How to Get Maternity Leave When Self-Employed in California

Self-employed workers can get paid maternity leave in California by voluntarily enrolling in the state’s Disability Insurance Elective Coverage (DIEC) program. Once enrolled, you can draw on State Disability Insurance for the weeks around childbirth and Paid Family Leave for bonding afterward — roughly 18 to 20 weeks of partial income replacement in total, capped at $1,765 per week in 2026.¹ The trade-off is timing. You must be enrolled for at least six months before you can file a claim, and you commit to staying in the program for two full calendar years.

Who Can Enroll

DIEC is open to sole proprietors, independent contractors, business partners, and managing members of LLCs taxed as sole proprietors for federal income tax purposes.² Because no employer is withholding SDI from your pay, the state lets you opt in and pay premiums yourself.

You need to meet three conditions:

Net profit of at least $4,600 on your federal tax return.²
You must be currently performing your regular work on a full-time basis when you apply.
Any license or permit your trade requires must be current and active.

That $4,600 figure isn’t just a door. If your net profit falls below it for three consecutive years, the EDD can cancel your coverage.²

The Six-Month Wait and the Two-Year Commitment

Once the EDD approves your DIEC application, you have to participate for at least six months before you can file a DI or PFL claim.³ If you’re already pregnant when you enroll, this timing can knock you out of benefits for the current pregnancy. Plan around conception, not around a positive test.

There is one workaround. If you worked as a W-2 employee in California within the past 5 to 18 months and your employer deducted SDI, you may already have wage credits in your base period and could file a valid claim sooner than the six-month mark.³

The second commitment is two full calendar years of enrollment. After that, you can cancel by submitting a request during January, with cancellation taking effect January 1 of the following year.³

What You Pay in Premiums

DIEC participants pay the same SDI contribution rate as regular employees. For 2026, that’s 1.3 percent of earnings, with no wage ceiling.⁴ The EDD pulls the net profit from your federal tax return (Schedule SE or Schedule C) and treats 25 percent of that annual figure as your wage credits for each quarter.⁵

On $80,000 of net profit, premiums run about $1,040 per year, or roughly $260 per quarter. Set against a maternity leave that can stretch 18 to 20 weeks, the cost is modest. You do have to keep paying quarterly to stay eligible.

How Much You’ll Receive Each Week

Your weekly benefit is based on your highest-earning quarter in the base period. For claims beginning in 2026, the tiers are:⁶

Highest quarterly earnings of $722.50 to $16,279.90: 90 percent of your weekly wages.
Highest quarterly earnings of $16,279.91 to $20,931.30: a flat $1,127 per week.
Highest quarterly earnings above $20,931.31: 70 percent of your weekly wages, capped at $1,765.

Weekly wages here means your highest quarter divided by 13. For DIEC participants specifically, the EDD bases benefits on the net profits reported on your tax returns from up to four years prior rather than actual earnings during the base period quarters.⁵ That’s worth knowing: a strong profit year two or three years back can produce a higher benefit than a recent slow year would suggest.

The minimum threshold for any benefits is $300 in wages during your base period.⁶

How Long Benefits Last

Paid leave arrives in two phases, each with its own duration and paperwork.

Disability Insurance Around Childbirth

Disability Insurance covers the stretch when you physically cannot work due to pregnancy and delivery. For a normal delivery, that’s up to four weeks before your expected delivery date and up to six weeks after. A cesarean section extends the post-delivery period to up to eight weeks.⁷ Complications such as preeclampsia, severe morning sickness, or postpartum depression can extend the benefit period if your healthcare provider certifies continued disability.

Paid Family Leave for Bonding

After the disability period ends, you can move to Paid Family Leave to bond with your newborn. PFL provides up to eight weeks of benefits within a 12-month period.⁸ You don’t have to take the eight weeks consecutively; they can be spread across the year after birth.

Added up, a normal vaginal delivery yields about 18 weeks (4 + 6 + 8). A cesarean yields about 20 weeks (4 + 8 + 8). Certified complications can extend the DI portion further.

Enrolling in DIEC

Enrollment starts with the Application for Disability Insurance Elective Coverage (Form DE 1378DI), downloaded from the EDD website and submitted by mail.² The form asks for your Social Security number, business license details if applicable, and your self-employment history.⁹

Include copies of your IRS Schedule SE for the past two years showing net profit. If you’ve only been in business one year, enter zero for the missing year.⁹ The EDD uses these figures to confirm the $4,600 minimum and to set your premiums and future benefit amounts, so the numbers you report here will drive everything downstream.

Filing the Disability Insurance Claim

When your healthcare provider certifies that you can no longer perform your regular work due to pregnancy, file a Claim for Disability Insurance Benefits (Form DE 2501) through the SDI Online portal or by mail.¹⁰

The filing window is narrow. No earlier than nine days after your disability begins, and no later than 49 days after it starts. Late filing can cost you benefits, though the EDD will consider a written good-cause explanation.¹⁰

Your provider certifies that you cannot perform your regular work duties due to pregnancy, a related condition, or recovery from delivery, and gives an expected delivery date and estimated period of disability.⁷ Updated certifications keep benefits flowing if recovery runs long.

The first seven days of any new DI claim are a non-payable waiting period. Payment begins on day eight.¹¹ Payments arrive on an EDD-issued debit card.¹²

Filing the Paid Family Leave Claim

Once your disability period ends and your provider releases you, file a separate PFL bonding claim. The deadline is no later than 41 days after your bonding leave begins.

PFL bonding requires proof of your relationship to the child. A birth certificate is the standard document for a biological child; adoptive placements use the placement agreement, and foster placements use the foster care placement record.¹³ Upload through SDI Online or mail with your paper claim.

Working Part-Time While on Leave

Closing the business entirely for four or five months isn’t practical for many self-employed parents. The EDD lets you draw benefits while working a reduced schedule, but adjusts payments based on wage loss. It compares your pre-claim weekly earnings to what you’re currently earning. If the gap exceeds your weekly benefit, you get the full benefit. If the gap is smaller than the benefit, you get only the amount of the actual wage loss.¹⁴

For parents who can handle some administrative work or delegate client tasks without maintaining a full load, partial benefits bridge the gap between a full shutdown and going back too soon.

How the Benefits Are Taxed

The two phases of your leave are taxed differently, so your take-home shifts when you cross from DI to PFL.

Disability Insurance benefits funded by your own contributions — which is what DIEC premiums are — are generally not taxable at the federal level. Paid Family Leave benefits are taxable federally. The EDD reports PFL payments on Form 1099G, and you include the amount in federal gross income. Neither is subject to Social Security or Medicare taxes, and California exempts both DI and PFL benefits from state income tax.¹⁵

Private Disability Insurance as a Top-Up

DIEC replaces a meaningful share of income, but the $1,765 weekly cap leaves higher earners short. Private short-term disability policies typically cover 50 to 70 percent of income for up to eight weeks after delivery, with monthly premiums generally between $25 and $150 depending on age, health, and occupation.

Timing is the catch. Most private insurers apply a waiting period of about two weeks before benefits begin, and most exclude pregnancy as a pre-existing condition if you’re already pregnant when you apply. If you’re layering private coverage on DIEC, read the coordination-of-benefits clause carefully. Some policies reduce their payout dollar-for-dollar against state benefits, which can undo the point of buying them.

1
Employment Development Department. Contribution Rates and Benefit Amounts
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Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Elective Coverage
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Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Elective Coverage FAQs
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Employment Development Department. Contribution Rates, Withholding Schedules, and Meals and Lodging
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Employment Development Department. Disability Elective Coverage Benefits and Premium Amounts
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Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Benefit Payment Amounts
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Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance – Pregnancy FAQs
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Employment Development Department. Paid Family Leave
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Employment Development Department. Application for Disability Insurance Elective Coverage
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Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Claim Process
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Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance – Benefits and Payments FAQs
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Employment Development Department. Your Benefit Payment Options
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Employment Development Department. Paid Family Leave Claim Process
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Employment Development Department. Part-time/Intermittent/Reduced Work Schedule
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Employment Development Department. Form 1099G FAQs