There are many family friendly policies, government laws, regulations, and social policies that recognize the importance of families to society.
Bright Beginnings provides the below information for general purposes only. Please see our full disclaimer below.
Here are nine child-friendly California laws that every parent should know:
- Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014
All employees who work at least 30 days for the same employer within a year in California, including part-time, per diem, and temporary employees, are entitled to paid sick leave each year, subject to certain restrictions, exemptions and limitations. - Sick Leave Use for Family Care
Employees who earn paid sick leave can use half of the sick leave earned each year to care for sick family members or for any of the permitted reasons listed in the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, subject to certain restrictions and limitations. - Family-School Partnership Act
Parents, guardians, stepparents, foster parents, grandparents or persons who stands in place of parents to a child and work for an employer with 25 or more employees can take unpaid time off work (40 hours each year, but no more than 8 hours a month) to participate in the child’s school or child care provider activities, to address a school or child care provider emergency, or to find, enroll or reenroll a child in a school or with a child care provider, subject to certain restrictions and limitations. - School Discipline Leave
Parents or guardians of a pupil who has been suspended can take unpaid time off from work to appear at the pupil’s school upon the request of the pupil’s teacher, subject to certain restrictions and limitations. - Lactation Accommodation Laws
California law requires employers to provide a reasonable amount of break time to accommodate an employee desiring to express breast milk for the employee’s infant child, and to make reasonable efforts to provide the employee with the use of a room or other location, other than a toilet stall, in close proximity to the employee’s work area, for the employee to express milk in private. - State-Specific Fact Sheets on Talking to an Employer About Lactation Accommodation
The Center for WorkLife Law and A Better Balance have released a resource for breastfeeding employees titled “How to Talk to Your Boss About Your Pump.” This state-by-state guide helps parents make a plan to take care of their breastfeeding needs at work, understand their legal protections, and get practical tips for how to talk to their employers about breastfeeding accommodations. - Pregnancy Disability Leave
Women who work for an employer with five or more employees are entitled to up to four months of unpaid Pregnancy Disability Leave, subject to certain restrictions and limitations. - California Family Rights Act (CFRA)
Workers who work for an employer with fifty or more employees, or who work for the State of California and any of its political and civil subdivisions, and cities and counties, regardless of the number of employees may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to bond with a newborn baby, newly adopted or foster child within the first 12 months of the child’s birth or arrival in the home, subject to certain restrictions and limitations. - Paid Family Leave Act
Workers who pay into the State Disability Insurance can get up to six weeks of partial pay a year while taking time off from work to care for a new child or a sick family member, subject to certain restrictions and limitations.
More information and online sources:
- Contra Costa County – 2017 Child Care Needs Assessment Executive Summary
- Contra Costa County – Comprehensive Countywide Early Care and Education Plan (2014-2017)
- Community Tool Box – “Promoting Family-Friendly Policies in Business and Government”
- Cornell Cooperative Extension Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University – “Child Care & Parent Productivity: Making the Business Case“
- Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Catherwood Library – “An examination of the Impact of Family-Friendly Policies on the Glass Ceiling
- Early Care & Learning Council – “Why Should Employer’s Care? Relationship Between Productivity and Working Parents“
- Huffington Post – “Six Innovative Family-Friendly Workplace Practices”
- Legal Aid at Work has several resources for assisting low-income, working families for more than 100 years.
- ReadyNation, a collection of initiatives to benefit children, youth and parents that have significant business involvement, including through corporate social responsibility efforts.
- University of Cambridge – “Effects of Family-Friendly Policies on Business Performance“
- Working Mother – “100 Best Companies 2019, By the Numbers“
Disclaimer: Bright Beginnings does not provide legal or HR advice. The information contained on Bright Beginnings’ website is for general information purposes only. Bright Beginnings makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, or reliability of the information contained on this website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
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