As Governor Gavin Newsom moves to expand California’s paid family leave, an investigation found that hundreds of thousands of public-sector workers still lack access to state-funded paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. State employees, many teachers, firefighters, and other public workers are excluded from the standard State Disability Insurance (SDI) paid-leave program unless their employer or bargaining unit chooses coverage.
The investigation identified about 95,000 state employees who currently do not qualify for SDI-paid family leave. In addition, an unknown number of city, county, special district and federal employees — and the majority of California’s roughly 300,000 teachers — are also without state-backed paid bonding leave.
Elementary school teacher Emily Price describes a common reality: colleagues and the public assume maternity leave means continued pay, but for many public employees that is not the case. After using up sick and vacation time, leave can become unpaid, and some teachers receive only a modest differential compared with what districts pay substitutes. Price said she exhausted her paid days before her baby arrived and returned to work without a bank of sick days if her child becomes ill.
How coverage normally works
California’s SDI program is funded by a 1% payroll tax that pays roughly 60–70% of wages for eligible workers during disability or bonding leave. Most private-sector employees who pay into SDI can receive six to eight weeks of disability pay after childbirth and an additional six weeks of paid family leave for bonding, which helps families afford diapers, medical bills, and childcare.
Why many public employees are excluded
State law exempts “any public employee” from SDI by default, meaning public workers do not contribute the 1% payroll tax and cannot collect SDI benefits unless their public employer elects coverage for its employees or the employees’ union negotiates to join SDI. Employers and unions must affirmatively choose to participate; individuals cannot opt in on their own if their bargaining unit declines.
Only a fraction of state bargaining units have secured SDI coverage. Of 21 state bargaining units, nine — including those represented by SEIU — have negotiated disability coverage that includes paid family leave. Many others, including unions representing firefighters, CHP officers, corrections staff, and various engineers and scientists, do not have SDI coverage, leaving an estimated 95,000 union-represented state employees without access.
Some managers and nonunion state employees were covered separately under a late administration policy: about 40,000 exempt state employees will receive 50% pay during family leave under a program implemented by Governor Brown that takes effect in July 2019. That plan, however, does not extend to rank-and-file state workers represented by unions.
Teachers largely left out
Although a small number of teacher and classified-staff unions have negotiated paid family leave, union leaders say most bargaining priorities focus on pay, class sizes and other issues, and paid family leave often gets deprioritized. As a result, the bulk of California’s teachers remain without access to state-funded disability or bonding pay after having a child.
Legislative and executive proposals
Governor Newsom’s budget proposes extending bonding leave for most Californians by two additional weeks next year (to eight weeks total), funded from SDI reserves rather than new taxes. He has also convened a working group to explore more ambitious expansions, including a long-term goal of up to six months of paid leave.
But those proposals would not automatically cover the many public employees excluded under current law. Newsom has acknowledged that many public workers are left out because unions and public employers have not bargained for coverage. The administration says it is negotiating with several unions and intends to prioritize paid-leave coverage in future bargaining, while the working group is studying broader policy options.
Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez has reintroduced legislation that would require school districts to continue a teacher’s full salary for the initial six-to-eight-week disability period after childbirth, with differential pay continuing through the bonding period. A similar bill passed the Legislature in 2017 but was vetoed by Governor Brown, who argued the matter should be handled in local collective bargaining.
Barriers to quick fixes
One persistent barrier is that individual public employees cannot simply opt into SDI if their union or employer declines. That makes it hard for parents in male-dominated bargaining units, where fewer members plan for parental leave, to secure coverage. State officials say they cannot publicly disclose every public employer’s coverage decisions, but they confirm that 1,890 public entities and their employees have elected SDI coverage.
What’s next
Advocates and some lawmakers are pushing for statutory changes or new bargaining outcomes to extend paid leave to more public employees. The governor’s proposals and the working group may lead to broader coverage options, but substantial gaps remain. For now, many California public workers continue to rely on saved sick and vacation time — if they have it — or unpaid leave during the early months after a child arrives.