Bereavement Leave Requirements in California

At a glance

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.

An enacted expansion begins January 1, 2027. Section 1 of 2026 Cal. Stat. ch. 679 (SB 1149) adds a designated person related by blood or by an equivalent family relationship to § 12945.7. The employee may identify that person when requesting leave; an employer may limit the employee to one designated person per 12 months. This is future law, so the current family list above still governs until the effective date.

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).
• 2026 Cal. Stat. ch. 679 (SB 1149), § 1. Enacted designated-person expansion. Official bill text and bill status (checked October 4, 2026). California Secretary of State effective-date rule (accessed October 4, 2026).