How Many Days of Bereavement Leave in California?

Most employees in California are entitled to up to five days of job-protected bereavement leave in California after the death of a qualifying family member, under Government Code Section 12945.7.¹ The five days apply per death, not per year. If you lose more than one family member in the same year, you get a separate five days for each loss.

Who Is Covered

Two things have to be true. Your employer must have at least five employees if it’s a private business, or it must be a state or local government employer, which includes cities and counties.¹ Very small private employers with fewer than five employees are outside the law.

You also have to have been employed for at least 30 days before your leave starts.² Part-time workers count. There’s no minimum number of hours per week.

Which Family Deaths Qualify

The leave applies to the death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law.¹ The definitions of “child” and “parent” come from the California Family Rights Act, so a stepchild, foster child, or someone you raised as your own counts as your child, and someone who raised you in a parental role counts as your parent.

Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and close friends are not on the list. For a death outside these relationships, you would have to fall back on your employer’s own bereavement policy, use accrued paid time off, or ask for unpaid leave.

How the Five Days Can Be Used

You don’t have to take the five days in one block. You can split them however you need, as long as all five are used within three months of the death.¹ For example, you might use three days around the funeral and hold two more for handling estate matters weeks later.²

Is Bereavement Leave Paid

The law itself does not require pay. What you actually get depends on any existing employer policy:

If your employer has no bereavement policy, the leave is unpaid, but you can use accrued vacation, personal leave, sick leave, or compensatory time to cover the days.
If your employer’s policy provides fewer than five paid days, you get those paid days plus enough unpaid days to reach five, and you can use accrued time off for the unpaid portion.
If your employer’s policy provides fewer than five unpaid days, the law overrides it and you still get a full five.
If your employer’s policy already provides five or more days, that policy governs.

Your employer cannot stop you from using your own accrued paid time off during the leave.² That’s how many employees turn unpaid bereavement days into paid ones.

If you’re covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the agreement must provide at least five days of unpaid, job-protected bereavement leave, and many union contracts go further and include paid days.² Check your contract before assuming you’ll be unpaid.

Proof Your Employer Can Ask For

Your employer can request documentation of the death, but it cannot demand it before your leave begins. You have 30 days from your first day of leave to provide it.¹ Acceptable proof includes a death certificate, a published obituary, or written verification from a funeral home, crematorium, religious institution, or government agency.²

Whatever you turn in has to be kept confidential. Your employer can only share it with internal personnel or legal counsel handling the leave, or when required by law.² Coworkers and supervisors have no right to see the death certificate or obituary you gave HR.

If Your Employer Punishes You for Taking Leave

It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fire, demote, suspend, fine, or otherwise punish you for taking bereavement leave, or for helping a coworker enforce theirs.¹ Retaliation isn’t always as blatant as being fired. A sudden negative review, being cut out of projects, or pointed remarks about your time off can also count.

Complaints go to the California Civil Rights Department at calcivilrights.ca.gov or 800-884-1684.² For employees at smaller companies with 5 to 19 employees, CRD offers mediation through its Dispute Resolution Division as an alternative to formal litigation.

1
California Legislative Information. California Government Code GOV 12945.7
2
Civil Rights Department. Bereavement Leave