Bereavement Leave Requirements in Ohio

At a glance

What an employee and employer do without a private-sector mandate

Ohio does not create a general block of funeral, memorial, bereavement, or reproductive-loss leave for ordinary private-sector employees. The current Revised Code provision titled “Bereavement leave” is § 124.387, and its own coverage language limits the benefit to permanent employees whose wages are paid directly by warrant of the Director of Budget and Management.

The practical starting point for a private employee is therefore the employer's handbook, offer terms, collective bargaining agreement, or other policy. That document may define who counts as family, which events and tasks qualify, the number of days, whether the leave is paid, whether vacation, sick leave, personal leave, or PTO may be used, the call-in deadline, the proof requested, and how the absence affects an attendance policy.

The public-employee rule is not a statewide minimum

Section 124.387 grants its covered state-paid employees three paid days after an immediate family member's death. It also reaches a covered employee who is the parent of a miscarried or stillborn child, with specified documentation, and sets a timing window tied to the death or funeral.

Those details do not apply to an ordinary private business. Ohio also has institution-specific administrative rules for public colleges, universities, and civil-service employers. A rule granting three or five days to those employees is not evidence that every Ohio employer owes the same amount.

What trips people up

Three days is not a private-sector statutory minimum. It is the amount in the state-payroll provision, not a rule for all Ohio workplaces.

A public college's administrative rule is not general employment law. The Ohio Administrative Code contains multiple bereavement policies tied to named public institutions or employee groups.

Other laws may protect a particular absence for another reason. Federal family and medical leave, disability or pregnancy accommodation, discrimination law, and collective bargaining rights have their own coverage tests and should not be described as Ohio bereavement leave.

Common questions

Must an Ohio private employer provide three bereavement days?

No. Ohio Rev. Code § 124.387's three-day rule applies only to the permanent state-paid employees described in that section.

Must voluntary bereavement leave be paid?

No general private-sector statute requires paid or unpaid bereavement leave. The employer's policy determines pay and whether other accrued leave may be used.

Can a private employer require proof of a death?

Ohio has no general private-sector bereavement statute supplying a proof list or filing deadline. Any voluntary policy should state its documentation terms, subject to other applicable privacy, accommodation, and discrimination laws.

Statutes and sources

• Ohio Rev. Code § 124.387. Three paid bereavement days, miscarriage and stillbirth treatment, documentation, and timing for the specifically covered state-paid permanent employees. Official current section (accessed July 15, 2026).