Can I Use Sick Leave for Bereavement in California?

Yes. In California, you can use your accrued paid sick leave to get paid during bereavement leave. Government Code Section 12945.7 gives you up to five days off when a qualifying family member dies and specifically lets you draw on sick leave, vacation, personal leave, or comp time so those days aren’t unpaid. The choice to use that accrued time is yours, not your employer’s.

How the Substitution Right Works

The bereavement statute does not itself require your employer to pay you for the five days. What it does is guarantee you the option to apply leave you’ve already earned. Under subdivision (e) of Section 12945.7, if your employer has no standalone paid bereavement policy, the five days may be unpaid, but you can elect to use accrued and available sick leave, vacation, personal leave, or compensatory time off to receive pay during the absence.¹

That right doesn’t depend on your employer’s goodwill. If you have the sick leave banked and you want to use it for a bereavement absence, your employer cannot block you.

If Your Employer Already Offers Paid Bereavement

Where an employer has an existing bereavement policy, you follow that policy first. A policy that already gives you five or more paid days means you’re covered without touching your sick leave balance. If the policy provides fewer than five paid days, you’re entitled to make up the difference, and you can use accrued sick leave or other paid time off for those remaining days.¹

If Your Employer Has No Bereavement Policy

Many smaller employers never put a bereavement policy in writing. In that situation the statutory default is that all five days may be unpaid. You still have the right to substitute accrued sick leave, vacation, or personal leave so you keep getting your regular pay.¹

If You Don’t Have Enough Sick Leave Banked

You use what you have. If three days of sick leave are available, you can apply those three and either take the remaining two unpaid or fill them with vacation or other accrued time. There’s no requirement to use any particular category first, and nothing stops you from mixing sources across the five days.

Whether You Actually Have Five Days of Sick Leave

Your ability to cover the full bereavement period with sick leave depends on your balance. California requires employers to provide at least five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave per year, accruing at a minimum of one hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers may cap the total accrued balance at 80 hours, or 10 days.²

A worker who has been on the job a year and hasn’t dipped into sick time generally has enough to cover a five-day bereavement absence. Someone newer, or someone who recently used sick leave for an illness, may not. Employers are also allowed to limit annual use to 40 hours, so even a large banked balance may only yield five days of sick leave in a given year.² Your current balance should appear on your wage statement or a separate document issued each pay period.

Who the Bereavement Law Covers

The substitution right only exists if the bereavement statute applies to you. Two conditions:

Your employer has at least five employees. State and local government employers are included.
You have worked for the employer for at least 30 days before the leave begins.

Part-time and temporary workers who meet both conditions have the same rights as full-time staff.¹ The qualifying family members are a spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild.

If Your Employer Refuses to Let You Use Sick Leave

Blocking your use of accrued sick leave for a qualifying bereavement absence, denying the leave itself, or punishing you for taking it all violate the statute. The law prohibits employers from firing, demoting, suspending, fining, or otherwise retaliating against workers who exercise their bereavement rights, and it bars interference with the leave in the first place.¹

If any of that happens, you can file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. The process starts with an online intake form describing what happened, with any supporting documents and witness names. You have three years from the date of the violation to file. A CRD representative reviews the intake, decides whether to open a formal investigation, and if the complaint is accepted, prepares a formal complaint that is served on your employer.³

1
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12945.7 – Bereavement Leave
2
Department of Industrial Relations. California Paid Sick Leave: Frequently Asked Questions
3
Civil Rights Department. Complaint Process