Section 11087 - DefinitionsThe following definitions apply only to this article. The definitions in the federal regulations that became effective March 8, 2013 interpreting the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) (29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq.) shall also apply to this article, to the extent that they are not inconsistent with the following definitions:
(a) "Certification" means a written communication from the health care provider of the child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, or designated person, or employee with a serious health condition to the employer of the employee requesting a family care leave to care for an aforementioned family member of the employee, or a medical leave for the employee's own serious health condition.(1) For family care leave for the employee's family member, this certification need not identify the serious health condition involved, but shall contain the information identified in Government Code section 12945.2. (A) the date, if known, on which the serious health condition commenced,(B) the probable duration of the condition,(C) an estimate of the amount of time which the health care provider believes the employee needs to care for the family member, and(D) a statement that the serious health condition warrants the participation of the employee to provide care during a period of treatment or supervision of the family member. 1. "Warrants the participation of the employee," within the meaning of Government Code section 12945.2, includes, but is not limited to, providing psychological comfort and arranging third party care for the family member, as well as directly providing, or participating in, the medical care.(2) For medical leave for the employee's own serious health condition, this certification need not, but may, at the employee's option, identify the serious health condition involved. Any certification shall contain the information identified in Government Code section 12945.2, as is demonstrated in section 11097 of these regulations. For purposes of the certification "unable to perform the function of the employee's position" means that an employee is unable to perform any one or more of the essential functions of the employee's position. The certification shall contain:(A) The date, if known, on which the serious health condition commenced,(B) The probable duration of the condition, and(C) A statement that, due to the serious health condition, the employee is unable to work at all or is unable to perform any one or more of the essential functions of the employee's position.(b) "CFRA" means the Moore-Brown-Roberti California Family Rights Act of 1993. (California Family Rights Act, Gov. Code, §§ 12945.1- 12945.2.) "CFRA leave" means family care or medical leave taken pursuant to CFRA.(c) "Child" means a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, a child of an employee or the employee's domestic partner, or a person to whom the employee stands in loco parentis.(1) "In loco parentis" means in the place of a parent; instead of a parent; charged with a parent's rights, duties, and responsibilities. It does not require a biological or legal relationship.(d) "Covered employer" means any person or individual, including successors in interest of a covered employer, engaged in any business or enterprise in California who directly employs five or more persons within any state of the United States, the District of Columbia or any territory or possession of the United States to perform services for a wage or salary. It also includes the state of California, counties, and any other political or civil subdivision of the state and cities, regardless of the number of employees. There is no requirement that the five employees work at the same location or work full-time. "Employer" as used in these regulations means "covered employer." (1) "Directly employs" means that the employer maintains an aggregate of at least five part- or full-time employees to perform services for a wage or salary for any part of the day on which the unlawful conduct occurred or on a "regular basis" as that term is defined in subdivision 11008(d)(1)(A). Employees on paid or unpaid leave, including CFRA leave, leave of absence, disciplinary suspension, or other leave, are counted.(2) "Perform services for a wage or salary" excludes independent contractors as defined in the Labor Code, but includes persons who are compensated in whole or in part by commission.(3) Where two or more businesses exercise some control over the work or working conditions of the employee, the businesses may be joint employers under CFRA. Joint employers may be separate and distinct entities with separate owners, managers, and facilities. A determination of whether or not a joint employment relationship exists is not determined by the application of any single criterion, but rather the entire relationship is to be viewed in its totality based on the economic realities of the situation. Where the employee performs work which simultaneously benefits two or more employers, or works for two or more employers at different times during the workweek, a joint employment relationship generally will be considered to exist in situations such as: (A) Where there is an arrangement between employers to share an employee's services or to interchange employees;(B) Where one employer acts directly or indirectly in the interest of the other employer in relation to the employee; or(C) Where the employers are not completely disassociated with respect to the employee's employment and may be deemed to share control of the employee, directly or indirectly, because one employer controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the other employer.(e) "Designated Person" means any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. The designated person may be identified by the employee at the time the employee requests the leave. An employer may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period for family care and medical leave.(f) "Domestic partner" means a member of a domestic partnership, as that term is defined in Family Code section 297.(g) "Eligible employee" means either of the following:(1) A full- or part-time employee in California who has been employed for a total of at least 12 months (52 weeks) with the employer at any time prior to the commencement of a CFRA leave, and who has actually worked (within the meaning of the California Labor Code and Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders) for the employer at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately prior to the date the CFRA leave is to commence.(A) Once the employee meets these two eligibility criteria and takes a leave for a qualifying event, the employee does not have to requalify, in terms of the numbers of hours worked, in order to take additional leave for the same qualifying event during the employee's 12-month leave period.(B) Employment periods prior to a break in service of seven years or more need not be counted in determining whether the employee has been employed by the employer for at least 12 months, except for a break in service caused by a military service obligation or written agreement to the contrary. Nothing in this section prevents an employer from considering employment prior to a continuous break in service of more than seven years so long as the employer does so uniformly, with respect to all employees with similar breaks in service.(C) For an employee who takes a pregnancy disability leave, and who then wants to take CFRA leave for reason of the birth of the employee's child immediately after the employee's pregnancy disability leave, the 12-month period during which the employee must have worked 1,250 hours is that period immediately preceding the employee's first day of pregnancy disability leave, not the first day of the subsequent CFRA leave for reason of the birth of the employee's child.(2) An employee employed by an air carrier as a flight deck or cabin crew member who has been employed for 12 or more months with the employer, has worked or been paid for 60 percent of the applicable monthly guarantee or the equivalent annualized over the preceding 12-month period, and has worked or been paid for at least 504 hours during the preceding 12-month period. For purposes of this subdivision, "applicable monthly guarantee" means the minimum number of hours for which the employer has agreed to schedule such employees for any given month, unless the employee is on reserve status. For those employees on reserve status, the "applicable monthly guarantee" is the number of hours for which the employer has agreed to pay employees who are on reserve status for any given month pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement, or employer policy if no collective bargaining agreement exists(3) For purposes of determining an employee's eligibility for CFRA leave under either subdivision (1) or (2), the following terms also apply:(A) Once the employee meets their eligibility criteria and gives notice of the need for a leave, the employer may not deny the leave, cut short the leave, or deny any subsequent leave taken for the same qualifying event during the employee's 12-month leave period, even if the number of employees falls below five employees for purposes of CFRA. In such cases, however, the employee would not be eligible for any subsequent leave requested for a different qualifying event.(B) If an employee is not eligible for CFRA leave at the start of a leave because the employee has not met the 12-month length of service requirement, the employee may nonetheless meet this requirement while on leave, because leave to which the employee is otherwise entitled counts toward length of service (although not for the 1,250 hour requirement). The employer should designate the portion of the leave in which the employee has met the 12-month requirement as CFRA leave. For example, if an employee is maintained on the payroll for any part of a week, including any periods of paid or unpaid leave (sick, vacation) during which other benefits or compensation are provided by the employer (e.g. workers' compensation, group health plan benefits, etc.), the week counts as a week of employment(h) "Employment in the same position" means employment in, or reinstatement to, the original position the employee held prior to taking a CFRA leave(i) "Employment in a comparable position" means employment in a position that is virtually identical to the employee's original position in terms of pay, benefits, and working conditions, including privileges, perquisites and status. It must involve the same or substantially similar duties and responsibilities, which must entail substantially equivalent skill, effort, responsibility, and authority. It must be performed at the same or geographically proximate worksite from where the employee was previously employed. It ordinarily means the same shift or the same or an equivalent work schedule. It has the same meaning as the term "equivalent position" in FMLA and its implementing regulations(j) "Family care leave" means either:(1) Leave of up to a total of 12 workweeks in a 12-month period for reason of the birth of a child of the employee or the placement of a child with an employee in connection with the adoption or foster care of the child by the employee, and a guarantee of employment, made at the time the leave is granted, in the same or a comparable position upon termination of the leave; or(2) Leave of up to a total of 12 workweeks in a 12-month period to care for an employee's child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, or designated person (sometimes referred to as "family members" in these regulations) who has a serious health condition, and a guarantee of employment, made at the time the leave is granted, in the same or a comparable position upon termination of the leave; or(3) Leave of up to a total of 12 workweeks in a 12-month period because of a "qualifying exigency," as that term is defined in Unemployment Code section 3302.2, related to covered active duty or a call to covered active duty of an employee's spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent in the Armed Forces of the United States(k) "Family member" means an employee's child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, or designated person.(l) "FMLA" means the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., and its implementing regulations, 29 C.F.R. Part 825 that became effective March 8, 2013. "FMLA leave" means family care or medical leave taken pursuant to FMLA.(m) "Grandchild" means the child of an employee's child.(n) "Grandparent" means a parent of the employee's parent.(o) "Health care provider" means either: (1) an individual holding either a physician's and surgeon's certificate issued pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with section 2080) of Chapter 5 of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code or an osteopathic physician's and surgeon's certificate issued pursuant to Article 4.5 (commencing with section 2099.5) of Chapter 5 of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code, or any other individual duly licensed as a physician, surgeon, or osteopathic physician or surgeon in another state or jurisdiction, including another country, who directly treats or supervises the treatment of the serious health condition, or(2) any other person who meets the definition of others "capable of providing health care services," as set forth in FMLA and its implementing regulations.(p) "Medical leave" means leave of up to a total of 12 workweeks in a 12-month period because of an employee's own serious health condition that makes the employee unable to work at all or unable to perform any one or more of the essential functions of the position of that employee. The term "essential functions" is defined in Government Code section 12926. "Medical leave" does not include leave taken for an employee's pregnancy disability, as defined in (r) below, except as specified below in section 11093(c)(1).(q) "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. A biological or legal relationship is not necessary for a person to have stood in loco parentis to the employee as a child.(r) "Parent-in-law" means the parent of a spouse or domestic partner.(s) "Pregnancy disability leave" means a leave taken for disability on account of pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition, pursuant to Government Code section 12945 and defined in section 11035(r) of the regulations.(t) "Reason of the birth of a child," within the meaning of Government Code section 12945.2 and these regulations includes, but is not limited to, bonding with a child after birth.(u) "Reinstatement" means the return of an employee to the position that the employee held prior to CFRA leave, or a comparable position, and is synonymous with "restoration" within the meaning of FMLA and its implementing regulations.(v) "Serious health condition" means an illness, injury (including, but not limited to, on-the-job injuries), impairment, or physical or mental condition of the employee or a family member of the employee that involves either inpatient care or continuing treatment, including, but not limited to, treatment for substance abuse. (1) "Inpatient care" means a stay in a hospital, hospice, or residential health care facility, any subsequent treatment in connection with such inpatient care, or any period of incapacity. A person is considered an "inpatient" when a health care facility formally admits the person to the facility with the expectation that the person will remain at least overnight and occupy a bed, even if it later develops that such person can be discharged or transferred to another facility and does not actually remain overnight.(2) "Incapacity" means the inability to work, attend school, or perform other regular daily activities due to a serious health condition, its treatment, or the recovery that it requires.(3) "Continuing treatment" means ongoing medical treatment or supervision by a health care provider, as detailed in section 11097 of these regulations.(w) "Sibling" means a person related to the employee by blood, adoption, or by having a common legal or biological parent.(x) "Spouse" means a partner in marriage as defined in Family Code section 300 or a registered domestic partner, within the meaning of Family Code sections 297 through 297.5. As used in this article and the Family Code, "spouse" includes same-sex partners in marriage.(y) "Twelve workweeks" means the equivalent of 12 of the employee's normally scheduled workweeks. (See also section 11090(c).)Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, § 11087
1. Change without regulatory effect renumbering former subchapter 12 (sections 7297.0-7297.11) to new article 11 (sections 11087-11098) and renumbering former section 7297.0 to new section 11087 and amending section and NOTE filed 10-3-2013 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2013, No. 40).
2. Amendment of article heading, section and NOTE filed 3-4-2015; operative 7-1-2015 (Register 2015, No. 10).
3. Editorial correction of first paragraph and subsection (i) (Register 2015, No. 38).
4. Editorial correction of first paragraph (Register 2015, No. 40).
5. Amendment of article heading and subsection (l), new subsection (m), subsection relettering and amendment of NOTE filed 2-27-2019; operative 4-1-2019 (Register 2019, No. 9).
6. Amendment of section and NOTE filed 7-6-2020; operative 10-1-2020 (Register 2020, No. 28).
7. Change without regulatory effect amending article heading, section and NOTE filed 12-30-2020 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations; effective 1-1-2021 (Register 2021, No. 1). (OAL review extended 60 calendar days pursuant to Executive Order N-40-20.)
8. Editorial correction of HISTORY 7 (Register 2021, No. 3).
9. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (p) and (q) filed 1-11-2022 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2022, No. 2).
10. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (a) and (d)(1), adding new subsection (e) and relettering subsections and amending newly designated subsections (j)(2), (k) and (v)(1) filed 3-20-2023 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2023, No. 12). Note: Authority cited: Section 12935(a), Government Code. Reference: Section 12945.2, Government Code; J.E. Robinson v. FEHC (1992) 2 Cal.4th 226 [5 Cal.Rptr.2d 782]; Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 and 2611; and 29 C.F.R. § 825.
1. Change without regulatory effect renumbering former subchapter 12 (sections 7297.0-7297.11) to new article 11 (sections 11087-11098) and renumbering former section 7297.0 to new section 11087 and amending section and Note filed 10-3-2013 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2013, No. 40).
2. Amendment of article heading, section and Note filed 3-4-2015; operative 7/1/2015 (Register 2015, No. 10).
3. Editorial correction of first paragraph and subsection (i) (Register 2015, No. 38).
4. Editorial correction of first paragraph (Register 2015, No. 40).
5. Amendment of article heading and subsection (l), new subsection (m), subsection relettering and amendment of Note filed 2-27-2019; operative 4/1/2019 (Register 2019, No. 9).
6. Amendment of section and Note filed 7-6-2020; operative 10/1/2020 (Register 2020, No. 28).
7. Change without regulatory effect amending article heading, section and Note filed 12-30-2020 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2021, No. 1). (OAL review extended 60 calendar days pursuant to Executive Order N-40-20.)
8. Editorial correction of HISTORY 7 (Register 2021, No. 3).
9. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (p) and (q) filed 1-11-2022 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2022, No. 2).
10. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (a) and (d)(1), adding new subsection (e) and relettering subsections and amending newly designated subsections (j)(2), (k) and (v)(1) filed 3-20-2023 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2023, No. 12).