California Organ Donor Leave: Eligibility, Time Off, and Job Protections

If you work in California and are donating an organ, state law entitles you to up to 30 business days of paid leave plus up to 30 business days of unpaid leave within a one-year period, with your health coverage, seniority, and job all protected while you’re out. California organ donor leave sits on top of any federal FMLA rights you may have and applies to employees of private employers with 15 or more workers.¹

Who Qualifies

You qualify if your employer has 15 or more employees.¹ The statute sets no minimum length of service and does not distinguish between full-time and part-time workers. New hires are covered the same as 20-year veterans.

One prerequisite applies before leave starts: you have to give your employer written verification from a medical provider confirming that you are an organ donor and that the donation is medically necessary.² Your transplant team can produce this paperwork; just make sure it’s in your employer’s hands before you go out.

How Much Time Off You Get

The paid portion is up to 30 business days within a one-year period measured from the date your leave begins.² The statute counts business days, not calendar days, so weekends and holidays don’t eat into your balance. In practice, 30 business days works out to about six calendar weeks.

If recovery takes longer, you can take an additional 30 business days of unpaid leave in the same one-year window.² Combined, that’s up to 60 business days off, which is often enough cushion for a kidney or liver donation with an extended recovery.

Your Employer Can Make You Burn Two Weeks of Accrued Time First

One wrinkle catches donors off guard. Your employer is allowed to require you to use up to two weeks of your own accrued sick leave, vacation, or PTO before the statutory paid donor leave kicks in.² The employer isn’t required to do this, but the law permits it. A collective bargaining agreement that prohibits the practice overrides this rule. Either way, the total amount of time off doesn’t shrink; only the source of pay for the first two weeks changes.

If your union contract or employer benefit plan is more generous than the statute, you get the better deal. The statutory minimums are a floor.²

Bone Marrow Donation Is Covered Separately

The same statute covers bone marrow donors, but the entitlement is much shorter: up to five business days of paid leave in a one-year period, with the same medical certification requirement. Unlike organ donation, there is no additional unpaid leave entitlement for bone marrow donors under this law. If you need more time, you’d have to look to FMLA, state disability insurance, or accrued time. Your employer can also require you to use up to five days of accrued sick leave, vacation, or PTO before the paid bone marrow leave begins.²

Your Health Coverage and Seniority While You’re Out

During paid donor leave, your employer must continue your group health plan coverage and keep paying for it at the same level as if you were working.² That guarantee applies to paid leave only. During the unpaid 30 business days, the statute does not require the employer to keep paying premiums, so you may need to arrange to cover your share directly depending on your plan.

The entire leave, paid and unpaid, does not count as a break in your continuous service. Your seniority, eligibility for salary adjustments, and accrual of vacation, sick leave, and PTO continue as if you never left.² You shouldn’t come back to find your anniversary date reset.

Getting Your Job Back

When your leave ends, your employer must restore you to the position you held when the leave began.³ The statute does not use the softer “comparable position” language found in some leave laws. You get your actual job back.

Retaliation Is Illegal

Your employer cannot interfere with, restrain, or deny your right to donor leave, and cannot fire, fine, suspend, discipline, or otherwise punish you for taking it or for opposing practices that violate the statute.⁴ The second protection matters because it covers you if you speak up about a coworker’s rights being violated, not just your own.

If retaliation happens, you can file a civil lawsuit in the superior court for the appropriate county. A court can issue an injunction to stop the illegal conduct and order equitable relief, which can include reinstatement, back pay, and recovery of lost benefits.⁵

How This Works With Federal FMLA

If you qualify for FMLA, your organ donation will almost certainly be covered. The U.S. Department of Labor has confirmed that organ donation is a serious health condition under the FMLA because the procedure requires a hospital stay, which satisfies the “inpatient care” definition.⁶ Your health before surgery and your motivation for donating don’t factor in.

FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for employees who have worked at least 12 months and logged 1,250 hours for an employer with 50 or more employees. California donor leave and FMLA can run concurrently when you qualify for both. The practical value of the California statute is that it makes a chunk of that time paid, which FMLA on its own does not. If you exhaust the California paid leave and still need recovery time, remaining FMLA weeks can extend your job-protected time off on an unpaid basis.

1
California Public Law. California Labor Code Section 1509
2
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1510
3
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1511
4
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1512
5
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 1513
6
U.S. Department of Labor. WHD Opinion Letter FMLA2018-2-A