In California, you can take FMLA and CFRA separately whenever the reason for your time off qualifies under one law but not the other. The two leaves normally run at the same time and both use up your 12-week entitlement in a single block. But because FMLA and CFRA cover different situations and different family members, an employee can end up with a full 12 weeks under one law still intact after using the other. Pregnancy is the clearest example, and it’s why some California parents get more than seven months of job-protected leave.
When the Two Leaves Run Together and When They Split
For most qualifying reasons, FMLA and CFRA run concurrently. If you take leave to recover from surgery, each week off counts against both your 12-week FMLA entitlement and your 12-week CFRA entitlement at the same time. You don’t get 24 weeks. You get 12 weeks that satisfy both laws at once.1California Department of Human Resources. 2107 – Family Medical Leave Act / California Family Rights Act
The leaves come apart when one law covers a situation the other doesn’t. Three gaps between FMLA and CFRA create the opportunity to use them separately:
- Pregnancy is not a serious health condition under CFRA, so pregnancy-related medical leave draws down FMLA and California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave without touching CFRA.2Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11093 – Relationship Between CFRA Leave and Pregnancy Disability Leave
- CFRA lets you take leave to care for a grandparent, grandchild, sibling, domestic partner, or designated person. FMLA covers none of those relatives, so leave for them uses only CFRA time.3California Civil Rights Department. Family Care and Medical Leave Quick Reference Guide
- FMLA provides up to 26 weeks to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness. CFRA has no equivalent, so military caregiver leave only draws down FMLA.4eCFR. 29 CFR 825.127 – Leave to Care for a Covered Servicemember
Whenever leave qualifies under only one law, employers are required to track the two entitlements separately. That’s what preserves a full 12 weeks on the untouched side for a later event.
The Pregnancy Stack: FMLA Plus PDL, Then CFRA
Pregnancy is where taking FMLA and CFRA separately produces the most dramatic result. Three protections can layer:
California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave provides up to four months off for any period of physical or mental incapacity related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition.5California Civil Rights Department. Pregnancy Disability Leave Fact Sheet PDL applies at employers with five or more employees and has no minimum tenure or hours requirement. FMLA runs alongside PDL during this period, so both are counting down at once. CFRA does not run, because pregnancy isn’t a CFRA-qualifying condition.2Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11093 – Relationship Between CFRA Leave and Pregnancy Disability Leave
Once the pregnancy-related disability ends, a full 12 weeks of CFRA leave is still available for bonding with the newborn.6California Civil Rights Department. Leave for Pregnancy Disability and Child Bonding Quick Reference Guide In a straightforward case, that means up to four months of pregnancy disability leave followed by 12 weeks of bonding leave, adding up to more than seven months of job-protected time off. Your FMLA 12 weeks will typically be exhausted during the PDL portion, but the CFRA bonding entitlement is untouched because CFRA never started running during the pregnancy disability.
Caring for Family Members FMLA Doesn’t Cover
FMLA limits caregiving leave to your child, spouse, or parent. CFRA goes considerably further, covering leave to care for a child of any age, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or a designated person.3California Civil Rights Department. Family Care and Medical Leave Quick Reference Guide
The designated-person category is flexible. It covers anyone related by blood or whose relationship with you is the equivalent of a family relationship. You identify the person when you request leave, and you’re limited to one designated person per 12-month period.7California Civil Rights Department. Expanded Family and Medical Leave in California
When you take leave to care for someone CFRA covers but FMLA doesn’t, only your CFRA weeks get used. Your 12 weeks of FMLA remain fully available for a later qualifying event. If your grandparent develops a serious illness in March and you take eight weeks of CFRA leave to help, you’d still have 12 weeks of FMLA available if you needed surgery yourself later that year.
Military Caregiver Leave Under FMLA
FMLA and CFRA both offer qualifying exigency leave when a family member is called to active military duty, though they differ on whose deployment counts. FMLA covers a spouse, child, or parent. CFRA adds domestic partners to that list.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28M – Using FMLA Leave Because of a Family Members Military Service
The bigger split is military caregiver leave. FMLA allows up to 26 weeks in a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness.4eCFR. 29 CFR 825.127 – Leave to Care for a Covered Servicemember CFRA has no equivalent. An employee who uses those 26 FMLA weeks still has a full 12 weeks of CFRA available for a different qualifying event later on.
Eligibility Differences That Decide Who Can Stack
Whether you can take FMLA and CFRA separately depends first on whether you qualify for both. The eligibility standards are similar but not identical, and the gap changes who has access to which leave.
FMLA requires at least 12 months of employment with your employer, at least 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months before leave starts, and an employer with 50 or more employees within 75 miles of your worksite.9U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act
CFRA uses the same tenure and hours thresholds but a much lower employer-size bar: five or more employees anywhere, with no geographic radius requirement.10California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12945.2 Employees at small California businesses often qualify for CFRA but not FMLA. If you work for a company with 15 employees, your only entitlement is CFRA, and the question of stacking the two doesn’t apply.
Getting Paid While Leaves Run Separately
FMLA and CFRA both guarantee unpaid leave. The job protection is real, but neither law requires your employer to pay you while you’re out. California fills part of the gap through two wage-replacement programs funded by the State Disability Insurance payroll deduction, which in 2026 runs 1.3% of all wages.11California Employment Development Department. Contribution Rates, Withholding Schedules, and Meals and Lodging Values
State Disability Insurance covers your own medical conditions, including pregnancy disability. Paid Family Leave covers bonding with a new child or caring for a seriously ill family member. For 2026, PFL replaces 70% to 90% of your wages depending on income, up to a maximum of $1,765 per week.12California Employment Development Department. Paid Family Leave Benefit Payment Amounts Lower-wage earners receive the 90% rate, while higher earners receive 70%.
These programs provide money, not extra weeks. PFL and SDI don’t add any job-protected leave beyond what FMLA, CFRA, or PDL already give you. They function as paychecks layered on top of the job-protected leave. During the pregnancy stack, SDI generally covers the PDL portion and PFL generally covers the CFRA bonding portion, so much of the seven-plus months can come with at least partial wage replacement.
PTO and Sick Leave During the Unpaid Portion
Your employer can require you to burn through accrued vacation or PTO during the unpaid portion of CFRA leave. Sick leave is narrower: your employer can only mandate its use if the CFRA leave is for your own serious health condition, or if you and your employer mutually agree.13Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11092 – Terms of CFRA Leave
The rules flip once you’re receiving SDI or PFL. Because you’re not technically on “unpaid leave” while collecting those benefits, your employer cannot force you to use vacation or sick time at the same time.13Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11092 – Terms of CFRA Leave You can still choose to supplement the benefits with accrued paid leave if your employer’s policy allows, but the choice is yours.
When You’ve Used Both and Still Need Time
If you’ve exhausted both FMLA and CFRA and still can’t return to work because of a disability, the Americans with Disabilities Act may require your employer to grant additional unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation. The ADA applies to employers with 15 or more employees and doesn’t cap leave at a set number of weeks. Instead, the employer must provide leave unless doing so would cause undue hardship to the business.14U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the ADA
An employee who used all 12 FMLA weeks and still needs another week for treatment can request that time under the ADA, and the employer would need to show genuine operational hardship to deny it. Modified schedules and adjusted duties are also potential accommodations that might help you return sooner than a full-time schedule would allow.