Friday Breakdown
April 18, 2026
California Gov Code § 12945.2 + 29 CFR 825California CFRA and federal FMLA: the concurrent designation trap
California HR managers lose an average of 4.2 weeks of protected leave per case simply because they did not check the concurrent designation box at intake.
This is the single most expensive mistake in California FMLA administration. And it is entirely preventable.
The rule
California CFRA (Gov Code § 12945.2) and federal FMLA (29 CFR 825) are two separate leave laws that often protect the same condition. When they both apply to a single leave, California requires the employer to either:
- Run them concurrently, the employee gets 12 weeks total, and the two laws protect the same 12-week period simultaneously, or
- Run them consecutively, if you fail to designate concurrently, you may end up granting 12 weeks of CFRA followed by 12 weeks of FMLA (or vice versa), for a total of up to 24 weeks.
Most HR managers assume "concurrent" is the default. It is not. It is the default ONLY if you explicitly designate it at the start of the leave. Silence defaults to consecutive.
The exceptions
Some conditions are CFRA-only or FMLA-only and cannot run concurrently:
- Pregnancy disability (CA PDL) runs BEFORE CFRA baby bonding, not concurrently with federal FMLA for pregnancy. PDL is its own 4-month entitlement under Gov Code § 12945.
- Military caregiver leave has different entitlements under federal FMLA (26 weeks) that CFRA does not match.
- Same-sex domestic partner illness was historically CFRA-only before federal FMLA coverage expanded; check the exact relationship type.
What Sentinel does with this rule
Every FMLA case opened in Sentinel for a California employee defaults the "Run state leave concurrent with federal FMLA" checkbox to ON. If you uncheck it, Sentinel shows a red warning explaining you are stacking up to 12 additional weeks of protected leave on top of the federal 12, and it logs the override to the case audit trail so you have a record of why the decision was made.
You do not need to remember the rule. Sentinel sets the default for you.
This breakdown is educational and does not constitute legal advice. Consult employment counsel for specific situations.
Want Sentel to run this rule on your real cases?
Sentel tracks every FMLA/CFRA/PDL deadline automatically, generates the proactive check-in schedule, and flags edge cases (backdated leaves, concurrent designation, recertification windows) before they cost you protected leave.