Paid Family Leave

Paid Family Leave (PFL) are benefits that allow individuals to take time off work for eligible reasons, including:

to care for a seriously ill family member;
to bond with a new child; and,
to participate in a qualifying event because of a family member’s military deployment.

Effective October 1, 2024, the Disability Based Income disregard must be applied to PFL benefits.

Eligibility Workers (EWs) must record PFL using the income category Disability and the income type Paid Family Leave (PFL) on the CalSAWS Income Detail page.

Time Clocks

CalWORKs Time Clock

Effective October 1, 2024, any month in which a CalWORKs client receives PFL benefits is exempt from counting towards the CalWORKs time limit.

Time Limit Monthly Batch Job

When there is a PFL income record on the Income Detail page, a Time Limit Monthly batch job will apply PFL time limit exemptions for the future month.

Note: When there is no end date on the PFL income record, the batch will continue to apply the exemption for future months.

Time Limit Manual Process

When a PFL income record is added for PFL received in past months and/or the current month, EWs must manually add the PFL time limit exemption to the Cash Aid Time Limit Month Detail page for these months.

ExampleExampleA client reports receiving PFL on their 10/2024 CalWORKs application. The EW processes the application in 11/2024. The PFL time limit exemption must be manually added for 10/2024 (past month) and 11/2024 (current month).

EWs must also manually add/remove the PFL time limit exemption when an existing PFL income record is updated or removed.

Refer to the "Adding Exceptions/Removing Exceptions" section of CalSAWS Job Aid: Cash Aid Time Limits for steps on how to add/remove the PFL time limit exemption.

TANF Time Clock

The PFL exemption does not apply to the TANF time clock. If receiving TANF-funded aid, the recipient’s TANF time clock must continue to tick, unless the recipient is eligible for a TANF time clock exemption.

RCA, ECA, and TCVAP Time Clock

Do NOT apply the PFL exemption to the RCA, ECA, and TCVAP time clock.

Reminder: The RCA, ECA, and TCVAP twelve-month time clock does not have any time-stoppers.