SECTIONS 2601-2614 - California Statutes

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CODE

SECTION 2601-2614

2601. The purpose of this part is to compensate in part for the
wage loss sustained by any individual who is unable to work due to
the employee's own sickness or injury, the sickness or injury of a
family member, or the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a
new child, and to reduce to a minimum the suffering caused by
unemployment resulting therefrom. This part shall be construed
liberally in aid of its declared purpose to mitigate the evils and
burdens that fall on the unemployed worker and his or her family.

2602. (a) Except as otherwise provided, the provisions and
definitions of Part 1 (commencing with Section 100) of this division
apply to this part. In case of any conflict between the provisions of
Part 1 and the provisions of this part, the provisions of this part
shall prevail with respect to unemployment compensation disability
benefits, and the provisions of Part 1 shall prevail with respect to
unemployment compensation benefits.
(b) The provisions of Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 1501) of
Part 1, of this division do not apply to this part.
(c) Sections 312, 318, 1251, 1253, 1253.3, 1254, 1255, 1262, 1279,
1326 to 1333, inclusive, 1339, 1340, 1375 to 1378, inclusive, and
1380 do not apply to this part.

2603. Disability benefits paid pursuant to this part shall not be
charged against an employer's account maintained pursuant to Article
4 of Chapter 4, Part 1 of this division.

2604. Whenever the Director of Employment Development believes that
a change in contributions rate or disability benefit amounts may
become necessary to protect the solvency of the Disability Fund, he
shall at once inform the Governor and the Legislature thereof and
make recommendations accordingly. In such case the Governor may
declare an emergency and authorize the Director of Employment
Development to announce a modified scale of benefits or increased
waiting period, or other changes in regulations regarding the
eligibility for payment of benefits which the Director of Employment
Development may deem necessary to assure the solvency of the
Disability Fund; such modified regulations to be in effect until the
Governor declares the emergency at an end or until further action is
taken by the Legislature.

2605. If at any time the Secretary of Labor or other higher
authority rules or determines that any section of this part is not in
conformity with the provisions of Title III of the Social Security
Act or Section 3302 and Section 3303 of the Federal Unemployment Tax
Act by reason of any provision contained in this part, such section
shall be immediately inoperative.

2606. "Employment" for the purposes of this part means:
(a) Service included in "employment" as defined by Part 1
(commencing with Section 100) of this division, except that with
respect to service for any public entity as defined by Section 605
"employment" for the purposes of this part includes only:
(1) Service for a hospital established, maintained and operated
pursuant to Division 23 (commencing with Section 32000) of the Health
and Safety Code.
(2) Service performed for a public housing administration agency
whether operated by state or local governmental subdivisions.
(3) Service performed by a state employee to the extent provided
by Section 2781.
(4) Service covered under this part by an elective coverage
agreement.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, all
service performed in the employ of a corporation, community chest,
fund, or foundation, in connection with the operation of a health
facility as defined in Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code
including the institutions described in subdivision (a) of Section
1270 of the Health and Safety Code but not including county
hospitals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit
of any private shareholder or individual, no substantial part of the
activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise
attempting to influence legislation, which does not participate in,
or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of
statements), any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for
public office and which is exempt from income tax under Section 501
(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, except service performed by
an individual as a duly ordained priest, clergyman, rabbi, rector,
vicar, pastor, or minister of religion, or by a practitioner who
heals the sick by prayer in the practice of religion, or by a reader
whose duty it is to conduct regular religious services of a religious
organization, or by a member of a religious order in the exercise of
duties required by the order, or by any other individual performing
service in the practice of religion by designation of the governing
body of a religious organization and subject to discipline by,
including removal by, the governing body.
This section shall become operative on July 1, 1978.

2606.4. Notwithstanding Section 632, "employment" for purposes of
this part also means service performed as a clerk-carrier in the
employ of the United States Postal Service, to the extent Congress
permits this part to be applicable to the postal service, and if
Congress permits the states to require the postal service to withhold
workers' contributions and to transmit those contributions into a
state fund for unemployment compensation disability benefits.

2606.5. (a) "Employment" for purposes of this part also means
domestic service in a private home, local college club, or local
chapter of a college fraternity or sorority performed for an
employing unit which pays wages in cash of seven hundred fifty
dollars ($750) or more to individuals employed in such service during
any calendar quarter in the calendar year or the preceding calendar
year.
(b) "Employment" for purposes of this part also means domestic
service comprising in-home supportive services under Article 7
(commencing with Section 12300) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 9
of the Welfare and Institutions Code, performed for an employing unit
which pays wages in cash of seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) or
more to individuals employed in such service during any calendar
quarter in the calendar year or preceding calendar year, and is one
of the following:
(1) The recipient of such services, if the state or county makes
or provides for direct payment to a provider chosen by the recipient
or to the recipient of such services for the purchase of services,
subject to the provisions of Section 12302.2 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code.
(2) The individual or entity with which a county contracts to
provide in-home supportive services.
(3) Any county which hires and directs in-home supportive
personnel in accordance with established county civil service
requirements or merit system requirements for those counties not
having civil service systems.

2608. "Disability benefit period," with respect to any individual,
means the continuous period of unemployment and disability beginning
with the first day with respect to which the individual files a valid
claim for unemployment compensation disability benefits. For the
purposes of this part, two consecutive periods of disability due to
the same or related cause or condition and separated by a period of
not more than 14 days shall be considered as one disability benefit
period.

2609. "Valid claim" means any claim for unemployment compensation
disability benefits made in accordance with the provisions of this
code and rules and regulations adopted thereunder if the individual
is unemployed and disabled and has been paid wages in employment for
employers necessary to qualify for benefits under Section 2652.

2610. "Disability base period," with respect to an individual who
does not have an unexpired benefit year for unemployment compensation
benefits, means for disability benefit periods beginning in October,
November, or December, the four calendar quarters ended in the next
preceding month of June; the disability base period for disability
benefit periods beginning in January, February, or March, shall be
the four calendar quarters ended in the next preceding month of
September; the disability base period for disability benefit periods
beginning in April, May, or June, shall be the four calendar quarters
ended in the next preceding month of December; the disability base
period for disability benefit periods beginning in July, August, or
September shall be the four calendar quarters ended with the next
preceding month of March.

2611. "Disability base period," with respect to an individual who
has an unexpired benefit year for unemployment compensation benefits,
shall be:
(a) The same as the disability base period in Section 2610 if the
individual has sufficient qualifying earnings in that disability base
period.
(b) The same as the base period used to establish the benefit year
for unemployment compensation benefits if the individual does not
have sufficient qualifying earnings in the disability base period in
Section 2610.

2612. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as
provided in subdivision (b) of Section 2611, in determining the
benefit rights of any person who cannot establish a valid claim
pursuant to Section 2652 because he or she is unemployed during the
normal disability base period established pursuant to Section 2610,
there shall be excluded from the disability base period those
quarters during which the person performed no services in employment
for 60 days or more and was actively seeking work. For all quarters
so excluded, there shall be substituted an equal number of quarters
immediately preceding the commencement of the normal disability base
period. Benefit rights under this section shall terminate for any
disability benefit period that begins when the substitution quarters
no longer contain sufficient wages to establish a valid claim under
Section 2652.

2613. (a) The Director of Employment Development shall develop and
maintain a program of education concerning disability insurance
rights and benefits.
(b) The director shall provide to each employer of employees
subject to this part a notice informing workers of their disability
insurance rights and benefits due to sickness, injury, or pregnancy.
The notice shall be given by every employer to each new employee
hired on or after June 1, 1988, and to each employee leaving work due
to pregnancy or nonoccupational sickness or injury on or after July
1, 1989.
(c) Commencing January 1, 2004, the director shall provide to each
employer of employees subject to this part a notice informing
workers of their disability insurance rights and benefits due to the
employee's own sickness, injury, or pregnancy, or the employee's need
to provide care for any sick or injured family member, or the
employee's need to bond with a minor child within the first year of
the child's birth or placement in connection with foster care or
adoption. The notice shall also instruct the employee to provide
notification of the reason for taking leave in a manner consistent
with company policy. The notice shall be given by every employer to
each new employee hired on or after January 1, 2004, and to each
employee leaving work on or after July 1, 2004, due to pregnancy,
nonoccupational sickness or injury, or the need to provide care for
any sick or injured family member, or the need to bond with a minor
child within the first year of the child's birth or placement in
connection with foster care or adoption.

2614. The director shall report to the Legislature by June 30 of
each year on the department's fraud deterrence and detection
activities.