District of Columbia: Bereavement Leave Requirements
The short answer
No separate private-sector bereavement allotment. The District's Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act requires paid leave for listed medical and safety reasons, but death, funerals, memorials, grief, reproductive loss, and post-death tasks are not listed uses. A qualifying mental or physical medical condition after a loss may independently fit the law. Separate paid funeral and child-loss benefits for District government employees do not set the private-sector minimum.
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This is the general rule in District of Columbia. Ezel applies current District of Columbia law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and type of leave | No standalone private-sector bereavement bank. D.C. Code § 32-531.02 requires accrued paid sick/safe leave for listed medical and safety uses, not death-related absence as such; separate District-government funeral and child-loss leave is public-sector only |
|---|---|
| Covered employers and employees | No separate bereavement coverage test. ASSLA broadly covers legal-entity employers, including nonprofits and the District government, but excludes specified volunteers, religious-function workers, casual babysitters, independent contractors, certain students, premium-pay health workers, and short-term DCPS substitutes |
| Qualifying deaths, relationships, and events | No private statutory covered-death, relationship, funeral, memorial, reproductive-loss, grief, or post-death-task category. An employee's own qualifying physical or mental medical condition after a loss may independently support paid leave |
| Leave amount, timing, and caps | No per-death allotment or bereavement completion window. ASSLA accrual is up to 7 days/year at employers with 100+ employees, 5 days at 25-99, and 3 days at 24 or fewer; use begins after 90 days of service |
| Paid or unpaid; use of existing leave | No separate paid or unpaid private bereavement bank. A qualifying § 32-531.02(b) absence is paid from the accrued sick/safe-leave balance; death alone adds no statutory hours |
| Notice, documentation, and proof | No bereavement-specific proof rule. Qualifying paid leave requires a written request; foreseeable leave requires 10 days' notice or as early as possible, unforeseeable leave an oral pre-shift request, and emergencies notice by the next shift or within 24 hours. Certification may be required for 3+ consecutive days |
| Job protection, attendance, and confidentiality | No bereavement-specific private restoration or attendance right. ASSLA prohibits interference and retaliation for qualifying use and restricts disclosure of certification information |
| Enforcement, remedies, and deadlines | No bereavement-specific remedy. A qualifying ASSLA claim may proceed administratively or civilly, generally within 3 years, with statutory penalties and relief; death-related absence alone does not trigger those remedies |
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D.C. sick and safe leave does not cover death as such
The District of Columbia does not create a separate private-sector block of
funeral, memorial, bereavement, or reproductive-loss leave. D.C. Code
§ 32-531.02(b) instead provides accrued paid leave for the employee's medical
condition or care, a family member's corresponding medical needs, and specified
stalking, domestic-violence, or sexual-abuse needs. Death, grief, a funeral, a
memorial, reproductive loss, and post-death tasks are not standalone uses.
An employee may qualify after a loss for a different reason the statute names.
For example, the employee's own physical or mental medical condition may
independently support paid leave. That is use of the ordinary sick and safe
leave bank for a medical condition, not a new allotment triggered by death.
Under D.C. Code § 32-531.02(a), the annual bank varies by employer size: up to
seven days at 100 or more employees, five days at 25 to 99, and three days at
24 or fewer. D.C. Code § 32-531.02(c)(1) allows access after 90 days of service.
These are annual limits shared across qualifying uses, not per-death amounts.
The private notice and proof rules likewise belong to sick and safe leave.
D.C. Code § 32-531.03 requires the statutory request and timing rules. D.C.
Code § 32-531.04(a), (b) permits reasonable certification for three or more
consecutive days and limits disclosure. Neither section creates an obituary or death-
certificate procedure for voluntary bereavement leave.
District-government benefits must stay separate. D.C. Code
§ 1-612.03(n-1)(1) gives covered District employees 10 paid days after a
stillbirth or the death of a child under 21. The current personnel issuance also
describes public funeral leave. Those rules do not set the minimum for an
ordinary private employer.
What trips people up
Three, five, or seven days is not a death benefit. Those figures are annual
ASSLA caps shared across the law's medical and safety uses.
A broad family definition does not add bereavement. Family status matters
when the relative has a listed health need or safety circumstance; the person's
death alone is not enough.
Public D.C. leave is not private D.C. leave. The 10-day child-loss benefit
and public funeral-leave procedures belong to District government personnel.
Common questions
Does D.C. require private employers to provide bereavement days?
No. The District sets no separate private-sector minimum number of bereavement
days.
Can accrued sick and safe leave be used after a death?
Only when the absence independently fits D.C. Code § 32-531.02(b), such as the
employee's own qualifying physical or mental medical condition, or when the
employer voluntarily allows broader use.
Can a private employer request an obituary or death certificate?
D.C. has no private bereavement statute supplying that proof rule. A voluntary
policy controls. Statutory sick/safe leave follows § 32-531.04 instead.
Statutes and sources
- D.C. Code §§ 32-531.01 and 32-531.02. ASSLA coverage, accrual, access,
and exhaustive permitted-use list. Definitions
and paid leave
(accessed July 15, 2026). - D.C. Code §§ 32-531.03 and 32-531.04. Notice, certification, and
disclosure rules. Notice
and certification
(accessed July 15, 2026). - D.C. Code § 1-612.03. Separate District-government child-loss and
stillbirth benefit. Official current section
(accessed July 15, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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