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If you need time off to recover from a serious illness, care for a family member, or bond with a new child in California, two laws may protect your job: the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). They overlap, but they are not identical. In fact, the differences decide whether you are actually covered. This article compares CFRA vs. FMLA and explains what to do if your employer denies leave you are entitled to.
What Is the Difference Between CFRA and FMLA?
CFRA is California’s job-protected leave law; FMLA is the federal one. The biggest practical difference is coverage. CFRA applies to employers with five or more employees. By contrast, FMLA generally covers private employers with 50 or more employees, as well as public agencies and certain schools regardless of size. To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee generally must also work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles. CFRA also protects leave to care for more relatives. When both laws apply, they generally run concurrently, and the employee receives the benefit of the more protective law.
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Danielle Langella is an Associate Attorney at Abramson Labor Group, where she helps California employees stand up for their rights at work. Before joining ALG, Danielle worked at Good American as a Marketing Coordinator and Assistant to the Brand Director,…
| CFRA (California) | FMLA (Federal) | |
| Employer size | 5 or more employees | Private employers with 50 or more employees; public agencies and certain schools regardless of size (employee must also work where there are 50+ employees within 75 miles) |
| Service required | 12 months + 1,250 hours | 12 months + 1,250 hours |
| Leave length | Up to 12 weeks | Up to 12 weeks |
| Family members covered | Child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, designated person | Spouse, child, parent |
| Paid? | No (pay may come from PFL/SDI) | No (pay may come from PFL/SDI) |
| Job protection | Same or comparable position | Same or virtually identical position |
The two laws work together. Where both apply, they generally run concurrently. As a result, both laws usually cover an eligible employee at a large California employer at once. That employee then receives whichever protection is more favorable.
CFRA and FMLA have several similar employee eligibility requirements. However, there are important differences in employer coverage and in the circumstances and family relationships each law protects. Under both laws, you generally qualify if you have worked for the employer for at least 12 months. You must also have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before your leave.
CFRA generally applies when an employer has five or more employees. Under FMLA, private employers are generally covered if they have 50 or more employees. Public agencies and certain schools, however, may be covered regardless of size. For an individual employee to be eligible for FMLA leave, the employee generally must also work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.
This is one of the most important differences. FMLA lets you take leave to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition. CFRA, on the other hand, covers a much wider circle.
Under Government Code §12945.2, CFRA leave to care for a family member covers a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, parent-in-law, or a “designated person.” A designated person means an individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is equivalent to a family relationship.
Usually, yes. When an employee is eligible under both laws and the leave qualifies under both, CFRA and FMLA generally run concurrently. That means the 12 weeks do not stack into 24. Instead, the same block of leave counts against both entitlements at once.
The major exception is pregnancy. California handles leave for a pregnancy-related disability separately, so your total leave can extend beyond a single 12-week block. The next section explains how.
California treats pregnancy disability separately from CFRA baby-bonding leave. This is where many workers underestimate how much time they may actually have.
California Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) is its own protection, separate from CFRA. Under Government Code §12945, an employee disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition may take leave for as long as they are actually disabled, up to four months. FMLA generally runs concurrently with PDL. However, CFRA baby-bonding leave does not begin until the pregnancy disability ends.
In practice, a California employee may take pregnancy disability leave first and then take up to 12 weeks of CFRA baby-bonding leave afterward. Because the two are separate, the total protected time off can extend well beyond a single 12-week block. The exact timeline depends on your dates, so confirm it with an attorney before you rely on any single number. If your employer refuses this leave or treats you worse for needing it, that may also be pregnancy discrimination.
No. Both CFRA and FMLA provide job protection, not a paycheck. The leave itself is unpaid.
Instead, wage replacement comes from separate California programs. For example, you may be able to receive partial pay through Paid Family Leave while you bond with a child or care for a family member. For your own serious health condition, State Disability Insurance may apply. Many California workers use CFRA or FMLA for the job protection and PFL or SDI for the income during the same leave.
Other California leave rights work separately from CFRA and FMLA. For time off after the death of a family member, see our article on California bereavement leave.
Suppose you are eligible, but your employer refuses CFRA or FMLA leave, interferes with it, or fails to restore your job when you return. That may be an unlawful denial of leave. Eligible employees generally have job-restoration rights when they return from protected CFRA or FMLA leave, subject to the requirements and exceptions under each law.
Common violations include denying leave to an eligible worker, miscounting the employer’s size to claim FMLA does not apply, refusing to reinstate you, or treating the leave as a resignation. If your employer fired you instead of restoring your job, you may also have a wrongful termination claim. To protect yourself, document the request, the denial, and any reason the employer gave. Also keep copies of anything in writing.
No. Under Government Code §12945.2, your employer cannot punish you for requesting or taking CFRA leave, and federal law gives the same protection for FMLA leave. Retaliation can look like a firing, a demotion, a cut in hours or pay, a worse schedule, or a sudden negative review that follows your leave.
Timing matters. An adverse action occurring shortly after an employee requests or returns from protected leave may be evidence considered along with the other circumstances. So if your employer retaliated against you for taking FMLA leave, or punished you for exercising CFRA rights, you may have a retaliation claim on top of the leave violation.
Leave cases turn on details that are hard to judge alone. For example, did your employer meet the size threshold? Does your relationship to the family member qualify? Does the timing point to retaliation? It is worth talking to a lawyer if your employer denied your leave, did not reinstate you, or changed your job for the worse after leave. The same goes if you are unsure which law covers you.
At Abramson Labor Group, we represent California employees whose employers deny protected leave or punish them for taking it. Zev Abramson founded our firm. We are members of CELA, CAALA, and NELA, and we have earned more than 1,900 Google reviews. Consultations are free, and we work on contingency, so you do not pay anything unless we win. Request a free case evaluation to talk through your situation.
Neither is simply “better”; they protect different workers. CFRA applies to many California employees who may not qualify for FMLA because it has a lower employer-size threshold and covers additional family relationships. Where both apply, you receive the more favorable protection of the two.
Generally, yes. When leave qualifies under both laws, CFRA and FMLA run at the same time, so the same 12 weeks count against both. The main exception involves pregnancy disability leave, which is separate and can extend the total time off.
CFRA generally applies to California employers with five or more employees. FMLA generally covers private employers with 50 or more employees, as well as public agencies and certain schools regardless of size. In addition, individual FMLA eligibility generally requires the employee to work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.
Yes. CFRA covers leave to care for a sibling, grandparent, grandchild, parent-in-law, and a designated person, in addition to a child, spouse, domestic partner, and parent. FMLA does not cover siblings or grandparents, so this is a situation where CFRA protects you and FMLA does not.
CFRA and FMLA generally provide job protection rather than wage-replacement benefits. However, employees may be able to use paid leave concurrently or receive partial wage replacement through programs such as California Paid Family Leave or State Disability Insurance.
This article is general information about California and federal law, not legal advice. Every situation is different. For advice about your specific case, talk to a licensed California employment attorney.
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