The Unemployment Insurance Code established the Paid Family Leave Program that provides wage replacement benefits for up to eight weeks for workers who take time off work for prescribed purposes, including to care for a seriously ill family member.
Effective July 1, 2028, SB 590 expands eligibility for benefits under the Paid Family Leave Program to include individuals who take time off work to care for a “designated person” who is seriously ill. SB 590 defines designated person to mean any care recipient related by blood or whose association with the individual is the equivalent of a family relationship and makes conforming changes to the definitions of the terms “family care leave” and “family member.”
SB 590 requires an individual who requests benefits pursuant to the Paid Family Leave Program to care for a designated person for the first time to identify the designated person and, under penalty of perjury, attest to how the individual is related by blood to the designated person, or how the individual’s association with the designated person is the equivalent of a family relationship.
(SB 590 amends Sections 3301, 3302, and 3303 of the Unemployment Insurance Code.)