We have an employee who is requesting a leave of absence to care for her adult daughter who has a serious health condition due to her pregnancy. She meets all other eligibility criteria, but does caring for her adult daughter qualify the employee to utilize both the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave of absence?
This depends on whether the adult daughter is considered a qualifying family member under either CFRA and/or FMLA, as the criteria for each law must be analyzed separately.
Effective Jan. 1, 2021, under CFRA, California expanded qualifying family members, including adding an adult child, and on Jan. 1, 2023, California further expanded the law to include a designated person, defined as any person related by blood to the employee or any person who is like family to the employee.
Currently, under CFRA, qualifying family members are those with a serious health condition and include:
In this situation, if the employee meets all other CFRA requirements, then the employee can take a leave of absence under CFRA to care for her adult daughter with a serious health condition (California Civil Rights Department, Expanded Family and Medical Leave in California).
Under FMLA, qualifying family members are a...
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