UC is committed to supporting its employees who need time off to care for a family member or to bond with a new child.  Beginning January 1, 2023, the Pay for Family Care and Bonding program (PFCB) provides pay for eligible University of California employees to receive 100% of their eligible earnings* for up to eight workweeks per calendar year for family care and bonding.

*Eligible earnings are considered University base salary and do not include stipends or any pay that is received in addition to that of the employee’s regular appointment.
A. Eligibility
  1. All non-represented academic appointees are eligible for Pay for Family Care and Bonding (PFCB).
    1. For represented academic appointees, PFCB may not be available, or a different pay option may apply; please refer to the applicable collective bargaining agreement for eligibility.
  2. An academic appointee is eligible for PFCB when taking an approved leave under Family Medical Leave (FML) for:
    1. Caring for a family member with a serious health condition (APP 7-12),
    2. Parental leave (APP 7-43),
    3. Military caregiver leave (APP 7-15), or
    4. Qualifying exigency leave.
  3. To qualify for Family Medical Leave an academic appointee must have at least 12 months cumulative University service and have worked 1,250 hours during the 12 months immediately before the start of the leave with an exception for an employee who is taking Family Medical Leave due to pregnancy disability leave.
  4. Academic appointees are ineligible for the PFCB program when Family Medical Leave is taken for the academic appointee’s own serious health condition or pregnancy disability.
B. Guidelines
  1. While Family Medical Leave may generally be taken as a block leave, intermittently, or by working a reduced schedule, PFCB is only an option if the employee’s Family Medical Leave is being taken in a block and the block is a minimum of one workweek.
  2. If an academic appointee elects to use PFCB, they must continue to use PFCB until they either exhaust their full eight workweeks of PFCB for the calendar year or that qualifying Family Medical Leave block leave ends.
    1. If their leave ends before they have used the full eight workweeks of PFCB, the remainder is available to use during a qualifying Family Medical Leave block leave later in the calendar year.
    2. Pay for Family Care and Bonding cannot be used concurrently with vacation or sick time.
      1. Sick or Vacation time may be used to earn pay prior to, or after, PFCB has been taken.
  3. For an academic holding an appointment with a definite end date, Family Medical Leave may not be approved beyond the end date of the appointment; therefore, the PFCB pay option is not available beyond the end date of that appointment.
  4. While an eligible employee is generally entitled to 12 workweeks of Family Medical Leave in a calendar year, the PFCB entitlement is up to eight workweeks in a calendar year.
C. Pay Provisions
  1. PFCB covers 100% Eligible Earnings:
    1. This includes an employee’s base salary payable through the University.
    2. For Health Sciences Compensation Plan participants, base salary is X + X’. No Y component is included in the calculation.
    3. Does not include stipends or compensation given in addition to their regular appointment.
  2. PFCB earnings are considered taxable Income. Normal deductions are taken.
  3. Vacation and sick accruals are prorated based on hours on pay status.
  4. An eligible employee on PFCB will receive 100% of the retirement service credit they would have earned in their regular appointment.