Stevens

Under California’s Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act (hereinafter the CFRA), it is an unlawful employment practice for any covered employer to refuse to grant an eligible employee’s request for “family care and medical leave.” (Gov. Code, § 12945.2.) A request for leave, however, must provide “at least verbal notice sufficient to make the employer aware that the employee needs CFRA-qualifying leave,” although the employee need not expressly assert his or her rights under the CFRA or its federal counterpart, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (the FMLA), or even mention the CFRA. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 7297.4, subd. (a)(1).)

In this case, we consider whether an employee’s request for vacation time over the Christmas holiday to visit his ailing parents constitutes sufficient notice that the employee needs leave to care for his parents, thereby triggering the protections of the CFRA. We hold that it does not. Indeed, an employee’s request for vacation time over the a recognized holiday to visit his ailing parents—without any reference to his intent to care for them— affirmatively suggests that this is not a CFRA-qualifying request. A misleading notice cannot…