Bereavement Pay
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).
Pronouns
Time to check your Handbooks! Pregnancy leave and CFRA leave policies were required to be gender-neutral (AB 1556) in 2018. In CA, employers must refer to workers by the pronoun they use to refer to themselves and failure to do so can be considered harassment. Best practices include being as inclusive as possible, using plural pronouns, such as “they” and “their,” and “employees”, and defining ’employee’ to include those who identify as male, female or nonbinary.
