Legal Question in Workers Comp in California

This is NOT in "Workers' Compensation", but my experience thus far has been YES the EMPLOYER CAN TERMINATE YOU if you take time off that is not approved. If you had a written employment contract that promised paid leave and let you gather or accrue paid leave, then he would violate the written contract. but you've worked 8 years at a place with no written agreement protecting your employment in the even 4 weeks leave is required.

THAT SAID, if the company is large enough and falls under the Family Medical Leave Act, you can apply for Family Medical Leave and the employer is supposed to hold your job (without pay) for a number of weeks, while you attend to a personal medical problem or a newborn or a loved one requiring care.