BILL NUMBER: SB 727 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Kuehl
FEBRUARY 23, 2007
An act to amend Sections 2708, 3300, 3301, 3302, 3303, and 3303.1
of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to family temporary
disability insurance, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 727, as introduced, Kuehl. Unemployment and disability
compensation benefits: family temporary disability insurance:
grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings.
Under existing law, the family temporary disability insurance
(FTDI) program provides up to 6 weeks of wage replacement benefits to
workers who take time off work to care for a seriously ill family
member, as defined, or to bond with a new child. These benefits are
payable for family temporary disability leaves that begin on and
after July 1, 2004.
This bill would expand the scope of the family temporary
disability insurance program to include grandparents, grandchildren,
parents-in-law, and siblings within the definition of "family member,"
and would make conforming and clarifying changes in provisions
relating to family temporary disability compensation. This bill would
also clarify that an individual, who is entitled to a leave under
the FMLA and the CFRA, must take the FTDI leave concurrent with the
leave taken under the FMLA and CFRA if the FTDI leave is a qualifying
leave under the FMLA or CFRA.
By increasing the pool of potential recipients of payments from
the Disability Fund, a continuously appropriated special fund, this
bill would result in an appropriation.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 2708 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
2708. (a) (1) In accordance with the director's authorized
regulations, and except as provided in subdivision (c) and Sections
2708.1 and 2709, a claimant shall establish medical eligibility for
each uninterrupted period of disability by filing a first claim for
disability benefits supported by the certificate of a treating
physician or practitioner that establishes the sickness, injury, or
pregnancy of the employee, or the condition of the family member that
warrants the care of the employee. For subsequent periods of
uninterrupted disability after the period covered by the initial
certificate or any preceding continued claim, a claimant shall file a
continued claim for those benefits supported by the certificate of a
treating physician or practitioner. A certificate filed to establish
medical eligibility for the employee's own sickness, injury, or
pregnancy shall contain a diagnosis and diagnostic code prescribed in
the International Classification of Diseases, or, where no diagnosis
has yet been obtained, a detailed statement of symptoms.
(2) A certificate filed to establish medical eligibility of the
employee's own sickness, injury, or pregnancy shall also contain a
statement of medical facts including secondary diagnoses when
applicable, within the physician's or practitioner's knowledge, based
on a physical examination and a documented medical history of the
claimant by the physician or practitioner, indicating the physician's
or practitioner's conclusion as to the claimant's disability, and a
statement of the physician's or practitioner's opinion as to the
expected duration of the disability.
(b) An employee shall be required to file a certificate to
establish eligibility when taking leave to care for a family member
with a serious health condition. The certificate shall be developed
by the department. In order to establish medical eligibility of the
serious health condition of the family member that warrants the care
of the employee, the information shall be within the physician's or
practitioner's knowledge and shall be based on a physical examination
and documented medical history of the family member and shall
contain all of the following:
(1) A diagnosis and diagnostic code prescribed in the
International Classification of Diseases, or, where no diagnosis has
yet been obtained, a detailed statement of symptoms.
(2) The date, if known, on which the condition commenced.
(3) The probable duration of the condition.
(4) An estimate of the amount of time that the physician or
practitioner believes the employee is needed to care for the child,
parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling,
spouse, or domestic partner.
(5) (A) A statement that the serious health condition warrants the
participation of the employee to provide care for his or her child,
parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling,
spouse, or domestic partner.
(B) "Warrants the participation of the employee" includes, but is
not limited to, providing psychological comfort, and arranging "third
party" care for the child, parent, grandparent,
grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner, as
well as directly providing, or participating in, the medical care.
(c) The department shall develop a certification form for bonding
that is separate and distinct from the certificate required in
subdivision (a) for an employee taking leave to bond with a minor
child within the first year of the child's birth or placement in
connection with foster care or adoption.
(d) The first and any continuing claim of an individual who
obtains care and treatment outside this state shall be supported by a
certificate of a treating physician or practitioner duly licensed or
certified by the state or foreign country in which the claimant is
receiving the care and treatment. If a physician or practitioner
licensed by and practicing in a foreign country is under
investigation by the department for filing false claims and the
department does not have legal remedies to conduct a criminal
investigation or prosecution in that country, the department may
suspend the processing of all further certifications until the
physician or practitioner fully cooperates, and continues to
cooperate with the investigation. A physician or practitioner
licensed by and practicing in a foreign country who has been
convicted of filing false claims with the department may not file a
certificate in support of a claim for disability benefits for a
period of five years.
(e) For purposes of this part:
(1) "Physician" has the same meaning as defined in Section 3209.3
of the Labor Code.
(2) "Practitioner" means a person duly licensed or certified in
California acting within the scope of his or her license or
certification who is a dentist, podiatrist, or as to normal pregnancy
or childbirth, a midwife, nurse midwife, or nurse practitioner.
(f) For a claimant who is hospitalized in , or under
the authority of , a county hospital in this state, a
certificate of initial and continuing medical disability, if any,
shall satisfy the requirements of this section if the disability is
shown by the claimant's hospital chart, and the certificate is signed
by the hospital's registrar. For a claimant hospitalized in or under
the care of a medical facility of the United States government, a
certificate of initial and continuing medical disability, if any,
shall satisfy the requirements of this section if the disability is
shown by the claimant's hospital chart, and the certificate is signed
by a medical officer of the facility duly authorized to do so.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the
department from requesting additional medical evidence to supplement
the first or any continued claim if the additional evidence can be
procured without additional cost to the claimant. The department may
require that the additional evidence include any or all of the
following:
(1) Identification of diagnoses.
(2) Identification of symptoms.
(3) A statement setting forth the facts of the claimant's
disability. The statement shall be completed by any of the following
individuals:
(A) The physician or practitioner treating the claimant.
(B) The registrar, authorized medical officer, or other duly
authorized official of the hospital or health facility treating the
claimant.
(C) An examining physician or other representative of the
department.
SEC. 2. Section 3300 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended
to read:
3300. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) It is in the public benefit to provide family temporary
disability insurance benefits to workers to care for their family
members. The need for family temporary disability insurance benefits
has intensified as the participation of both parents in the workforce
has increased, and the number of single parents in the workforce has
grown. The need for partial wage replacement for workers taking
family care leave will be exacerbated as the population of those
needing care, both children and parents of workers, increases in
relation to the number of working age adults.
(b) Family Temporary Disability Insurance shall be known as Paid
Family Leave.
(c) Developing systems that help families adapt to the competing
interests of work and home not only benefits workers, but also
benefits employers by increasing worker productivity and reducing
employee turnover.
(d) The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and California'
s Family Rights Act (CFRA) entitle eligible employees working for
covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for up to 12
workweeks in a 12-month period. Under the FMLA and the CFRA, unpaid
leave may be taken for the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a
new child; to care for a seriously ill child, parent, or spouse; or
for the employee's own serious health condition. Under the CFRA,
unpaid leave may be taken to care for a seriously ill domestic
partner.
(e) State disability insurance benefits currently provide wage
replacement for workers who need time off due to their own
non-work-related injuries, illnesses, or conditions, including
pregnancy, that prevent them from working, but do not cover leave to
care for a sick or injured child, spouse, parent, grandparent,
grandchild, sibling, or domestic partner, or leave to bond with
a new child.
(f) The majority of workers in this state are unable to take
family care leave because they are unable to afford leave without
pay. When workers do not receive some form of wage replacement during
family care leave, families suffer from the worker's loss of income,
increasing the demand on the state unemployment insurance system and
dependence on the state's welfare system.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature to create a family
temporary disability insurance program to help reconcile the demands
of work and family. The family temporary disability insurance program
shall be a component of the state's unemployment compensation
disability insurance program, shall be funded through employee
contributions, and shall be administered in accordance with the
policies of the state disability insurance program created pursuant
to this part. Initial and ongoing administrative costs associated
with the family temporary disability insurance program shall be
payable from the Disability Fund.
SEC. 3. Section 3301 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended
to read:
3301. (a) (1) The purpose of this chapter is to establish, within
the state disability insurance program, a family temporary
disability insurance program. Family temporary disability insurance
shall provide up to six weeks of wage replacement benefits to workers
who take time off work to care for a seriously ill child, spouse,
parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or domestic
partner, or to bond with a minor child within one year of the birth
or placement of the child in connection with foster care or adoption.
(2) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to abridge the
rights and responsibilities conveyed under the CFRA or pregnancy
disability leave.
(b) An individual's "weekly benefit amount" shall be the amount
provided in Section 2655. An individual is eligible to receive family
temporary disability insurance benefits equal to one-seventh of his
or her weekly benefit amount for each full day during which he or she
is unable to work due to caring for a seriously ill or injured
family member or bonding with a minor child within one year of the
birth or placement of the child in connection with foster care or
adoption.
(c) The maximum amount payable to an individual during any
disability benefit period for family temporary disability insurance
shall be six times his or her "weekly benefit amount," but in no case
shall the total amount of benefits payable be more than the total
wages paid to the individual during his or her disability base
period. If the benefit is not a multiple of one dollar ($1), it shall
be computed to the next higher multiple of one dollar ($1).
(d) No more than six weeks of family temporary disability
insurance benefits shall be paid within any 12-month period.
(e) An individual shall file a claim for family temporary
disability insurance benefits not later than the 41st consecutive day
following the first compensable day with respect to which the claim
is made for benefits, which time shall be extended by the department
upon a showing of good cause. If a first claim is not complete, the
claim form shall be returned to the claimant for completion and it
shall be completed and returned not later than the 10th consecutive
day after the date it was mailed by the department to the claimant,
except that such time shall be extended by the department upon a
showing of good cause.
SEC. 4. Section 3302 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended
to read:
3302. For purposes of this part:
(a) "Care recipient" means the family member who is receiving care
for a serious health condition or the new child with whom the care
provider is bonding.
(b) "Care provider" means the family member who is providing the
required care for a serious health condition or the family member who
is bonding with the new child.
(c) "Child" means a biological, adopted, or foster son or
daughter, a stepson or stepdaughter, a legal ward, a son or daughter
of a domestic partner, or the person to whom the employee stands in
loco parentis.
(d) "Domestic partner" has the same meaning as defined in Section
297 of the Family Code.
(e) "Family care leave" means any of the following:
(1) Leave to bond with a minor child within the first year of the
child's birth or placement in connection with foster care or
adoption.
(2) Leave to care for a child, parent, grandparent,
grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner who has a
serious health condition.
(f) "Family member" means child, parent, grandparent,
grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner as defined in
this section.
(g) "Parent" means a biological, foster, or adoptive parent,
a parent-in-law, a stepparent, a legal guardian, or other
person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee
was a child.
(h) "Serious health condition" means an illness, injury,
impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient
care in a hospital, hospice, or residential health care facility, or
continuing treatment or continuing supervision by a health care
provider, as defined in Section 12945.2 of the Government Code.
(i) "Spouse" means a partner to a lawful marriage.
(j) "Valid claim" means any claim for family temporary disability
insurance benefits made in accordance with the provisions of this
code, and any rules and regulations adopted thereunder, if the
individual claiming benefits is unemployed and has been paid the
necessary wages in employment for employers to qualify for benefits
under Section 2652 and is caring for a seriously ill family member,
or bonding with a minor child during the first year after the birth
or placement of the child in connection with foster care or adoption.
(k) "Twelve-month period," with respect to any individual, means
the 365 consecutive days that begin with the first day the individual
first establishes a valid claim for family temporary disability
benefits.
SEC. 5. Section 3303 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended
to read:
3303. An individual shall be deemed eligible for family temporary
disability insurance benefits equal to one-seventh of his or her
weekly benefit amount on any day in which he or she is unable to
perform his or her regular or customary work because he or she is
bonding with a minor child during the first year after the birth or
placement of the child in connection with foster care or adoption or
caring for a seriously ill child, parent, grandparent,
grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner, only if the
director finds all of the following:
(a) The individual has made a claim for temporary disability
benefits as required by authorized regulations.
(b) The individual has been unable to perform his or her regular
or customary work for a seven-day waiting period during each
disability benefit period, with respect to which waiting period no
family temporary disability insurance benefits are payable.
(c) The individual has filed a certificate, as required by
Sections 2708 and 2709.
SEC. 6. Section 3303.1 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
3303.1. (a) An individual is not eligible for family temporary
disability insurance benefits with respect to any day that any of the
following apply:
(1) The individual has received, or is entitled to receive,
unemployment compensation benefits under Part 1 (commencing with
Section 100) or under an unemployment compensation act of any other
state or of the federal government.
(2) The individual has received, or is entitled to receive, "other
benefits" in the form of cash benefits as defined in Section 2629.
(3) The individual has received, or is entitled to receive, state
disability insurance benefits under Part 2 (commencing with Section
2601) or under a disability insurance act of any other state.
(4) Another family member, as defined in Section 3302, is ready,
willing, and able and available for the same period of time in a day
that the individual is providing the required care.
(b) An individual who is entitled to leave under the FMLA and the
CFRA must take Family Temporary Disability Insurance (FTDI) leave
concurrent with leave taken under the FMLA and the CFRA , if the
FTDI leave is a qualifying leave under the FMLA or CFRA .
(c) As a condition of an employee's initial receipt of family
temporary disability insurance benefits during any 12-month period in
which an employee is eligible for these benefits, an employer may
require an employee to take up to two weeks of earned but unused
vacation leave prior to the employee's initial receipt of these
benefits. If an employer so requires an employee to take vacation
leave, that portion of the vacation leave that does not exceed one
week shall be applied to the waiting period required under
subdivision (b) of Section 3303. This subdivision may not be
construed in a manner that relieves an employer of any duty of
collective bargaining the employer may have with respect to the
subject matter of this subdivision.