Leave of Absence Law Updates

During the final stretch of days leading up to the September 30 deadline, CA Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several labor and employment bills into law. Two of those were concerning the expansion of Leave of Absence regulations in businesses with five or more employees.

AB 1041 expands the definition of who an employee can take a leave of absence to care for to include a “designated person”. The term “designated person” is defined though the bills as “any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship”. The change pertains to both the California Family Rights Act, and California’s paid sick leave law. The bill allows employers to identify the designated person at the time of the request and limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period.

AB 1949 also amends the California Family Rights Act to include bereavement leave as a protected leave of absence. Under the bill, employees may take up to five days of bereavement leave following the death of a family members. Family members that are covered by AB 1949 include a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild. The leave of absence must take place within three months of the family members passing and employers may require documentation of the death to support the leave approval. Bereavement leave may be unpaid, but employees can elect to use their available existing leave such as PTO, vacation, or sick leave accruals.

Both of these newly signed bills go into effect January 1, 2023. 

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