California’s intermittent leave law lets an eligible employee take job-protected time off in separate blocks rather than one continuous stretch, using the entitlement granted by the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). The same 12 weeks of protected leave that covers a continuous absence can be broken into weeks, days, or even hours to cover recurring chemotherapy, a chronic condition’s flare-ups, a gradual return from surgery, care for a sick relative, or (with tighter limits) bonding with a new child. The rules that follow determine who gets it, how to ask for it, whether any of it is paid, and what your employer must do when you come back.
Who Is Eligible
Two thresholds have to line up. On your side, you need at least 12 months of employment with the same employer (they don’t have to be consecutive) and at least 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months immediately before leave starts.1California Civil Rights Department. Family Care and Medical Leave Quick Reference Guide If you already qualified and took some intermittent leave without exhausting your entitlement, you don’t have to re-qualify to keep drawing on it for the same reason in the same 12-month period. A different qualifying reason later on does require meeting the hours test again.
On the employer’s side, CFRA covers any private employer with five or more employees, part-time or full-time, and all public agencies regardless of headcount.2California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12945.2 That five-employee floor is far lower than the federal FMLA’s 50-employee threshold, so many small California workplaces owe CFRA leave even when federal law doesn’t reach them.
What Intermittent Leave Covers
The core use is a serious health condition — your own or a covered family member’s. A serious health condition means an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either inpatient care or ongoing treatment by a health care provider. Cancer treatment on a chemotherapy schedule, chronic conditions like Crohn’s disease or epilepsy that flare unpredictably, and a phased return from surgery are typical examples.
CFRA’s list of covered family members is broader than the federal list. You can take intermittent leave to care for a:
- Spouse or domestic partner
- Child of any age
- Parent
- Grandparent or grandchild
- Sibling
- Designated person
A designated person is anyone related to you by blood or whose relationship with you is equivalent to a family relationship. You name that person when you request leave, and your employer may limit you to one designated person per 12-month period.2California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12945.2
Bonding With a New Child
Intermittent leave to bond with a new child after birth, adoption, or foster placement follows different rules. All bonding leave must be completed within one year of the child’s birth or placement.3Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11090 – Computation of Time Periods Twelve Workweeks Minimum Duration Each block generally has to be at least two weeks long, though your employer must allow at least two exceptions to that minimum. Anything beyond those two shorter blocks is at the employer’s discretion. Unlike under the FMLA, you don’t need employer consent to take bonding leave in non-continuous blocks; the two-week minimum and the one-year deadline are the only structural limits.1California Civil Rights Department. Family Care and Medical Leave Quick Reference Guide
How to Request Intermittent Leave
When the need is foreseeable — a scheduled treatment, a planned surgery — give your employer at least 30 days’ notice.4Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11091 – Requests for CFRA Leave Advance Notice Certification Employer Response When it isn’t (a sudden flare-up), notify your employer as soon as practical. Notice can be verbal. You have to explain the reason and expected timing, but you don’t have to disclose a specific diagnosis.
Medical Certification
Your employer can require a certification from your health care provider covering when the condition began, how long it’s expected to last, and why intermittent leave (rather than a continuous absence) is medically necessary. If the employer finds the certification incomplete, it must tell you in writing what’s missing and give you at least 15 calendar days to fix it.4Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11091 – Requests for CFRA Leave Advance Notice Certification Employer Response
Recertification
Once your initial certification is on file, your employer can’t demand a fresh one every time you miss a shift. Recertification is generally limited to once every 30 days and only when you actually take an absence. If the original certification says your condition will last longer than 30 days, the employer usually has to wait that minimum out before asking again. For chronic or long-term conditions, recertification is capped at once every six months.5eCFR. 29 CFR 825.308 – Recertifications The employer can move faster if you request an extension, the condition changes significantly, or the employer receives information casting doubt on the reason for an absence.
How the 12 Weeks Get Counted
CFRA gives you 12 workweeks of protected leave in a 12-month period.6Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11092 – Terms of CFRA Leave When you take it intermittently, your employer converts those weeks into hours based on your normal schedule and deducts leave in the smallest increment it uses for payroll. A 40-hour-a-week employee has 480 hours to draw on; a 30-hour employee has 360. Whether you use two hours for an appointment or a full day, it comes out of that bank.
If your recurring absences for planned treatment disrupt operations, the employer can temporarily transfer you to an alternative position that better fits the leave pattern, so long as the pay and benefits stay equivalent. It is a temporary reassignment tied to the intermittent schedule, not a demotion, and it ends when the need for intermittent leave ends or your entitlement runs out.6Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11092 – Terms of CFRA Leave
Getting Paid During Unpaid Leave
CFRA leave itself is unpaid.7EDD. Family and Medical Leave Act and California Family Rights Act FAQs The law protects your job; it doesn’t require your employer to keep the paychecks coming. Two state wage-replacement programs can cover part of the gap, and your accrued time off may fill in around them.
State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave
State Disability Insurance (SDI) covers intermittent absences for your own serious health condition. Paid Family Leave (PFL) covers time off to care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child. Both programs pay for intermittent absences as long as you actually lose wages. The EDD compares your pre-claim weekly earnings against what you now earn on the reduced schedule; if the difference exceeds your weekly benefit amount, you get the full benefit, and if it’s smaller, you get only the amount of the wage loss.8EDD. Part-time Intermittent Reduced Work Schedule
For 2026, PFL benefits run roughly 70 to 90 percent of your usual wages depending on income, up to $1,765 per week, with up to eight weeks of benefits in a 12-month period.9EDD. Paid Family Leave Benefit Payment Amounts SDI follows a similar benefit structure. Applications for either program go through EDD’s SDI Online system.
Vacation and Sick Time
When you aren’t drawing SDI or PFL, your employer can require you to use accrued vacation or sick time during intermittent absences. Once you are receiving SDI for your own condition, the employer cannot force you to use vacation or sick time. If you’re receiving PFL for caregiving or bonding, the employer cannot require you to use accrued vacation.1California Civil Rights Department. Family Care and Medical Leave Quick Reference Guide The line matters because it decides whether your PTO bank drains alongside the state benefit or stays intact.
Job Protection, Seniority, and Health Coverage
Coming back from any block of intermittent leave, you are entitled to your same position or an equivalent one with the same pay, benefits, shift, schedule, geographic location, and working conditions.10Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, 11089 – Right to Reinstatement Guarantee of Reinstatement Rights upon Return Refusal to Reinstate Permissible Defenses Your employer cannot punish protected leave by cutting your hours, dropping your pay, or moving you to a lesser role. Seniority remains intact through the leave, so time out doesn’t count as a break in service for layoff priority, promotions, or seniority-based benefits like vacation accrual.2California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12945.2 The one boundary: if a legitimate layoff would have hit your position whether or not you were on leave, the obligation to continue the leave and reinstate you ends at the layoff.
Group health coverage continues during intermittent leave on the same terms as if you were actively working. You keep paying your share of the premium; the employer’s contribution can’t change.
Fitness-for-duty certifications work differently under intermittent leave. Your employer can’t require one after every absence. Where there are reasonable safety concerns — a genuine belief that your condition creates a significant risk of harm to you or others — the employer may require a certification at most once every 30 days and must give you advance notice of the requirement.11eCFR. 29 CFR 825.312 – Fitness-for-Duty Certification The employer cannot fire you while waiting for that certification.
If Your Employer Violates Your Rights
If your employer denies a valid intermittent leave request, retaliates for protected leave, or refuses to reinstate you, you can file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. You have three years from the last harmful act to submit an intake form.12California Civil Rights Department. Complaint Process Pull together the specific facts, any supporting documents or communications, and witnesses’ names if you can. The CRD’s online system holds an unfiled complaint for 30 days while you gather materials.
Once you submit, a CRD representative interviews you and decides whether to accept a formal complaint for investigation. CFRA claims fall under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, so available remedies can include back pay and lost benefits, compensation for emotional distress, and attorney’s fees. Because this is a state-law claim, the capped damages that apply under some federal employment statutes do not limit recovery.