Bereavement and Reproductive Loss Leave: California’s Newest Workplace Protections
California recently enacted two leave protections that most employees — and many employers — do not yet know about. One covers the death of a family member. The other covers miscarriage, stillbirth, and failed reproductive procedures. Both provide job-protected time off, and both prohibit retaliation against employees who use them.
Grief does not conform to a work schedule. When a family member dies, or when a pregnancy ends in loss, the employee’s immediate need is not to check email or attend a meeting. It is to mourn, to be present for family, and to manage the practical and emotional aftermath of a devastating event.
Until recently, California law did not specifically address either situation. Employees who needed time away for bereavement or reproductive loss relied on whatever leave their employer voluntarily provided — which, in many cases, was inadequate or nonexistent. Two recent statutes changed that.
Bereavement leave
Assembly Bill 1949, effective January 1, 2023, added bereavement leave to the California Family Rights Act. Government Code section 12945.7. The statute provides eligible employees with up to five days of bereavement leave following the death of a family member.
Eligibility. The employee must meet the same eligibility requirements as other CFRA leave: twelve months of employment and 1,250 hours of work in the preceding twelve months. The employer must have five or more employees.
Covered family members. Bereavement leave is available upon the death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law. This list is defined by the statute and mirrors CFRA’s expanded family definition for other leave types.
Duration and timing. The employee is entitled to up to five days of leave, which need not be taken consecutively. The leave must be completed within three months of the date of death. This flexibility allows the employee to take time immediately following the death and to take additional time later for a memorial service, estate matters, or other needs.
Paid or unpaid. The statute does not require bereavement leave to be paid. However, the employee may choose to use accrued paid leave — vacation, personal days, or sick leave — during the bereavement period. If the employer has an existing bereavement policy that provides paid leave, the employer must honor it.
Documentation. The employer may require documentation of the death — a death certificate, a published obituary, or a written verification from a mortuary, crematorium, or similar entity. The employer must maintain the confidentiality of any documentation provided.
Job protection and anti-retaliation. Bereavement leave is job-protected. The employer may not terminate, demote, suspend, or otherwise discriminate against an employee for requesting or taking bereavement leave. Retaliation for exercising the right is independently unlawful.
Reproductive loss leave
Senate Bill 848, effective January 1, 2024, provides employees with up to five days of protected leave following a reproductive loss event. Labor Code section 1235.
What constitutes a reproductive loss event. The statute covers: miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy, and unsuccessful assisted reproduction (such as IVF). The breadth of this definition is notable — it recognizes that reproductive loss takes many forms, and that the grief associated with each is real regardless of the medical or legal mechanism involved.
Eligibility. The employee must have been employed for at least thirty days prior to the leave. There is no minimum hours requirement, and the statute applies to employers with five or more employees. The eligibility threshold is lower than for CFRA or bereavement leave, reflecting the Legislature’s intent to make this protection broadly available.
Duration and timing. The employee is entitled to up to five days of leave per reproductive loss event, completed within three months of the event. If the employee experiences more than one reproductive loss event in a twelve-month period, the total leave is capped at twenty days.
Paid or unpaid. As with bereavement leave, reproductive loss leave is not required to be paid, but the employee may use accrued paid leave.
Confidentiality. The statute imposes a strict confidentiality requirement. The employer must maintain the confidentiality of any information relating to the reproductive loss. This provision is critical. Reproductive loss is deeply personal, and the decision to disclose it to an employer is one that many employees would rather not make. The confidentiality requirement ensures that the information, once shared, is protected.
Anti-retaliation. The statute prohibits retaliation against an employee who requests or takes reproductive loss leave. An employer that fires, disciplines, or otherwise penalizes an employee for taking this leave has violated the statute.
Why these protections matter
Both of these statutes address situations in which the employer’s response to an employee’s grief can compound the harm.
An employee who returns to work the day after a parent’s funeral because they cannot afford to take unpaid time off, and who is then penalized for being distracted or unproductive, has been failed by a system that treats the most fundamental human experiences as scheduling inconveniences. An employee who suffers a miscarriage and takes a personal day, only to face questions about why they were absent, has been subjected to a failure of both privacy and compassion.
The statutes do not solve grief. They do something more modest but genuinely important: they create a legal floor beneath which the employer may not go. Five days may not be enough. But the right to those five days — without fear of termination, without fear of retaliation, without being forced to disclose more than necessary — is a meaningful protection.
What employees should know
Both bereavement and reproductive loss leave are relatively new, and awareness is low. Employers may not have updated their policies to reflect these statutes. HR departments may not be familiar with the requirements. Supervisors may not know the leave exists.
An employee who needs to take bereavement or reproductive loss leave should be prepared to identify the statutory basis for the leave if the employer is unfamiliar with it: Government Code section 12945.7 for bereavement, Labor Code section 1235 for reproductive loss. The employee should provide whatever documentation is required and should keep records of the request, the employer’s response, and any subsequent changes in treatment.
If the employer denies the leave, disciplines the employee for taking it, or retaliates in any way, the employee should document the employer’s conduct and consult with an attorney. These protections are new enough that some employers will test their limits. The statutes are clear enough that those limits should hold.
If you have experienced the death of a family member or a reproductive loss, California law provides protected time away from work. The protections are new, and many employers are not yet aware of them. Your right to this leave does not depend on your employer’s awareness.
This article is general information about California law and is not legal advice. Every situation turns on its particular facts.