San Francisco Amends Paid Parental Leave Ordinance

Sep 28, 2016

HR 306, Inc.

September 27, 2016

San Francisco Amends Paid Parental Leave Ordinance

Amendments Effective October 15, 2016

An amendment to the San Francisco Paid Parental Leave Ordinance, effective October 15, 2016, modifies the employee eligibility requirements for paid parental leave.

Background

California Paid Family Leave (PFL) provides benefits to individuals who need to take time off work to care for a seriously ill child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or registered domestic partner, or to bond with a new child or a child in connection with adoption or foster care placement.

The San Francisco Paid Parental Leave Ordinance, effective January 1, 2017, requires San Francisco employers with 50 or more employees to provide partial wage replacement (supplemental compensation) to employees who take leave to bond with a new child under the California PFL program.

Amendment to Ordinance

Among the highlights of the amended ordinance:

The amended ordinance implements a recent state Paid Family Leave Law wage replacement increase, which starts on January 1, 2018 and raises the state law wage replacement rate to 60% for higher income workers, and to 70% for lower income workers.
The amended ordinance clarifies that periods of unpaid or partially paid leave cannot be counted by an employer when the employer calculates an employee's average weekly hours worked for the purpose of determining whether the employee is covered under the ordinance.
The amended ordinance requires that covered employees who intend that the state of California inform the employer of the weekly benefit amount must give the state permission to share such Paid Family Leave weekly benefit information when the employee files the leave application with the state. A covered employer may then request and obtain this information from the state.

The amended ordinance is effective on October 15, 2016. The amended ordinance also contains provisions regarding (among other things) termination during or prior to leave, and integration/coordination of benefits. Click here to read the amended ordinance.

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