How to Get California Disability Insurance

California disability insurance replaces your job's income when you can't work anymore due to disability. You paid a CASDI (California State Disability Insurance) tax on your paycheck, which makes you entitled to disability. When you become disabled, all you need is to follow a few steps and wait around two weeks to get disability payments to replace your income while you're out.

Instructions

1. Tell your employer you need to go onto California disability insurance. Your HR department will give you a CA SDI claim form for you and your doctor to fill out. Try to do this as soon as possible, even before you go onto disability, because this process can take around two or three weeks to complete due to delays from your doctor and EDD.

   At the same time, you may be eligible for FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), which will protect your job for up to 12 weeks. Ask your HR department for information and eligibility for claiming FMLA status.

2. Decide whether you want to integrate your sick leave and vacation. Integration lets you get your full salary but taking a part of your sick or vacation time and use California disability insurance to make up to 100% of your salary. This reduces the amount sick/vacation time used and allows you to keep 100% of your salary. If your disability lasts a longer period of time, integration will help you stay on your employer's payroll longer and also keep your benefits longer.

   If you wish to integrate vacation and sick leave, you must tell your employer. Otherwise, the time won't be integrated.

3. Go to your doctor and have them finish filling out the California disability insurance claim form. At many places, the CA SDI paperwork will go through the hospital's insurance department instead of your doctor. Ask your doctor's office for the proper procedure in getting the CA SDI claim form filled out by your doctor.

4. Mail the CA SDI paperwork to the EDD at the address indicated on the application. In some cases, the doctor's office or hospital will mail it for you after they fill out your medical information on the CA SDI paperwork.

5. Receive a response in the mail from EDD indicating your California disability insurance eligibility and the amount you'll be paid every two weeks while disabled. Remember that disability requires a one week unpaid period, so you'll need to use vacation or sick time to cover 100% of your pay.

6. Receive a check from California disability in the mail.