Benefits
Paid Family Leave Expands to Cover a Designated Person
Updated
Senate Bill 590, authored by Senator Durazo, expands eligibility for California’s paid family leave program to cover workers who take time off to care for a seriously ill “designated person.” The bill amends and adds Sections 3301, 3302, and 3303 of the Unemployment Insurance Code. As an ordinary statute chaptered in 2025, it takes effect January 1, 2026, but the expanded eligibility becomes operative July 1, 2028.
Background
California’s state disability insurance program includes a family temporary disability insurance program, commonly known as paid family leave. It provides up to eight weeks of wage replacement benefits to workers who take time off to care for a seriously ill family member, to bond with a new child, or to handle a qualifying military exigency.
Under prior law, the covered family members were a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner. Someone caring for a seriously ill friend or a more distant relative outside that list did not qualify for benefits. SB 590 addresses that gap by adding a new category of covered care recipient.
What the Law Changes
SB 590 adds a “designated person” to the list of people whose serious illness can support a paid family leave claim. Under the new Unemployment Insurance Code section 3302, a designated person means any care recipient related by blood, or whose association with the individual is the equivalent of a family relationship. The bill makes conforming changes to the definitions of family care leave and family member.
The eligibility provisions in Unemployment Insurance Code section 3303 add a verification step. When an individual requests benefits to care for a designated person for the first time, the individual must identify that person and, under penalty of perjury, attest to how they are related by blood or how the association is the equivalent of a family relationship.
Paid family leave benefits will extend to workers caring for a seriously ill designated person, meaning a care recipient related by blood or whose relationship is the equivalent of a family relationship, subject to a sworn attestation on first claim.
Operative Date and Appropriation
Although the statute takes effect January 1, 2026, its key provisions carry their own operative date. The current versions of sections 3301, 3302, and 3303 remain in effect until July 1, 2028, when they are repealed and replaced by the new versions that add the designated-person category.
Because the benefits are paid from the continuously appropriated Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund, the bill makes an appropriation. The Legislature also provided that no state reimbursement to local agencies is required, on the ground that any local costs arise from the expanded scope of the crime of perjury.
What This Means for You
Beginning July 1, 2028, workers may claim paid family leave to care for a seriously ill designated person, a category that reaches beyond the prior list of family members. A first-time claim for a designated person requires the worker to identify that person and attest to the relationship under penalty of perjury.
I write these summaries as general information about developments in California employment law. They are not legal advice and don’t create a mediator–client relationship. For guidance on a specific matter, consult a qualified attorney.