Parental Leave/Disability Toolkit

1. Parental Leave/Disability Toolkit (Almost everything expectant Moms, Dads, Partners, Employees need to know about Leave of Absence)

2. Glossary

3. Materials • Expectant Parents Handbook • SDI/PFL Packets/Restoration Forms3 • Benefits Change Form/VTO Application/LOA Application/CareShares applications • Glossary of Terms used in class and Departments • Additional Information (Appendix) • Time Calculator • Contact List • Payroll Schedule • Flowchart of Forms, Timelines, Requirements

4. Leave of Absence(LOA) Sandy Cohen Permission to take extended time off

5. Types of Leave • Medical-Up to 1 year. Includes illness, injury, childbirth and pregnancy related conditions or care for an immediate family member with illness or injury. • Parental-Up to 6 months during the first year following the birth or placement of a child in the home (adoption or foster care). Twelve weeks are allowed by law, after 12 weeks is at the discretion of the Department. • Parental Leave is for Dads, Partners & Adoptive Parents. • Personal-Up to six months at the discretion of the department.

6. Length of Time off Pregnancy Post Birth Birth Length of Time Law Job Reinstate

7. Laws that Affect my Leave • FMLA Family Medical Leave Act- Provides up to 12 weeks (480) hours per calendar year for birth or placement of a child or serious medical condition of employee or immediate family member. • Starts on the first day of leave • Protects status of health benefits, protects against discipline for excessive absence, protects your right to return to your job.

8. Applying for FMLA? • FMLA eligibility is considered as part of your LOA request and is noted on the LOA form. • You must have been employed by the County for a year and have 1250 regular work hours within the last twelve months. • If you are approved for FMLA, you will receive a letter outlining the dates it covers. • Remember- FMLA is just related to leave, not money.

9. How long will the County let me be out? • Law states max 12 weeks for FMLA related leave • Dads & Partners Too! • Time following Medical and Parental as required by law (between 4-6 months) is at the discretion of the department.

10. What is the LOA form? • Leave of Absence (LOA) form is obtained from your Payroll Coordinator. • It is completed by the employee, approved by the supervisor and Department head and forwarded to Human Resources. • Employees may designate the type, number and order in which their hours are used. • Medical Leave requires a Doctor’s note to accompany the form.

11. What type of time can I use? • Sick Leave- Used during Medical portion of Leave while you are under a Doctor’s care • 30 days of sick leave may be used at any point of your Parental leave. • For Medical Leave, sick time must be exhausted before employee may go into unpaid status.

12. What other types of time can I use? • Vacation, Comp or Holiday time may be used for any type of leave. • Employee may designate number of hours to use and the order in which to use them. • Employee may leave time on the books for when they return to work. • Employee may not go into unpaid status while on VTO.

13. Remember… • Sick time can only be used while you’re under Doctor’s care and the thirty days of your parental leave. • If you saved up 900 hours of sick leave, you will probably not be able to use it all during your leave. • You will need to rely on other types of time such as vacation, comp., etc.

14. Can I opt for a month of unpaid and then use my time? • Employee may not select to move between paid and unpaid status. All time balances must be designated and/or used prior to unpaid status. • Exception: Employees whose time is restored through integration may experience some transition between paid and unpaid status.

15. Getting Paid Jocelyn Carpio

16. SDI • State Disability Insurance (SDI) is a partial-wage replacement insurance plan for California workers. • The SDI program is State-mandated and funded through employee payroll deductions. • SDI provides affordable, short-term benefits to eligible workers who suffer a loss of wages when they are unable to work due to a NON WORK-RELATED illness or injury, or a medically disabling condition from pregnancy or childbirth.

17. When/How do I turn in the SDI form? • Place the completed, signed form(s) in the envelope provided. • Mail your claim no earlier than 9 days but no later than 49 days, after the first day you became disabled. • If your claim form is late, you may lose benefits. • If your claim form is early, EDD will return it back to you.

18. When does SDI start? • Most claimants are sent SDI checks within 2-3 weeks after a properly completed form is received. • By filling in your claim completely and verifying that all information is correct, you play a valid role in maintaining fast benefit check delivery.

19. How Does SDI Work with my County pay? • There is a process of integration/restoration where the County gives you some of your time back • For the average pregnancy, the SDI related leave is 4 weeks before the baby is born and six weeks after. • A number of circumstances may impact that pattern, check with SDI about eligibility if you do not fit this mold. • Some employees are not covered by SDI- Management, Confidential and Attorneys.

20. Restoration Form • Restoration form is included in the SDI packet and can be obtained from your Payroll Coordinator or the Controller's Office. • The employee returns it to the Controller’s office if they wish to integrate vacation, comp or holiday time back into time balances.

21. Integration & Restoration 101 • County Check (sick, vac., comp. pay) • SDI Check- Money from the State • Controller’s office determines how much your SDI check is worth in hours and puts those hours back in your time balances (restoration). • The dollar amount of the SDI check is subtracted from your County paycheck on payday (integration).

22. What is Integration/Restoration? • Example: • SDI Check = $1,000 • Divide SDI by your hourly rate = 25.00 • 1,000/25= 40 hours restored • The dollar amount for the restoration is deducted from your County paycheck on payday. • Integration is "buying back" part of the leave hours you have used during your disability.

23. Integration/Restoration • The SDI check issued by EDD is included with your pay stub and distributed on payday to your payroll clerk or supervisor. • If you receive your SDI check(s) directly to your home, send a copy of the entire check(s) including check stub to the Controller's Office. • Your SDI check cannot be directly deposited to your bank account.

24. Remember… • Sick Leave is always restored first and then other time is restored in the order used by pay period. • Sick leave is restored automatically if you receive SDI. • Vacation, comp and holiday is only restored if you submit the Restoration form.

25. What Hours will be restored through SDI? • Controller's Office will restore used sick leave hours only. • If you wish to restore vacation,comp. or holiday time, you need to fill out the "SDI Restoration Request Form“ and return to the Controller's Office immediately. • VTO is not restored

26. Paid Family Leave (State Program) • Paid Family Leave (PFL) provides up to six weeks of paid benefits to employees who are covered by SDI and take time off to care for others or bond with a newborn or newly adopted child. • EDD will send you the forms prior to your SDI ending.

27. Expanded Disability • Management, Confidential and Attorneys are not eligible for SDI. • The County offers short term disability benefits and Expanded Short Term Disability Benefits for those employees. • Only employees on Expanded Disability are eligible to buy back sick hours used during leave.

28. What Hours will be restored through the Expanded Disability Program? • For Management, Confidential and Attorneys: • Controller's Office will restore used sick leave hours only (effective 7/1/07). • Submit a copy of your ING check to the Controller’s office within 30 days of receiving it • Vacation, comp. or holiday time is not restored for expanded disability recipients. • VTO is not restored for any employees

29. Getting Paid Pregnancy Post Birth Birth Lengthof Time Law State County

30. County Health Benefits Marife Ramirez de Cartagena

31. How long do I have full benefits? • During your leave you must continue to pay your portion of the benefit cost. • As long as you remain in full pay status your benefits are unaffected. • Once you are out of paid status for two full pay periods, employee must pay their portion and County portion to retain full benefits, except: • While Covered under FMLA(up to 12 weeks), County portion of benefits are paid whether or not you are in pay status. • For MedicalLeave, employees get two pay periods for each year of County Service once out of paid status.

32. Adding the Baby • Be sure to add the new baby(ies) to your health coverage within 31 days of birth. • If you wait beyond 31 days, you will have to wait for open enrollment! (That’s a heck of a long time!)

33. How much do I pay for Health Benefits? • This is dependent on your pay status and benefits package. • Your Payroll Coordinator can estimate the cost by looking at the County Contribution in your Gross to Net Earnings in the Payroll system. • Life Insurance too. • See Benefits chart at the back of the packet.

34. When do I pay? • You continue to pay your portion through-out. • Once out of pay status the employee pays the full premium. • Benefits Division will notify you when you must pay for benefits • Questions?? Contact Benefits Division at X4229

35. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)

36. How long will I get paid by the County? • As long as you have the appropriate time balances. • Sick Leave for Medical Leave • Vacation, Comp, Holiday, VTO for parental or personal. Use of these hours are optional for Medical Leave.

37. What is the difference between LOA form and Restoration form? • The LOA form allows you to request time off for Medical, Parental or Personal leave. • The LOA form is obtained from your Payroll Coordinator. • The Restoration form allows time to be restored to your time balances. • The Restoration form is obtained from the Controller’s office.

38. What other forms do I need? • The LOA form completed and approved by your department and Human Resources. • SDI packet from the Controller’s office that guides you through the SDI process. • If you don’t qualify for SDI, talk to the Controller’s office about other options. • Benefits Change Form for your new baby.

39. Why am I not getting paid each payday? • Employee exhausted his or her time. • Controller's Office did not receive the SDI check from EDD or a copy of the SDI check from the employee. • Controller's Office did not receive the SDI check on time. • EDD requires additional information from the employee or the County.

40. Can I save time and go unpaid? • For Medical Leave, sick leave must be exhausted before employee may go into unpaid status. • For Parental Leave, an employee may use up to 30 working days of sick leave. An employee is permitted but not required to exhaust paid leave ( vacation, comp., holiday, etc.). • Employee may designate number of hours to use on the form and is not required to exhaust all hours before going into unpaid status

41. Additional Programs for new Parents… • Careshares • Flexible Spending Account • Corporate Lactation Program • Childcare Center Contact the Benefits division for more information on any of these programs.

42. Appendix • Contact List • Forms • Flowchart • Payroll Calendar • Time Calculator • Benefits Chart

43. Contact List

44. Forms

45. Flowchart

46. Payroll Calendar

47. Time Calculator

48. Benefits Chart