Yesterday, Maris Davis posted this to LactNet

>>Subject: URGENT--How did this slip by
>>
>>I just received word from my supervisor that California's State Disablity
>>Insurance (SDI) Program is changing their rules covering pregnancy and
>>postpartum.  This is a fund that all California workers pay into that covers a
>>portion of their salary if they are sick or injured.  Traditionally SDI has
>>been the only financial assistance for pregnancy and post partum.
>>
>>The program will now only pay for 2 days prior to the birth and ONE WEEK
>>postpartum.  It is currently 2 weeks prior to the delivery and  6 weeks post
>>partum.

In response to Marie Davis' post, I sent an email to my sister who works for
the State of California, and who knows the person who runs the Employment
Development Department.  This is my sister's response, after talking to the
woman who runs the program:

>Actually I know this manager at EDD through Dorothy.  I have known her for
>years, and she actually manages their Disability Insurance Program, so she was
>the perfect one to talk to.
>
>I don't know where she is getting her information, but Marie Davis is very
>misinformed, both as to what the "current" guidelines are, and as to what the
>"new" guidelines are.  (And actually there are no "new" guidelines, as
>explained below.)
>
>Jeaneace didn't give me the entire history, but in a nutshell, several years
>back the state of California modified it's SDI requirements to model federal
>guidelines, which say that for the purpose of determining SDI eligibility,
>pregnancy is no different that any other "disability".  And the bottom line
>is, the certification from the physician determines how much time off will be
>paid, both pre-birth and postpartum.  There are no predetermined "minimum or
>maximum" times.
>
>There is no current "2 weeks prior to the delivery and 6 weeks post partum"
>rule with SDI in California.  Again, it is determined by the physician.  If
>there are complications with the delivery, it could very well be more than 6
>weeks postpartum.  Again, there is no predetermined maximum time.  How could
>there be, with all the variances that are involved in childbirth?
>
>The only change that has been made recently, is more or less a cleanup to the
>current literature, that removed obsolete references that were specific to
>pregnancy and specific timeframes, since in fact there are no specific
>timeframes, and it is up to the certification/verification from the doctor,
>pregnancy being no different from other disabilities, for making this
>determination.
>
>My friend Jeneace is sending you some literature on this subject that EDD
>publishes, that she thought would be helpful (to your home address).  Hope
>this helps!

Perhaps Marie could check with her supervisor and find out what she was
told, and by whom?

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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html