Paid Family Leave Small Business Grant 4 (PFL SB 4 Grant)

The Paid Family Leave Small Business Grant (PFL SB Grant), administered by the California Employment Training Panel (ETP) in partnership with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), is designed to support small businesses across California in mitigating the operational impacts of employee absences under the Paid Family Leave (PFL) program. Funded through up to $920,000 in California State General Fund allocations, the program specifically targets groups of employers—known as Multiple Employer Contractors (MECs)—that act on behalf of multiple participating small business employers. These intermediaries, including chambers of commerce, professional associations, and community colleges, must demonstrate established relationships with the small business community and a commitment to providing outreach and support throughout the grant term. The PFL program, part of California’s State Disability Insurance system, provides wage replacement for eligible workers taking time off to care for seriously ill family members, bond with a new child, or respond to certain military events. Though the program offers up to eight weeks of benefits per year, it does not provide job protection. This can impose significant burdens on small businesses, particularly those with limited staffing and resources, as they must absorb the costs of training existing staff or onboarding temporary employees to maintain operations during employee absences. To alleviate this, the PFL SB Grant provides micro-grants of $1,000 to $2,000 per affected employee, depending on business size, to help cover these transitional costs. Eligible MEC applicants can request between $250,000 and $500,000 in funding and must submit a single proposal that outlines their strategy for identifying and recruiting impacted small businesses. Participating small businesses must have 100 or fewer employees, be actively registered with the California Secretary of State, and hold an active California Employer Account Number. Businesses utilizing Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) for payroll purposes under the PEO’s CEAN are not eligible. Once selected, MEC awardees will be responsible for distributing the funds to qualifying businesses based on the number of employees taking PFL leave, with payments scaled accordingly. Fund disbursement to MECs will occur in stages based on enrollment benchmarks: 25% upon approval of the outreach plan, and subsequent disbursements as 25%, 50%, and 75% of projected PFL participants are enrolled. Administrative and support costs are capped at 13% and 12% of the total award, respectively. MECs must also fulfill robust data collection and reporting requirements, including quarterly progress submissions, a mid-term report by June 30, 2027, and a final evaluation due no later than June 30, 2028. Incomplete fund utilization or underperformance may trigger recalibrated award amounts or reallocation of funds to other awardees. Applications must be submitted via ETP’s Cal-E-Grants portal by February 13, 2026, at 5:00 PM PT. Proposals are evaluated on six scoring criteria, including need, target demographics, geographic scope, implementation strategy, outputs and outcomes, and budget clarity. Awards are anticipated to be announced in March 2026, with project start dates beginning around June 2026. The program anticipates a 24-month implementation window, with potential extensions subject to ETP’s discretion. For assistance, ETP will offer a live orientation session on January 27, 2026, and a final support session on February 13, 2026. Questions may be directed to [email protected].

Emphasize strong outreach strategy and provide demographic detail to score well; ensure early planning to meet tight deadline.