handles federal FMLA complaints.
Frequently asked questions
Do I apply for FMLA through the state of California or through my employer?
Through the employer. FMLA and CFRA leave are requested from the employer directly, and the employer decides eligibility and designation. The only state filing involved is a separate benefits claim with the Employment Development Department for Paid Family Leave or State Disability Insurance, which replaces part of the wages but does not itself protect the job.
What if my employer has fewer than 50 employees?
Federal FMLA does not apply below 50 employees within 75 miles of the worksite. California’s CFRA defines a covered employer as one that directly employs five or more persons, so the state entitlement to 12 workweeks can still apply. The eligibility test for length of service is the same: more than 12 months with the employer and at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12-month period, under Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.2.
Can leave be taken a few days at a time instead of all at once?
Yes, when it is medically necessary. Intermittent leave and reduced-schedule leave are available for a serious health condition or a serious injury or illness. 29 C.F.R. § 825.302 requires the employee to explain, on request, why the intermittent schedule is necessary and to work out a treatment schedule with the employer that does not unduly disrupt operations, subject to the health care provider’s approval. Bonding leave after a birth or placement is treated differently and is not automatically available intermittently under the federal rules.
How much of my medical information does the employer get to see?
The certification form asks for the facts needed to establish that the condition qualifies: the date the condition began, its probable duration, relevant medical facts, and the expected schedule of absences. A specific diagnosis is not required. Under 29 C.F.R. § 825.305, an employer that finds the certification incomplete or unclear must say in writing what is missing and allow at least seven calendar days to fix it.
What happens if the 30-day notice deadline is missed?
For foreseeable leave, an employee who does not give 30 days notice must explain, on the employer’s request, why that was not practicable. Leave can be delayed when the failure is unjustified. Employers cannot deny protection to an employee who gave notice within the timeframe set by 29 C.F.R. § 825.302 merely because an internal policy demanded earlier notice.
Does the 12 weeks reset every January?
Not necessarily. The employer chooses among four methods for measuring the 12-month period: the calendar year, any fixed 12-month year such as a fiscal year, the 12 months measured forward from the first day of leave, or a rolling 12-month period measured backward from each date leave is used. The rolling backward method is common and produces very different results from a calendar-year reset, so the applicable method appears in the employer’s FMLA policy or the rights-and-responsibilities notice required by 29 C.F.R. § 825.300.
Sources
- 29 U.S.C. § 2611 (FMLA definitions and eligibility)
- 29 U.S.C. § 2612 (FMLA leave requirement)
- Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.2 (California Family Rights Act)
- 29 C.F.R. § 825.302 (employee notice for foreseeable leave)
- 29 C.F.R. § 825.305 (medical certification)
- 29 C.F.R. § 825.300 (employer notice requirements)
- California EDD: Paid Family Leave