California: Bereavement Leave Requirements

Requirements one by one

Coverage begins after 30 days

Both Cal. Gov. Code §§ 12945.6 and 12945.7 cover private employers with at
least five employees, plus state and local public employers. The employee must
have worked for the employer for at least 30 days before the leave begins.

The family-death provision has two express exclusions. It does not cover a
state employee whose leave falls under § 19859.3, and it does not apply when a
qualifying collective bargaining agreement supplies equivalent bereavement
leave, regulates wages, hours, and working conditions, provides applicable
overtime premiums, and pays at least 30 percent above the state minimum wage.
Section 12945.6 does not state that collective-bargaining exclusion for
reproductive-loss leave.

California creates two separate five-day rights

Section 12945.7 provides up to five days after the death of a spouse, child,
parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law.
The days need not be consecutive, but they must be completed within three
months after the death. The statute sets the five-day amount per covered death,
not as one annual bank.

Section 12945.6 separately provides up to five days after a failed adoption,
failed surrogacy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or unsuccessful assisted
reproduction. Those days also may be nonconsecutive. Ordinarily they must be
used within three months after the event; if another state or federal leave
begins just before or after the loss, the three-month window runs from the end
of that other leave. Multiple reproductive losses are capped at 20 days in a
12-month period.

The statutory minimum may be unpaid

Neither statute creates a new wage-replacement benefit. An existing
bereavement or other applicable leave policy governs first. If the policy does
not provide paid time, the statutory leave may be unpaid, but the employee may
use otherwise available vacation, personal leave, accrued sick leave, or
compensatory time.

For family-death leave, a policy providing fewer than five paid days must be
supplemented to reach five total days; the added days may be unpaid unless the
employee substitutes available paid time. That is not the same as a statewide
five-day paid-bereavement mandate.

Proof rules differ by leave type

For family-death leave, the employer may request documentation. The employee
then has 30 days from the first day of leave to provide it. Section 12945.7
lists a death certificate, published obituary, or written verification from a
mortuary, funeral home, burial society, crematorium, religious institution, or
government agency as examples.

Section 12945.6 contains no documentation demand for reproductive-loss leave,
and the California Civil Rights Department states that the employee need not
submit supporting documentation. Information concerning either leave must be
kept confidential subject to the statutes' limited internal, counsel, and
legal-disclosure exceptions.

Refusal, interference, and retaliation are unlawful

The statutes make it unlawful to deny the covered leave, interfere with or
restrain its exercise, or retaliate against an individual for using the right
or giving information in a related inquiry. The family-death provision also
lists refusal to hire, discharge, demotion, fines, suspension, expulsion, and
discrimination as prohibited responses.

These are Fair Employment and Housing Act rights enforced through the Civil
Rights Department. Cal. Gov. Code § 12960(d) generally gives three years to
file an employment complaint, and § 12965(a), (c) supplies the department's
civil-action and right-to-sue process. A separate small-employer mediation
program applies to covered disputes involving employers with 5 to 19 employees.

What trips people up

Five protected days do not automatically mean five paid days. Pay comes
from an existing policy or available accrued leave unless the employer chooses
to provide more.

The family lists are not identical. Family-death leave currently uses the
relationships listed in § 12945.7. Reproductive-loss leave focuses on whether
the employee would have been a parent of the child born or adopted.

The caps work differently. Family-death leave is available for each
covered death. Reproductive-loss leave is limited to 20 days across all events
in a 12-month period.

A pending bill could broaden family-death coverage. SB 1149 would add one
designated person in a 12-month period, but it remains pending and is not part
of current law.

Common questions

Must the five days be consecutive?

No. Both family-death and reproductive-loss days may be split, subject to the
applicable completion window.

Can an employer require a death certificate?

The employer may request documentation for family-death leave, but a death
certificate is only one permitted example. An obituary or qualifying written
verification may also work, and the employee has 30 days from the first leave
day to provide the requested proof.

Can an employer demand medical proof of a miscarriage?

California's reproductive-loss statute does not require supporting
documentation, and the Civil Rights Department expressly says the employee
does not have to submit it.

Statutes and sources

• Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.7. Family-death coverage, relationships, five-day
  amount, timing, pay, proof, protection, privacy, and exclusions. Official
  enacted text
  (accessed July 15, 2026).
• Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.6. Reproductive-loss coverage, events, duration,
  annual cap, pay, protection, and confidentiality. Official current
  section
  (accessed July 15, 2026).
• Cal. Gov. Code §§ 12960, 12965. Administrative complaint and right-to-sue
  process. Official § 12960 enactment
  and official current § 12965
  (accessed July 15, 2026).
• California Civil Rights Department guidance. Current agency explanations
  of bereavement leave
  and reproductive-loss leave
  (accessed July 15, 2026).
• CA SB 1149. Pending designated-person expansion. Official bill
  status
  (checked July 15, 2026).