The Basics of Baby Bonding Leave

June 21 is Father’s Day, a time to celebrate the “dad’s” in our lives. Father’s Day is also a good time for a refresher on employee rights to take time off work when they welcome a new child, aka bonding leave. Bonding leave sounds simple, but it can be complicated to administer. Test your bonding leave know-how with the following quiz.

Question: Your full-time employee, Jeremiah, tells you that he and his registered domestic partner have adopted a child who will be placed with them in their home mid-July. Jeremiah asks for time off from work for paternity leave.

Does the Company have to provide Jeremiah with paternity leave?

Answer: If you have five or more employees, the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) requires you to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for a variety of reasons, including the birth of a child of the employee or the placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care.

• An eligible employee under CFRA is one who has worked for you for at least 12 months and has worked at least 1250 hours in the 12 months preceding the leave.  You must continue health insurance during leave.
• If you have 50 or more employees, the employee may also be eligible for 12 weeks of bonding leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). When FMLA and CFRA bonding leave both apply, they run at the same time.

Question: Jeremiah is eligible for FMLA and CFRA.  Does his bonding leave need to be paid?

Answer: No. CFRA and FMLA do not require the company to provide paid leave. However, Jermiah can receive Paid Family Leave (PFL) partial wage replacement benefits from the State of California for up to 8 weeks during bonding leave.

• If Jeremiah works in San Francisco, you may have an obligation to provide Jeremiah with payments to supplement his PFL benefits under San Francisco’s Paid Parental Leave Ordinance (SFPPLO).  The SFPPLO applies to employers of 20 or more employees, and employees must meet specific eligibility criteria, including the amount of time working in San Francisco and the length of service.  The amount of Supplemental Compensation required depends on a number of factors and is subject to a weekly maximum amount, which changes each year based on the state PFL benefit.

Some employers choose to provide paid bonding leave (e.g., “maternity/paternity”), even though it is not legally required. If you do, ensure you have a neutral policy that outlines eligibility requirements, length of paid leave, and how the time interacts with CFRA/FMLA and pregnancy disability leave.

Question: Jeremiah has 3 weeks of accrued vacation, but he doesn’t want to use it. Can we require him to use this time during his bonding leave?

Answer: It’s a little complicated. Under CFRA and FMLA regulations, you may not require that Jeremiah use his vacation while he is receiving PFL. You and Jeremiah can mutually agree for him to use partial days of accrued unused vacation or PTO to supplement PFL benefits. You may require that he use his vacation during bonding leave when he is not receiving PFL benefits.

• Another Twist for San Francisco employees: You could require Jeremiah to use up to two weeks of accrued vacation to offset your obligation to pay the SFPPLO Supplemental Compensation. If Jeremiah refused to use his vacation for this purpose, he would not be entitled to Supplemental Compensation under SFPPLO.

Question: Jeremiah would like to exhaust his 12 weeks of CFRA bonding leave by taking every Thursday and Friday off for 30 weeks (7.5 months). Does the Company have to approve Jeremiah’s requested schedule for this bonding leave?

Answer: Under CFRA, the employer may require an employee to take bonding leave in increments of two weeks, but must allow them to take bonding leave in smaller increments on two occasions. This means that you must allow Jermiah to take “long weekends” as bonding leave twice, but you can otherwise require him to take the time off in two-week increments.

• FMLA regulations would allow you to require Jeremiah to take the full amount of bonding leave all at once, but you must follow the stricter CFRA rules if it applies.

Question: Jeremiah’s child is in elementary school. Jeremiah wants his bonding leave to coordinate with school breaks, and requests to take four weeks of leave when the child arrives, two weeks over the Winter Holiday, two weeks at Spring Break in April 2027, and the remainder of the leave in August 2027. Does the Company have to allow Jeremiah to take leave this far in the future?

Answer: Under CFRA and FMLA, bonding leave must be concluded within a year of the child’s birth or placement with the employee for adoption or foster care. In this case, Jeremiah adopted his child in July of 2026. Jeremiah’s leave in August 2027 would be more than a year after the child’s placement for adoption, so that absence would not qualify as FMLA/CFRA leave.

Bonding leave can be complicated, but CEA is here to help with written resources and experienced HR advisors. Contact us to learn more.