Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2399 on September 30, 2020, which extended the definitions for Paid Family Leave under Sections 3302 and 3307 of the Unemployment Insurance Code to include additional coverage for active military members and their families. The existing state Paid Family Leave program provided wage replacement benefits to workers who take time off to care for a seriously ill family member or bond with a minor child within one year of birth or placement. Effective January 1, 2021, Paid Family Leave will expand to now include a third category of covered time off for participation in a qualifying exigency related to the active duty or call to active duty of the individual’s spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent in the Armed Forces of the United States.

Existing law under other classifications required certain documentation of a qualifying exigency, including a copy of new active duty orders or other documentation, and this law will provide that new documentation requirement would now apply to a need for Paid Family Leave because of a qualifying exigency.

The new law revises definitions for the purpose of the qualifying exigency provisions, including “care recipient,” “care provider,” and “family care leave” and adds a definition of “military member.”