How to Get Short Term Disability in California for Mental Health

To get short-term disability in California for a mental health condition, file a State Disability Insurance (SDI) claim with the Employment Development Department and have a licensed health professional certify that the condition keeps you from doing your regular job. SDI treats mental health conditions the same as physical ones. If approved, you can receive 70% to 90% of your prior wages for up to 52 weeks while you recover.¹²

Do Mental Health Conditions Qualify

Yes. SDI covers any non-work-related illness or injury that prevents you from performing your regular and customary work, and that includes psychological conditions.¹ The EDD does not keep a list of approved diagnoses. Eligibility turns on a functional test: can you do your usual job, and has a licensed provider said so in writing.³

California regulations define a qualifying “serious health condition” by its effect on you, not by diagnosis. The condition must involve either inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider, meaning at least two provider visits or one visit that results in an ongoing regimen such as prescription medication or therapy. The regulations explicitly note that mental illness resulting from stress can qualify, provided it meets these functional and treatment requirements.⁴ Depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and similar conditions routinely meet this bar when they interfere with work.

One boundary matters at the outset. SDI is for conditions that are not caused by your job. A mental health condition caused by the workplace itself, such as a workplace injury or occupational stressor, generally falls under workers’ compensation instead.⁵

Who Is Eligible

To qualify for SDI benefits, you must:

Be unable to do your regular work for at least eight consecutive days.
Have lost wages because of the disability.
Have been employed or actively looking for work when the disability began.
Have earned at least $300 in wages subject to SDI deductions during your base period (roughly 5 to 18 months before the claim start date).
Be under the care and treatment of a licensed health professional during the first eight days of the disability, and remain under care for benefits to continue.³

The medical information you submit is private. Your employer is notified that you filed a claim, but the EDD does not share your diagnosis or the nature of your condition with them.³

Which Providers Can Certify a Mental Health Claim

A mental health claim must be certified by a licensed health professional. Psychiatrists (as licensed physicians) and psychologists are the most common certifiers, but the EDD’s full list of authorized providers also includes nurse practitioners, physician assistants, licensed physicians and surgeons of any specialty, and several others.⁶

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants can certify claims within their scope of practice, but for conditions other than normal pregnancy they must perform a physical examination and collaborate with a physician or surgeon.⁷ You must be a patient of the certifying provider within the first eight days of the disability.³

How to File the Claim

Filing has two parts. You file your portion, and your provider files a separate medical certification. Nothing moves until both are in.

Your Part

Claims go through SDI Online. Create a myEDD account, verify your identity through ID.me, and submit “Part A — Claimant’s Statement.” You’ll need a valid California driver license or state ID, your Social Security number, your employer’s contact information, and your last date worked.⁸

Watch the timing. You cannot file until nine days after your disability begins, and you must file within 49 days of the start date. Missing that 49-day window can disqualify you. After filing, you’ll get a receipt number to hand off to your provider.⁵

If you don’t have a valid California ID, have had a recent name change, or hit errors online, you can file by mail using paper form DE 2501.⁸

Your Provider’s Part

Your provider submits Part B either through SDI Online or on the paper DE 2501. The certification must also be submitted within 49 days of the disability start date. On it, the provider certifies that you cannot perform your regular work and gives an estimated recovery date.⁹ The EDD may request an independent medical examination if it needs more information.

How Much You’ll Get and For How Long

SDI replaces a portion of your wages, not all of them. For 2025, the wage replacement rate ranges from 70% to 90%, with lower-wage earners receiving the higher percentage. Weekly payments run from $50 to a maximum of $1,765.² These rates took effect January 1, 2025, under Senate Bill 951, up from the previous 60–70% range.¹⁰

The tiers, based on annualized income (your highest-earning quarter multiplied by four):

$1,200 to about $2,890 annually: $50 per week.
About $2,890 to $65,120 annually: 90% of weekly wages.
About $65,120 to $83,725 annually: a flat $1,127 per week.
Above $83,725 annually: 70% of weekly wages, up to the $1,765 weekly cap.²

Benefits can last up to 52 weeks. A mandatory seven-day unpaid waiting period comes first, so the eighth day of the claim is your first payable day. After approval, you have to certify that you’re still unable to work: automatic payments require a continuing eligibility form after 10 weeks, and manual payments require one every two weeks. If your disability lasts longer than the provider originally estimated, they must complete a supplementary certificate (form DE 2525XX) to extend benefits.⁵

SDI benefits are generally not taxable. The one exception is when SDI is paid in place of unemployment insurance, in which case it’s federally taxable but still exempt from California state income tax.¹¹

Why Claims Get Denied

Mental health claims are denied for the same procedural reasons as any other SDI claim. The most common:

Medical certification is missing, late, or too vague about how the condition limits work.
The eight-day threshold isn’t met.
The claim was filed before nine days or after 49 days from the disability start date.
The claimant didn’t earn at least $300 in SDI-covered wages during the base period.
The application has errors, mismatched account information, or missing fields.
The condition is work-related, which sends it to workers’ compensation.⁵

How to Appeal a Denial

If you’re found ineligible, the EDD sends a Notice of Determination (form DE 2517) explaining why, along with an Appeal Form (DE 1000A). File the appeal within 30 days of the notice’s issuance date. Late appeals may be accepted if you show good cause.¹²

The EDD reviews the appeal internally first and can reverse itself. If it doesn’t, the case moves to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where an independent administrative law judge holds a hearing. You must attend; if you don’t appear, the appeal is dismissed.¹²

SDI Does Not Protect Your Job

This part surprises people. SDI replaces wages. It does not, by itself, guarantee that your job will be there when you return.¹³ Job protection comes from separate laws.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and California’s Family Rights Act (CFRA) each provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for a serious health condition, which includes mental health conditions. During that leave, your employer must continue your group health coverage and must reinstate you to the same or a comparable position when you return.¹⁴ When both laws apply, they generally run at the same time, giving you 12 weeks total rather than 24.¹⁵

Employers can require FMLA and CFRA leave to run at the same time as your SDI benefits, so the wage replacement and the job protection overlap. But if you’re receiving SDI for your own serious health condition, your employer cannot force you to burn accrued vacation or sick time during that period. You can choose to use accrued leave to top up your SDI payment, but the choice is yours.¹⁴ For CFRA leave, an employer can require a medical certification but cannot ask for your specific diagnosis.¹⁵

When you return to work, separate protections kick in. The Americans with Disabilities Act and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act require employers to provide reasonable accommodations for mental health disabilities unless doing so would cause undue hardship. FEHA’s definition of “mental disability” explicitly includes clinical depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia. Your employer must engage in a good-faith interactive process to identify accommodations, which might include a modified schedule for therapy appointments, reassignment of non-essential duties, remote work, or a move to a different open position if the current role can’t be adjusted. The employer can ask for documentation of the disability and its functional limitations, but not for your specific diagnosis, and any medical information must be kept confidential and stored separately from personnel files.¹⁶

1
EDD. Disability Insurance
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EDD. Calculating DI Benefit Payment Amounts
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EDD. Am I Eligible for DI Benefits
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New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 22, § 3302-2
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EDD. FAQs – Certifications and Continued Medical
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EDD. How to File a DI Claim in SDI Online
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EDD. Claim for Disability Insurance Benefits (DE 2501)
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EDD. California Boosts Paid Family Leave and Disability Benefits to Record Levels for New Claims Filed in 2025
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California Franchise Tax Board. Special Circumstances
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EDD. Appeals
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