Pregnant Woman Working on Laptop Photo by Yan Krukau

How to Apply for Maternity Leave with EDD in CA (Part 1)

As a first-time mom, navigating everything related to pregnancy and giving birth can be daunting. You have enough on your hands from making sure your baby is okay, going to all doctor’s appointments, planning your finances, preparing for your baby’s arrival, etc. On top of that, ensuring you receive all your benefits for your maternity leave is another complicated layer. Who wants to deal with that?

Giphy gif saying "That's a lot, right?"

Certainly not me. But I had to do it anyway. I had so many questions when I was trying to figure out what I qualify for from my workplace. Then, I had to be careful to do everything right when applying to EDD to avoid any delays in receiving my payments.

I’ll write another post to talk more about maternity leave and CA Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) benefits. Generally, you should qualify if you are pregnant and you work for an employer with five or more employees.

Tip: You want to file for EDD as soon as you qualify (more details below). The claim takes time to process. There is also a 7-day unpaid waiting period where you would use time off from work (vacation or sick time) to cover pay during this period.

Start Your EDD’s Pregnancy Disability Insurance Leave Application

Create an EDD Account and Log In

  1. Go to the EDD home page at https://edd.ca.gov/ on the first day you start your leave. If you are taking prepartum leave before your delivery date, this will be the first day of your prepartum leave. If you are working until your due date, this will be your due date.
    • Note: Prepartum leave is a use-it-or-lose-it benefit. You can start prepartum leave up to 4 weeks before your due date (or more if you have medical conditions certified by your doctor). Baby may come early, so I recommend starting your leave as soon as you can. This will give you time to rest and prepare for your baby. I really needed this since I had trouble sleeping during my third trimester.
  1. Create an account
    1. On EED home page, select myEDD.
California EDD Home Page
  1. On the login page, select Create Account if this is your first time.
myEDD Log In Page - select create account
  1. After creating an account, on the Login screen, enter your login information and select Log In.
myEDD Log In
  1. The website will ask you to verify your identity. Select Text Code or have the code sent to you by email.
myEDD Verify Identity
  1. Enter the Verification Code in the next page. Then, select Submit.
myEDD Enter Verification Code

Start a State Disability Insurance (SDI) Claim

  1. Under Disability and Paid Family Leave, select SDI Online.
myEDD Select SDI Online
  1. On the SDI Home page, select New Claim.
SDI New Claim
  1. Under Apply for Disability Insurance Benefits, select Disability Insurance.
EDD - Apply for Pregnancy Disability Insurance
  1. Review the Application Instructions. Then, select Next.
SDI Application Instructions

Fill out the State Disability Insurance (SDI) Form

  1. Step 1 – Personal Information
    1. Review to make sure all your personal information is correct.
    2. Have you used any other names or Social Security numbers (SSN) in the past 2 years for work? If you did, select Yes and enter your other name (maybe you had a maiden name/different last name before marriage). If not, select No. This question used to be more general, but it looks like it’s only asking for the past 2 years now.
      NOTE: You cannot future date the start of your leave, so if your leave hasn’t started yet, you can stop here and save it as a draft. You can also put today’s date, but remember to change it when you submit the application, so you don’t have issues with your application.
SDI 1 Personal Information
  1. Step 2 – Eligibility
    1. Answer the questions according to your situation.
      • Will you or did you receive any pay from your employer while on disability? This is usually a No. Since California pays you 70-90% of your wage, your employer may top this off to 100%. However, this is more of a leave benefit. You’re not receiving actual wages on your leave since you won’t be working. However, just in case, double-check with your employer as needed.
SDI 2 Eligibility
  1. Step 3 – Employer Information
    1. Select Add Employer.
SDI 3 Employer Information
  1. Enter your Employer Name and select Search.
    • If your employer comes up in the search results, select your employer.
    • If there is no result, select Employer Not Found and enter their name and address using the information on your W-2.
      • Don’t be surprised if your employer doesn’t come up. I work for a Fortune 100 company, but their name didn’t come up in the search results either.
SDI 3b Employer Search
  1. After selecting your Employer and entering your Last Day of Work, select Next.
SDI Current Employers
  1. Step 5 – Benefit Payment Options
    You will choose your payment option here. I like Direct Deposit since you’ll get your payments in the shortest amount of time. You’ll enter your banking information and agree to the terms and conditions in the next screen.
SDI Benefit Payment Options
  1. Step 5 – Medical Authorization
    1. Enter your physician’s name. An OBGYN medical group was seeing me, so I called and asked if I should put the group’s name or the doctor’s name, and which doctor. They told me to put down the main doctor’s name. Confirm if you’re not sure.
    2. Check the box for HIPAA Authorization.
    3. Select Next.
SDI Medical Authorization
  1. Complete the Paid Family Leave Survey. Select Submit.
SDI PFL Survey Question

Congratulations! You’re done with submitting the initial SDI application for your maternity leave benefits. Make sure to write down the Receipt Number on the Confirmation page. You’ll need it for the next step.

SDI Confirmation

Next Step: Get Physician Certificate

  1. You will need to contact your doctor and have them submit the Physician/Practitioner’s Certificate to EDD for you. Your application is not complete until this is done.
    • Note: You will provide your doctor with the Receipt Number on the EDD Confirmation page (highlighted in red above). Your doctor’s office may or may not charge a fee to submit the Physician Certificate for you. From what I know, Kaiser Permanente and some offices are free. I did hear another office charging $25.
  2. There may be a waiting period for your physician to submit the medical certification for your claim. And another waiting period for EDD to process your claim. It may take around 14 days or more to process.

Additional resources

In the next post, I will talk about what happens after your doctor submits their paperwork and EDD processes your application.

How was your experience applying to EDD? Did you run into any issues? What did you do to resolve them? Share with me and other readers below.

Disclaimer: The instructions on this blog may not apply to all situations. California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) may also change its policies. To verify the latest information or if you have specific questions, please contact EDD.

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