California State Disability Insurance (CASDI) is a state-run program that replaces part of your wages when you can’t work because of a non-work-related illness, injury, or pregnancy, or when you need time off to bond with a new child or care for a seriously ill family member. It’s funded entirely by employee payroll deductions and administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD). For 2026, the maximum weekly benefit is $1,765, and the withholding rate is 1.3% of your wages with no cap on taxable earnings.1Employment Development Department. Contribution Rates, Withholding Schedules, and Meals and Lodging Values2Employment Development Department. Maximum Weekly Benefit Amount 2026
Look at your pay stub. The line labeled “CASDI” is what funds this program. Your employer contributes nothing; the full cost comes out of your wages.3Employment Development Department. California State Payroll Taxes – Overview
What CASDI Covers
CASDI has two sides. Disability Insurance (DI) covers your own medical conditions when they aren’t caused by your job: surgery recovery, a complicated pregnancy, a chronic illness flare, or any other non-work health problem that keeps you from doing your regular work. DI benefits can run up to 52 weeks for a single disability period.4Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Benefit Payment Amounts
Paid Family Leave (PFL) draws from the same fund but covers time away for someone else. PFL pays up to eight weeks of benefits in any 12-month period, and you don’t have to take the weeks consecutively.5Employment Development Department. Paid Family Leave Benefits and Payments FAQs It covers three situations:
- Bonding with a new child after birth, adoption, or foster placement.
- Caring for a seriously ill spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or parent-in-law.
- Handling matters tied to a family member’s military deployment, including childcare arrangements, legal or financial affairs, and military ceremonies.6Employment Development Department. Paid Family Leave for Military Family
One important limit: PFL pays you, but it does not protect your job. If you need the legal right to return to your position, that comes from separate laws such as the California Family Rights Act or the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, each with its own eligibility rules.
Who Qualifies
To receive CASDI benefits, you need to meet all of the following:
- You earned at least $300 in wages during your base period, with SDI taxes withheld. The base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your claim starts, which covers wages paid roughly 5 to 18 months ago.7Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance – Eligibility FAQs
- You have a non-work-related condition severe enough to keep you from doing your regular job. Work injuries go through workers’ compensation instead.
- You were working or actively looking for work when the disability began.
- You’ve served a seven-day unpaid waiting period. If you file a second claim for the same or a related condition within 60 days, you don’t serve another waiting period.8California Legislative Information. California Code UIC 2627
How Much You’ll Get
Your weekly benefit is based on your highest-earning quarter during the base period. Lower- and middle-wage workers receive roughly 90% of their usual weekly wages. Higher earners receive roughly 70%, up to the 2026 maximum of $1,765 per week. Very low quarterly earnings produce a flat $50 weekly benefit, and there’s a narrow transitional band between the 90% and 70% tiers that pays a flat weekly amount to smooth the shift.4Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Benefit Payment Amounts
The practical result is that someone earning $50,000 a year replaces a larger share of income than someone earning $150,000. The split is designed that way so lower-wage workers come closer to full wage replacement.
How to File a Claim
Timing is strict. Wait at least nine days after your disability starts to file, but no longer than 49 days from the start date. Miss the 49-day window and you can lose benefits entirely.9Employment Development Department. How to File a Disability Insurance Claim in SDI Online
Before you start, pull together:
- Your Social Security Number and California driver’s license or state ID number.
- Your employer’s name, address, phone number, and your last day of work.
- Your treating doctor or practitioner’s contact information. They must submit a medical certification confirming your diagnosis and giving an estimated recovery date.10Employment Development Department. Step 3 – Have a Medical Certification Completed
The fastest route is online through the EDD’s SDI Online portal. You’ll set up a myEDD account and verify your identity through ID.me, then submit your part of the claim. Your doctor can file the medical certification through the same system. Paper applications by mail are still accepted but slower.11Employment Development Department. Basics for Physicians/Practitioners
After You File
The EDD aims to process a complete claim within 14 days.12Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Claim Process “Complete” is the operative word. If your doctor hasn’t submitted the medical certification, the clock stalls. This is the most common cause of delays, so confirm your doctor has filed their portion.
Approved benefits are paid by debit card or check. If you’re denied, the EDD mails a Notice of Determination with an appeal form. You have 30 calendar days from the date on that notice to appeal to an administrative law judge at the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, who hears the case by phone or in person. A second-level board appeal is available within another 30 days, and from there you can petition the Superior Court within six months.13California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. Appeal Process
Are CASDI Benefits Taxable
The two sides of the program are taxed differently.
DI benefits paid for your own disability are generally not subject to federal income tax, because the IRS treats your SDI contribution as a state tax and benefits tied to your own contributions are excluded from gross income.14Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2025-4 California doesn’t tax DI benefits either.
PFL benefits are taxable at the federal level. If your PFL benefits exceed $600 in a year, the state will issue a Form 1099. No Social Security or Medicare tax is withheld, but you’ll owe regular federal income tax when you file.15Internal Revenue Service. Life Insurance and Disability Insurance Proceeds
If Your Injury Happened at Work
Work injuries are covered by workers’ compensation, not CASDI. The two can intersect, though. If your workers’ comp claim is denied or delayed, you can file for SDI while you wait. If your workers’ comp weekly payment is less than what SDI would pay, SDI may cover the difference.16Employment Development Department. Workers’ Compensation and Disability Benefits There’s a catch: if the EDD pays you SDI while a workers’ comp case is pending and you later win, the EDD files a lien to recover what it paid.
If You’re Self-Employed
No CASDI tax is withheld from self-employment income, so independent contractors, sole proprietors, and business owners without a W-2 salary aren’t automatically covered. The EDD offers Disability Insurance Elective Coverage (DIEC), which you apply for and then pay quarterly premiums on to build eligibility. DIEC provides access to both DI and PFL benefits.17Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Elective Coverage18Employment Development Department. Disability Insurance Elective Coverage FAQs
Employer Voluntary Plans
Some California employers opt out of state-run SDI and offer a Voluntary Plan (VP) instead. If yours does, you still get disability and family leave coverage, but through a privately administered plan. A VP must match every state SDI benefit and provide at least one benefit that’s better, such as a higher weekly maximum, a shorter waiting period, or broader coverage. Your contribution can’t exceed what you’d pay under the state plan.19Employment Development Department. Voluntary Plan
Under a VP, your pay stub may show a different deduction label instead of CASDI, and you file claims through your employer’s plan administrator rather than the EDD.