Do I get my job back after maternity leave?In California, in most cases, yes.

In California, “maternity leave” is usually two leaves back to back, and each one comes with its own right to return. Our maternity leave guide shows how the leaves fit together.

• After pregnancy disability leave (PDL): you have a right to return to the same position you had before. PDL lasts up to 4 months per pregnancy, for as long as your provider says you are disabled by pregnancy. It covers employers with 5 or more employees and public employers of any size, with no minimum time on the job. See the PDL guide.
• After CFRA bonding leave: you return to the same or a comparable position. CFRA gives up to 12 weeks to bond with a new child. You qualify if you have worked for the employer more than 12 months and at least 1,250 hours in the past year, at an employer with 5 or more employees or a public employer. See parental leave and bonding.

At 50 or more employees, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may also apply. It runs at the same time as PDL and CFRA, so it does not add weeks. Read how PDL, CFRA and FMLA work together.

State Disability Insurance (SDI) and Paid Family Leave (PFL) are pay programs run by the Employment Development Department (EDD). EDD says PFL “provides benefit payments but not job protection.” Your right to come back comes from PDL, CFRA and the FMLA.

The Civil Rights Department (CRD) describes the exceptions as “limited circumstances unrelated to your leave (such as layoffs).” The question is always the same: would your job have ended even if you had never taken leave?

What the rules allow

• A genuine layoff. If you are laid off for legitimate reasons that have nothing to do with your leave, the duty to reinstate you ends at the layoff. This is true for both PDL and CFRA.
• Your job would have ended anyway. After PDL, an employer may refuse your same job only if you would not otherwise have held it when you asked to return, for a reason unrelated to your leave. The regulation’s example is a layoff from a plant closure. The employer must still offer a comparable job if one is available.
• A shift or overtime that no longer exists. After CFRA, if a shift was eliminated or overtime was cut, you are not entitled to return to that shift or those overtime hours.

What is not an exception

• Your employer hired a replacement. CFRA rules say you are entitled to return even if you were replaced or your job was restructured to cover your absence.
• Your manager liked the fill-in better. That is not a reason unrelated to your leave.
• Your job was restructured to cover your absence. CFRA rules treat this the same as being replaced. A job “eliminated” on paper while your duties simply moved to someone else deserves a close look.

The employer has to prove an exception applies “by a preponderance of the evidence.” In plain terms, it has to show that its reason is more likely true than not.

Yes, if your employer normally pays for your group health coverage.

• During PDL: your employer must keep paying for your group health coverage, as it normally would, for up to 4 months over a 12-month period.
• During CFRA bonding leave: your employer must keep up your group health coverage for up to 12 workweeks in a 12-month period.

Can your employer make you pay the premiums back? Only in narrow cases. Under both laws, an employer may recover the premiums it paid if you do not return after your leave ends, and the reason is not a continuing health condition or another circumstance beyond your control.