Employment Law
Yes, if your employer has five or more employees and you have worked there for at least 30 days. Government Code section 12945.7 lets you take up to five days of bereavement leave after the death of a family member, and the days must be used within three months of the death. The leave may be unpaid, but you can use vacation, personal leave, sick leave or comp time to be paid.
Last updated October 4, 2026.
According to the Civil Rights Department, the right to bereavement leave took effect on January 1, 2023, so it is still new to many employees and employers. This page explains who qualifies, how the leave works, how to get paid for it, and what to do if an employer refuses or punishes you for taking it. For other workplace protections, see our employment law page.
| Question | Answer | Where it is in the law |
|---|---|---|
| Which employers? | Private employers with five or more employees, plus the state, cities, counties and other public employers | 12945.7(a)(2) |
| Which employees? | Anyone employed at least 30 days before the leave starts | 12945.7(a)(1) |
| For whose death? | A spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner or parent-in-law | 12945.7(a)(3) |
| How many days? | Up to five days for each family member who dies | 12945.7(b); CRD FAQ |
| All at once? | No. The days do not have to be consecutive | 12945.7(c) |
| By when? | Within three months of the date of death | 12945.7(d) |
| Proof of death? | Only if the employer asks, within 30 days of the first day of leave | 12945.7(f) |
| Paid? | Under the employer's policy; otherwise unpaid, but you may use other paid leave | 12945.7(e) |
| Kept private? | Yes. The request and documents are confidential | 12945.7(i) |
An employer may choose to allow bereavement leave for the death of someone outside that list, but the law does not require it. Some state employees are covered by a separate state statute instead (section 12945.7(a)(1)(B)).
The law guarantees the time off, not the pay. Under section 12945.7(e), the leave is taken under the employer's existing bereavement policy if it has one. If there is no policy, the leave may be unpaid, but you may use vacation, personal leave, accrued and available sick leave, or compensatory time off. If the employer's policy gives fewer than five days, you still get five days in total: the paid days under the policy, plus unpaid days for the rest, which you can again cover with other available paid leave. The Civil Rights Department's FAQ says that if you have such leave available, the employer is required to let you use it so you are paid. Our page on paid sick leave in California explains how much sick time you should have.
The Civil Rights Department's FAQ says the five days apply to the death of each family member. Its example: an employee who loses a parent, a child and a grandparent in the same year can take three separate five-day periods of bereavement leave. The FAQ also explains that bereavement leave is separate from, and in addition to, the 12 weeks of family and medical leave under the California Family Rights Act and up to four months of pregnancy disability leave (section 12945.7(j)). See our page on pregnancy leave and job protection for those rights, including the separate five days of reproductive loss leave after a miscarriage, stillbirth or failed adoption.
Time spent caring for a relative before the death is a different right. Family and medical leave under Government Code section 12945.2 covers care for a family member with a serious health condition, and our page on being fired after asking for medical leave explains what happens when that leave is held against you.
Only if the employer asks, and not before the leave starts. Section 12945.7(f) says that if requested, the employee must provide documentation within 30 days of the first day of leave. Documentation can be a death certificate, a published obituary, or written verification of death, burial or a memorial service from a mortuary, funeral home, burial society, crematorium, religious institution or government agency. The employer must keep the request and the documents confidential, sharing them only with internal personnel or counsel as necessary or as the law requires (section 12945.7(i)).
No. Section 12945.7(g) makes it an unlawful employment practice to refuse to hire, fire, demote, fine, suspend or discriminate against someone for exercising the right to bereavement leave, or for giving information or testimony about their own or another person's leave. Section 12945.7(h) separately bars interfering with, restraining or denying the right. The FAQ adds that an employer cannot take negative action against you for complaining to the Civil Rights Department about your own or a coworker's leave.
Section 12945.7(a)(3) uses the definitions in section 12945.2. "Child" includes a biological, adopted or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, a domestic partner's child, or someone to whom you stood in the place of a parent. "Parent" includes a stepparent, a legal guardian, or someone who stood in the place of a parent to you as a child, and "parent-in-law" means the parent of a spouse or domestic partner. Aunts, uncles, cousins and close friends are not on the list, and the "designated person" that family and medical leave allows is not part of the bereavement list either.
A policy that gives fewer than five days, paid or unpaid, does not cap the leave; you are still entitled to five days in total (section 12945.7(e)(3) and (4)). A more generous policy applies as written.
At employers with 5 to 19 employees, Government Code section 12945.21 sets up a small employer family leave mediation program. When an employee asks for an immediate right-to-sue notice on a bereavement claim, either side may request mediation, and the employee may not sue on that claim until mediation is complete or deemed unsuccessful. The time limit to sue is paused while it runs, and the mediator must tell the employee of the right to request pay records and the personnel file under Labor Code sections 226 and 1198.5. Our page on getting your personnel file and payroll records explains those requests.
A collective bargaining agreement can replace the statute only if it expressly provides equivalent bereavement leave and meets the wage and overtime conditions in section 12945.7(k).
If a family member died as a result of a qualifying act of violence, Government Code section 12945.8 may give you additional protected time off at an employer with 25 or more employees, for purposes such as attending related legal proceedings or seeking counseling. The shorter caps in section 12945.8(i) apply only when the family member was not killed, and the official notice required by that section must tell employees they may qualify for both kinds of leave.
For example, imagine a hypothetical bookkeeper at a Glendale company with 12 employees who has worked there for two years. Her stepfather, who raised her, dies on a Monday. The company handbook gives three paid days of bereavement leave. She takes two days that week and plans three more days five weeks later, when the family holds the memorial service out of state.
Several rules apply. A stepparent counts as a parent, so she is covered. The handbook's three days do not cap her leave: she is entitled to five, three paid under the policy and two unpaid, which she can cover with vacation or sick leave. The later days are fine because they fall within three months of the death. If the manager asks for proof, an obituary or a funeral home letter delivered within 30 days of her first day off is enough.
When she returns, her manager writes her up for missing a deadline during the memorial trip. Whether the write-up was retaliation would depend on facts not yet known, such as how other late work was treated. Because the company has fewer than 20 employees, mediation may come before any lawsuit if she pursues a claim.
Yes. Section 12945.7 sets no hours requirement; the employee must have been employed at least 30 days before the leave begins, at an employer with five or more employees.
Yes. Section 12945.7(e) lets you use accrued and available sick leave, as well as vacation, personal leave or compensatory time off, during bereavement leave that would otherwise be unpaid.
No. Section 12945.7(j) makes it separate and distinct from leave under the California Family Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Department's FAQ says it is in addition to pregnancy disability leave.
The statute does not apply, though the employer may still offer leave under its own policy. Other protections, such as paid sick leave, may still help.
Not the bereavement leave itself. The family may have a separate claim against the person responsible, which our page on wrongful death and survival claims in California explains.
Many families can collect a relative's property without probate when the estate is small. Our page on California's small estate limit explains when that applies.
Losing a family member is hard enough without a fight at work. If your employer refused bereavement leave or held it against you, we can review what happened and explain your options, including a Civil Rights Department complaint and the right-to-sue notice that usually comes before a lawsuit. Call (818) 244-9000 or request a consultation.
Our Glendale team can review what your employer did and explain the protections California law gives you.
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