Following California’s 2023 expansion of job-protected, unpaid family medical leave and paid sick and safe time and its 2025 expansion of job-protected, unpaid leave for victims of violence to include use for a “designated person,” Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 590 on October 13, 2025, which broadens eligibility for the state’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) law.
As a result of the change, PFL wage replacement benefits claims filed on or after July 1, 2028 will be available for employees who take time off work to care for a “designated person” with a serious illness, which the law defines as any care recipient related by blood or whose association with the individual is the equivalent of a family relationship. Employees will have to identify their “designated person” at the time they request benefits and attest under penalty of perjury to either: (1) how the individual is related by blood to the designated person; or (2) how the individual’s association with the designated person is the equivalent of a family relationship.
PFL is a wage replacement benefit program administered by the state (unless an employer has a qualifying voluntary plan) that does not provide a job-protected leave of absence. Currently, PFL benefit eligibility is limited to: (1) bonding leave for new parents, including foster and adoptive parents; (2) family care leave for family members with a serious illness; and (3) military assistance leave for employees taking time off to support military-family...
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