California Crime Victim Leave: Eligibility, Pay, and Protections

If you were harmed by a crime in California, or your immediate family member was killed by one, state law lets you take protected time off work and bars your employer from firing, demoting, or retaliating against you for using it. California crime victim leave rights come from three Labor Code sections working together: Section 230 applies to every employer, Section 230.1 adds broader categories of leave at employers with 25 or more workers, and Section 230.2 covers court attendance for victims of serious felonies. Protection does not depend on whether anyone has been arrested or convicted.

Who Qualifies

Section 230 protects you if you are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or if you suffered a crime that caused physical injury or mental injury combined with a threat of physical injury.¹ If a crime caused someone’s death, the victim’s immediate family also qualifies. That means a spouse, child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, sibling, or stepsibling, along with a registered domestic partner and the children of a registered domestic partner.²

Section 230.1 uses the same broad definition of “victim” as Section 230, but only applies at employers with 25 or more employees.³ Section 230.2 covers victims of a violent felony, a serious felony, or a felony involving theft or embezzlement, and applies to every employer regardless of size.²

What You Can Take Leave For

Under Section 230, you can take time off to obtain a restraining order or other protective order for yourself or your child, and to attend any judicial proceeding related to the crime, such as testifying at trial or meeting with the prosecutor.¹ Your employer cannot penalize you for disclosing your status as a crime victim.⁴

At employers with 25 or more employees, Section 230.1 adds several more reasons you can be out:⁵

Medical treatment for injuries caused by the crime.
Visits to a domestic violence shelter, rape crisis center, or other victim services program.
Counseling or therapy related to the crime.
Safety planning, including temporary or permanent relocation.

Recovery rarely ends at a single court date. These categories recognize ongoing needs: a victim coping with trauma may need months of therapy appointments, and some victims have to move households entirely to be safe.

Section 230.2 is narrower. It covers time off to attend judicial proceedings tied to a qualifying felony, and it applies whether your employer has five employees or five thousand. If you can, give your employer a copy of the hearing notice from the prosecuting agency before the absence. If the hearing was unscheduled or advance notice was not possible, provide documentation from the court, the district attorney’s office, or a victim/witness office within a reasonable time after you return.²

Safety Accommodations at Work

If you are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, Section 230(f) gives you the right to request reasonable safety accommodations on the job. Your employer must engage in a good-faith conversation with you about what would help.¹ Examples written into the statute include transferring you to a different location, reassigning you, changing your schedule, giving you a new work phone number or workstation, installing a lock, implementing a safety procedure, and referring you to a victim assistance organization. The employer must weigh the urgency of any danger you are facing when deciding what is reasonable, and is not required to provide an accommodation that would cause an undue hardship. You have to disclose your victim status to trigger this right.

This accommodation right is limited to the three categories above. It does not extend to victims who qualify under the broader “physical injury or mental injury combined with threat” definition.

Is Crime Victim Leave Paid?

No. These statutes guarantee job protection, not a paycheck. You can choose to use accrued vacation, personal leave, sick leave, or compensatory time to cover the absence, unless a collective bargaining agreement says otherwise.⁵ California’s paid sick leave law separately permits use of accrued sick time for absences related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. If you have no paid leave left, you can still take the time off.

Section 230.1 includes one cap: it does not grant more unpaid leave than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act would allow.⁵ In practice, the expanded 230.1 categories can draw from up to 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA time if you are FMLA-eligible. Leave for court proceedings under Sections 230 and 230.2 is not subject to that limit.

Notice and Documentation

If your need for leave is foreseeable, give your employer reasonable advance notice. Let HR or your supervisor know as soon as you have a court date. When an emergency makes advance notice impossible, your employer cannot hold the unscheduled absence against you as long as you provide certification within a reasonable time after returning.¹ The statute does not define “reasonable time” with a specific number of days, so moving quickly protects you.

Any one of these forms of documentation is enough, and your employer must accept whichever you provide:¹

A police report indicating you were the victim of a crime.
A restraining order, protective order, or other court or prosecuting attorney documentation showing you appeared in court.
A statement from a licensed medical professional, domestic violence counselor, sexual assault counselor, victim advocate, or licensed counselor confirming you were receiving treatment or services for injuries from the crime.

The professional statement does not need to spell out sensitive medical details. A short note confirming services, with the professional’s contact information, meets the standard.⁴

Confidentiality

Everything you turn over in connection with a leave request must be kept confidential. Written or verbal statements, police reports, court records, and any other documentation identifying you as a crime victim cannot be shared with staff who have no business seeing it.⁴ California also requires employers to give new hires written notice of these rights, and to provide the information to existing employees who ask.⁶ If no one ever told you about these protections, they still apply.

If Your Employer Retaliates

If your employer fires, threatens, demotes, suspends, or otherwise retaliates against you for taking crime victim leave, you can file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. You have one year from the date of the violation.¹

A successful claim under Section 230.1 entitles you to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and work benefits, along with other appropriate relief.⁵ Section 230.2 provides the same remedies for retaliation tied to felony-related court attendance.² A year moves faster than it sounds when you are also recovering from the underlying crime, so document the retaliatory action in writing when it happens and file well before the deadline.

1
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 230 – Employer Prohibitions Regarding Employee Leave for Victims of Crime and Abuse
2
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 230.2
3
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 230.1 – Crime Victim Leave
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California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 230 – Employment Regulations
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California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 230.1 – Victim Leave
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Department of Industrial Relations. Victims of Domestic Violence Leave Notice