Day: January 10, 2023

On October 3, 2022, Assembly Bill Number 1949 passed requiring employers with five or more employees to grant unpaid bereavement leave up to five days upon the death of a family member. California is the third state to mandate this time off.

This applies to an employee who has been employed for at least 30 days prior to the leave who lost a “family member” is eligible for this leave. A “family member” is defined as a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law (parent of a spouse or domestic partner).

AB 1041 expands family members to designated persons, who would be identified at the time the employee requests the leave. An employer would be allowed to limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period.

Existing state law, the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, generally entitles an employee who works in California for the same employer for 30 or more days within a year to paid sick days, including to care for an employee’s family member. AB 1041 expands the definition of the term “family member” to include a designated person.

The bill:

Adds a definition of the term “designated person” to mean “any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.

The designated person may be identified by the employee at the time the employee requests the leave.

An employer may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period for family care and medical leave.