Legislature Expands Employee Entitlement to FEHA Bereavement Leave, State Disability Insurance Wage Replacement

11.11.2026

Senate Bill 1149 (Expansion of Bereavement Leave under FEHA)

On September 27, 2026, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 1149, amending the definition of “family member” for purposes of an employee’s right to take bereavement leave under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”).

Pursuant to Government Code section 12945.7, an employer is prohibited from refusing to grant an employee’s request for up to five days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member. Existing law defines “family member” for purposes of this section as “a spouse or child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law,” as defined by the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”).

Effective January 1, 2027, SB 1149 requires employers to approve a request for up to five days of bereavement leave upon the death of a “designated person,” defined as “any individual related to the employee by blood or whose association with the employee is equivalent to a family relationship.” A covered employee may identify a designated person at the time they request bereavement leave. However, an employer may limit an employee to identifying one designated person per 12-month period for bereavement leave. The addition of “designated person” to Government Code section 12945.7 is consistent with other recent updates to FEHA. In 2023, the legislature amended Government Code section 12945.2 to allow eligible employees to take leave under the CFRA to care for a designated person with a serious health condition. In 2025, the legislature added Government Code section 12945.8 to allow employees to take leave for specified reasons for a designated person who is a victim of a qualifying act of violence.

Bereavement leave under Government Code section 12945.7 is unpaid. If an employer has an existing bereavement leave policy, the bereavement leave must be taken pursuant to the existing policy. If an employer’s existing policy provides for less than five days of paid bereavement leave, an employee is entitled to no less than five total days of bereavement leave, consisting of the paid days of bereavement leave under the employer’s existing policy, with the remainder of the days unpaid.

If an employer does not have an existing bereavement leave policy, the bereavement leave under Government Code section 12945.7 is unpaid. However, an employee may elect, or an employer may require, an employee to use accrued vacation leave or other paid leave that is available to the employee concurrently with the bereavement leave under Government Code section 12945.7.

For local educational agency (“LEA”) employers, SB 1149 does not expand an employee’s right to bereavement leave under the Education Code. Under Education Code sections 44985 (certificated) and 45194 (classified), public school employees are entitled to paid bereavement leave up to three days, or five days if out-of-state travel is required, upon the death of a member of the employee’s immediate family, including an employee’s mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, grandchild, spouse, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, brother, sister, or any relative living in the immediate household of the employee. Under current law, paid bereavement leave under the Education Code runs concurrently with bereavement leave under Government Code section 12945.7.

SB 1149 expands bereavement leave under Government Code section 12945.7 to cover “designated persons” that may not also meet the definition of “immediate family member” under the Education Code. Because Education Code bereavement leave does not apply to the death of an employee’s “designated person,” public school district employees are not entitled to paid bereavement leave under Education Code sections 44985 and 45194 for the death of a designated person, when that person does not also qualify as an “immediate family member.” However, SB 1149 will require LEAs to, at minimum, provide eligible employees up to five days of unpaid bereavement leave (and permit employees to use accrued vacation or personal necessity leave) upon the death of a designated person, when that designated person does not qualify as an “immediate family member” under the Education Code.

Accordingly, LEAs should review and update their existing bereavement leave policies and practices to ensure compliance with the new requirements of SB 1149 in the new year.

Assembly Bill 2054 (Expansion of “Covered Active Duty” for Paid Family Leave)

On September 28, 2026, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 2054 into law, expanding the “covered active duty” under Unemployment Insurance Code section 3302.1 for purposes of State Disability Insurance (“SDI”) and Paid Family Leave (“PFL”).

An employee eligible for PFL may receive up to eight weeks of wage replacement benefits to participate in a qualifying exigency related to a spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent’s covered active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States (“Armed Forces”). Under current law, “covered active duty” includes duty during deployment of a member of the Armed Forces to a foreign county, or deployment of reserve components to a foreign county under a federal call or order to active duty.

AB 2054 expands the definition of “covered active duty” to include duty during any deployment or training for members of the Armed Forces, eliminating the requirement that deployment be to a foreign country. For reserve components of the Armed Forces, AB 2054 expands “covered active duty” to include duty during training or a call or order to federal or state active duty.

The changes will take effect upon incorporation of Unemployment Insurance Code section 3301.5 into the Employment Development Development’s integrated claim management system or July 1, 2028, whichever occurs sooner.

LEAs participating in SDI should be aware that AB 2054 will expand covered employee’s eligibility for wage replacement benefits related to military family leave and may require updating applicable leave policies or employee guidance upon its effectiveness.

Should you have any questions regarding SB 1149, AB 2054, or the impact of this new legislation on your educational agency, please contact the authors of this Alert or your regular AALRR counsel.

Special thanks to Law Clerk Heily Acicon for her assistance in preparing this Alert.