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Pregnancy Disability Leave in California

Pregnancy disability leave is not the 12 weeks of CFRA bonding leave. It is a separate right, tied to the period of disability, of up to four months.

General education for California employees—not legal advice. Your facts and deadlines control. This is not a Workplace Rights Advocacy case result. It explains the Civil Rights Department workplace notice in plain English. It is not the poster and it is not a complete statement of every exception.

Four months, plus accommodations

Government Code § 12945 gives employees of employers with five or more employees, and public employees, up to four months of job-protected leave for a disability because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. There is no 12-month or 1,250-hour test for this leave. Four months is the maximum per pregnancy for the time the employee is actually disabled, not a bank of leave to use for any pregnancy-related preference.

The same statute requires reasonable accommodation, and a transfer to a less strenuous or hazardous position when the health care provider recommends it and the accommodation would be reasonable. The employee generally returns to the same job, subject to the statute’s reinstatement rules. See pregnancy discrimination.

How it fits with CFRA

Bonding leave after the disability ends is often CFRA, and the two leaves can run in sequence. Treating pregnancy disability leave as if it used up the bonding leave is a common dispute. Group health coverage generally continues during pregnancy disability leave on the same terms as if the employee were working. The details of that continuation should be checked against the plan and the statute, not assumed from a handbook sentence.

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If you faced discrimination, harassment, retaliation, unpaid wages, wrongful termination, leave denial, or a refused disability accommodation, you may have claims. Whether your facts support a case depends on the evidence, deadlines, and applicable law—we evaluate that in consultation.

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