r/ParentalLeaveAdvocacy

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation or has experience navigating maternity leave in California.
I joined my current company on May 26, 2026, and we had a wonderful surprise pregnancy! ❤️ Our baby is due April 1, 2027, and we’re so happy and excited to start this new journey.
My company offers 8 weeks of bonding leave, but HR mentioned that I wouldn’t be eligible for CFRA because I won’t have completed one year with the company by the time I start my leave.
However, when I read about CFRA online, my understanding was that I may become eligible once I complete one year of employment, provided I meet the other eligibility requirements.
My question is: If I take my initial maternity and bonding leave around the time of delivery and reach my one-year anniversary with the company on May 26, 2027, could I then take CFRA bonding leave for the remaining time, assuming I meet the other requirements? Or does the eligibility requirement need to be met when the leave initially begins, meaning I wouldn’t qualify for that bonding leave at all for this birth?
Those additional 12 weeks would mean the world to us. We don’t have family nearby to help us with the baby, so having more time at home together would make a huge difference.
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with a similar situation, especially if you were able to take CFRA leave after reaching your one-year anniversary. I’d also love to hear if anyone has received clarification from the California Civil Rights Department or their company’s HR team.
Thank you so much! ❤️

Hi Everyone,

I’m hoping someone here has experience with medical and bonding leave time. I am having my second child a few weeks from now and my job is now using DFML instead of private insurance managing leave.

My doctors office signs off on 12 weeks of medical leave after giving birth and then I thought I’d also have 12 weeks of bonding for a total of 24 weeks. With my previous pregnancy the private insurance would only allow 6 weeks of medical for vaginal birth (8 with c section) and 12 weeks bonding.

My HR department received my application and that I put 12 weeks medical down. They advised I take less medical time saying DFML caps total medical and bonding leave at 20 weeks. Is this accurate?

I think the private insurance capped it at 18-20 weeks but I’m not sure this is really the case and can’t find anything on the website about this.

I want the most time with my baby as would anyone and I’m skeptical of what they are saying.

Thanks 🙏

I’ve been on intermittent leave due to HG since July. A couple weeks ago I went into work on a Monday and pulled a muscle working with a heavy client. I was out for 3 days and had apt on Friday.

My OB wrote up a letter saying I cannot lift, push, or pull over 20lbs. My works HR let me know they cannot accommodate that, and to apply for continuous leave.

I only have about 4 weeks left of leave left. Now obviously running out a lot earlier than anticipated now that they can’t accommodate these restrictions.

But I have no idea what happens to me after it runs out. I don’t even know who to ask. I tried to ask HR but they’ve been extremely unhelpful and basically tried to get me to say the pulled muscle didn’t happen at work.

I had to do an incident report and I have an apt this week with my PCP to fill out a work comp document.

Am I just… fired? Isn’t that not legal? Idk. Idk anything.

I've been in my current role for four years. From December last year until the middle of May this year, I was on shared parental leave.

My company's promotion cycle works like this:

• Self-evaluations and manager reviews take place in June.
• Promotion decisions are announced in October.

Before I went on leave, my line manager told me I was getting close to promotion level. He suggested that I set goals and demonstrate my capabilities in the months leading up to my leave so that I wouldn't effectively lose a year of promotion progress while I was away.

Based on that conversation, I put a lot of effort into delivering against those goals before going on leave.

Last week, I had my promotion feedback meeting. My manager told me I had performed well, but I wasn't promoted. Naturally, I was disappointed because I believed I had done what was expected based on the guidance I'd been given.

To be clear, my manager never said that taking shared parental leave affected the decision, and I know that explicitly penalising someone for taking leave would not be acceptable. At the same time, I only worked for part of the review cycle because I was away for five months.

What makes this more complicated is that I knew I was in a strong position for promotion before taking leave. Even so, I decided to take the time off because the opportunity to spend those early months with my baby is something I'll never get back.

Going into it, I understood there was a chance that taking a lengthy leave might affect my promotion timeline, and I tried to prepare myself for that possibility. However, now that the decision has actually been made, I find myself more disappointed than I expected. Part of me wonders whether I'm being unreasonable or contradictory: I consciously prioritised family over career progression for a period of time, yet I'm still upset about missing out on the promotion.

Am I being reasonable in feeling disappointed given the expectations that were set before my leave, or was it unrealistic to expect a promotion in a year when I was absent for nearly half of the review period?

I’m in California and currently on maternity leave. I’m scheduled to return to work on October 19, but I’ve decided that I want to stay home with my baby and not return to my job.

I have about 3 weeks of accrued PTO and really like my employer’s health insurance, so keeping my insurance as long as possible is important to me.

I’m trying to figure out whether it makes more sense to:

1. Return on October 19, use my 3 weeks of PTO, and then resign; or
2. Resign at the end of my maternity leave and have my unused PTO paid out.

I’m also wondering about the etiquette of resigning after maternity leave. Is it better to tell my manager before I’m supposed to return, or is it reasonable to take the PTO and give notice during that time?

Has anyone been in a similar situation, especially in California? I’d really appreciate insight on the PTO, health insurance, and what you would do in this situation.