California State Disability Insurance (SDI) and Paid Family Leave (PFL)

(Update 06/26/23, Effective Immediately) You may have received emails from the Employment Development Department (EDD) recently regarding a change to their online system for filing claims for State Disability Insurance (SDI) and Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits.  The Benefit Programs Online (or BPO or SDI Online) is being replaced with myEDD.  The EDD has published a few FAQs and we hope more information will be provided in coming weeks.  It appears that the main benefit to myEDD is that it is more secure than the current system. If you reference SDI Online in any materials such as your employee handbook or leave policy, you will want to update “SDI Online” to “myEDD”.  The DE 2515 (Disability Insurance Provisions), DE 2511 (PFL brochure), and DE 1857A all reference SDI Online, so our assumption is that the EDD will update these required documents as well. We’ll keep our clients updated.

(Update 06/30/23, Effective 01/01/24): The Employment Development Department (EDD) has released the forecasted contribution rates for the 2024 disability insurance fund. The employee contribution rate for 2024 is projected to increase from 0.9% to 1.1% and the maximum weekly benefit is projected to increase from $1,620 to $1,698. The detailed forecast can be monitored here and the final forecast is expected to be released in October. Currently there is a taxable wage ceiling set at $153,164, however, this will be removed in 2024 according to SB 951. The weekly benefit for SDI/PFL is 60% or 70% (based on earnings) until 01/01/23. As of 01/01/25, the benefit percentage will increase to 90% for lower wage earners (those earning 70% or less than the state average quarterly wage).

San Francisco Military Leave Pay Protection Act (SF MLPPA)

(Update 01/03/23, Effective 02/19/23): San Francisco Military Leave Pay Protection Act (MLPPA) is enacted. This ordinance applies to employers with 100 or more employees regardless of location. A covered employee means any employee (including part-time and temporary employees) who work within the geographic boundaries of San Francisco and are a member of the reserve corps of the United States Armed Forces, National Guard, or other uniformed service of the United States. This ordinance requires employers pay supplemental pay when employees are on military duty leave for up to 30 days per calendar year. The supplemental pay under this ordinance may be used intermittently in daily increments. Under this Act, employers must provide pay to any employee on covered military leave the difference of the employee’s gross military pay and the pay the employee would have accrued if working their regular schedule. If an employee does not return to the company after 60 days of release from military duty, the employer may treat any compensation given to the employee under the ordinance as a loan payable with interest. The OLSE has also released a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guide on the Act. Please locate our “Resources” section below for a link to the ordinance and the FAQ page.

Update (06/14/23, Effective Immediately): The Office of Labor Standards (OLSE) released a workplace poster, which will need to be posted within all SF worksites. Additionally, employers will need to include a description of the rights to supplemental compensation under the MLPPA in the next edition of their handbook.

(San Francisco employers) Covered employers will need to include the SF MLPPA within their employer handbook. The City has confirmed simply inserting the poster within the handbook will suffice.

(San Francisco employers) Navigate to the Office of Labor Standards (OLSE) website and find the poster under the website’s “Resources” tab. You are required to display the poster in a conspicuous location within your SF workplace(s).

As noted, concerning CA SDI and PFL, we will keep our clients posted once the EDD brochures are updated to include the new “myEDD” wording.

The Larkin Company will consider any law changes carefully, and update our internal resources and processes, as well as our employee leave information packets, if necessary.

We will continue to monitor any updates regarding the laws and will keep our clients updated.

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San Francisco Military Leave Pay Protection Act (SF MLPPA)

Ordinance SF MLPPA FAQs

SF MLPPA Workplace Poster