48 | 2026 Cal-Peculiarities ©2026 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com the military. A “qualified member” is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces deployed to a combat zone, or a member of the National Guard or Reserves who has been deployed anywhere during a military conflict. Employees requesting leave must notify the employer of their intention to take time off within two business days of receiving official notice that the employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner will be on leave from military deployment. There is no provision allowing an employer to deny or delay the leave. Because the law establishes no cap on the aggregate amount of time off, it appears that the employee can take the full ten days off on each qualifying occasion. The statute states that spousal leave shall not prevent an employee from taking a leave that the employee “is otherwise entitled to take,”226 suggesting that an employer cannot require an employee on military spousal leave to concurrently use other leave that the employee is entitled to take. Employers must not retaliate or otherwise discriminate against employees requesting military spousal leave. 2.15 Paid Leave for Organ or Bone Marrow Donation California employers must grant eligible employees leaves of absence to donate an organ or to donate bone marrow. An employee employed for at least 90 days may take up to five business days of paid leave during any one-year period to donate bone marrow, and up to 30 business days of paid leave during any one-year period to donate an organ.227 Employers must grant an additional unpaid leave of absence, up to 30 business days during a one-year period, for the purpose of organ donation.228 The one-year period is measured forward from the date an employee’s leave begins. Employers may require employees to use up to five days of earned but unused sick time, vacation, or paid time off during the initial bone-marrow donation leave, and up to two weeks of earned but unused sick time, vacation, or other paid time off during the initial organ-donation leave. These leaves are not a break in service for purposes of any right to salary adjustments, seniority, or accrual of PSL, vacation, or annual leave, and employers must maintain and pay for group health coverage during the leaves. These leaves do not run concurrently with FMLA and CFRA leaves. Employees returning from leave generally must be reinstated to their same position or an equivalent position.229 2.16 Bereavement Leave Effective January 1, 2023, California added an unpaid bereavement leave entitlement for all California employees who have completed 30 days of employment with an employer.230 Eligible employees make take up to five days of unpaid leave for the death of their spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law.231 Leave need not be taken all at once, but must be completed within three months of the death of the family member.232 If an employer has an existing bereavement leave policy, then leave under the employer policy and the California law run concurrently. If the employer policy does not provide a full five days of leave or does not cover certain family members now covered by law, then employees are entitled to additional unpaid time off in accordance with the new law.233 Employees may use available paid time off such as sick time, vacation, or PTO rather than taking the time off as unpaid.234 Employers may request that employees provide documentation to support their bereavement leave within 30 days of the first day of leave. Documentation may include a death certificate, published obituary, or written verification of death, burial, or memorial services from a mortuary, funeral home, burial society, crematorium, religious institution, or governmental agency.235 Effective January 1, 2024, California added leave for reproductive-related losses as a subset of its bereavement leave law.236 A “reproductive loss event” is defined as “the day or for a multiple-day event, the final day of a failed
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTkwMTQ4