No federal law requires private employers in the US to give employees time off after a death. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) doesn't cover bereavement. It applies only if grief leads to a serious health condition, such as depression that needs treatment.
That leaves the decision to each state, and most states haven't made one. As of 2026, only eight states have a law that gives employees time off after a death. Many HR guides say six, because they leave out Colorado and Minnesota, where employees can only use sick time, they've already earned.
Even in those eight states, the law sets a minimum and leaves the rest to employers. Your company decides whether the time is paid and whether it covers people the law leaves out. In the other 42 states, your company decides everything.
What each state requires
California
What employees get: 5 days per death
Limits: Employers with 5+ employees. Unpaid unless the employer’s policy pays. Must be used within 3 months.
Illinois
What employees get: 10 workdays per death, up to 6 weeks a year
Limits: Employers with 50+ employees. Counts against the employee’s 12 weeks of FMLA leave. Must be used within 60 days.
Oregon
What employees get: 2 weeks per death, up to 4 weeks a year
Limits: Employers with 25+ employees. Counts against 12 weeks of state family leave. Must be used within 60 days.
Vermont
What employees get: 2 weeks a year, no more than 5 days in a row
Limits: Employers with 10+ employees. Counts against 12 weeks of state family leave. Can be used up to a year after the death.
Washington
What employees get: 7 days of paid family leave after a child’s death
Limits: Only for parents who would have qualified for pregnancy or new-child bonding leave. Uses up paid family leave hours.
Colorado
What employees get: Can use paid sick leave
Limits: Uses the same sick hours employees need when they’re ill.
Minnesota
What employees get: Can use paid sick leave
Limits: Uses the same sick hours employees need when they’re ill.
Maryland
What employees get: Can use paid leave already earned
Limits: Employers with 15+ employees. Only for the death of a child, spouse, or parent.
In most states, grief time comes out of other leave
In most of these states, the days an employee takes after a death are subtracted from leave, they already have.
In Illinois and Vermont, bereavement days come out of the same 12 weeks employees use to care for a seriously ill family member. An Illinois employee who used all 12 weeks of FMLA leave caring for a dying parent has no protected bereavement leave left when that parent dies.
Oregon used to work the same way. Since July 2024, caregiving leave has run through the state's paid leave program, and bereavement leave now shares its cap with leave to care for a sick child.
In Colorado and Minnesota, an employee who uses sick hours for a funeral has fewer hours left if they get sick later in the year.
California is the only state where bereavement leave stands on its own. Employees get five days for each death, in addition to any other leave they have.
Who counts as family
Most of these laws cover spouses, children, parents, siblings, and grandparents. Maryland covers only a child, spouse, or parent. Under most of these laws, an employee has no right to time off when a best friend dies or when the aunt who raised them dies.
A few states go further. Oregon's definition includes people whose relationship with the employee is the equivalent of family. Vermont includes anyone who acted as a parent to the employee or their partner. Minnesota’s definition includes aunts, uncles, and anyone whose relationship with the employee is the equivalent of family, and it lets employees name one more person each year. Your policy can include these relationships even if your state doesn't require it.
Pregnancy loss and other reproductive loss
Two states give leave specifically for reproductive loss, and a third protects time to recover physically from a miscarriage.
California gives five days after a miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy, or unsuccessful fertility treatment, up to 20 days a year. The employee's spouse or partner is covered too, and employers can't require any documentation.
Illinois covers similar losses, including a diagnosis that affects pregnancy or fertility. Employers can ask for documentation, but they can't require the employee to say which loss happened.
Vermont lets employees use parental leave to recover from a miscarriage. The law treats this as medical recovery, so it covers only the person who was pregnant.
If your policy asks for proof of a pregnancy loss, it asks for more than California law allows.
When a child dies
Illinois gives parents up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave when a child dies by suicide or homicide. Employers with 250 or more employees must offer 12 weeks, and employers with 50 to 249 must offer six. Parents can use the time over the full year after the death.
Twelve weeks is close to what any parent needs after a child dies, but Illinois ties it to cause of death. A parent whose child dies of cancer, or an accidental overdose gets the standard 10 workdays.
The law also lets employers require documentation that includes the cause of death. In practice, which can mean a parent handing HR a death certificate that lists their child's suicide. Illinois allows employers to ask for this. It doesn't require them to, and your policy can leave it out.
Most laws expect leave to be used within weeks of the death
Colorado's law lets employees use sick leave to grieve, attend a funeral or memorial, or handle financial and legal matters after a death. Minnesota's law uses nearly the same list, but it replaces grieving with making funeral arrangements.
Most of these laws also set short deadlines. Illinois and Oregon require bereavement leave to be used within 60 days. California allows three months. Only Vermont and the Illinois child-loss law allow a full year.
What the law leaves to employers
Most employer policies give three to five days. That covers the funeral. It doesn't cover the weeks after when the employee is still closing accounts and settling the estate, or the first birthday without the person months later.
When the policy runs out before the employee is ready, they find the time another way. They call in sick, or they come to work and can't do their job the way they used to. Some start looking for an employer that would have given them more time.
Your other employees are watching how you treat the first colleague who loses someone, because every one of them will lose someone eventually.
You can go beyond the legal minimum by:
- Letting employees split bereavement days across the first year, so they can take a day for a birthday or anniversary
- Paying for bereavement leave, even where the law allows it to be unpaid
- Letting employees decide who counts as family
- Dropping any requirement to document a cause of death or a pregnancy loss
- Training managers to check in without turning the conversation to performance
- Offering grief support that continues after the employee is back at work
So, is bereavement leave required?
For most US workers, no. There is no federal requirement, and 42 states have no bereavement law at all. Where a state law exists, it usually guarantees between five days and two weeks of unpaid leave for close relatives or simply lets employees use sick time they've already earned.
For most of your employees, the policy your company writes is the only bereavement leave they have.
Do you want help supporting your grieving employees?
Help Texts sends personalized grief support by text, tailored to the relationship, the cause of death, and the dates that matter. Texts are written by grief and mental health experts, available in 29 languages, and delivered across a full year. We even have support for managers who are supporting grieving employees.
Schedule a time to connect with our team to learn more about how to support your grieving employees with a year of steady text-based grief support.
Sources
- “No federal law requires...” → U.S. Department of Labor, Funeral Leave: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/funeral-leave
- California → CRD Bereavement Leave FAQ: https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2023/04/Bereavement-Leave_AB-1949_FAQ_ENG.pdf
- Illinois → Illinois Department of Labor, FBLA FAQs: https://labor.illinois.gov/faqs/flbafaqs.html
- Oregon → Oregon BOLI, Oregon Family Leave: https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/pages/oregon-family-leave.aspx
- Vermont → Vermont Department of Labor, Act 32: https://labor.vermont.gov/act-32-2025-vermonts-expanded-unpaid-family-parental-leave
- Washington → Washington Paid Leave, loss of a child: https://paidleave.wa.gov/question/what-is-family-leave-for-the-loss-of-a-child/
- Colorado → CDLE INFO #6B, updated February 27, 2026: https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/info_%236b_rights_and_obligations_under_hfwa_2.27.2026.pdf
- Minnesota → Minnesota Statutes § 181.9447: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/2025/cite/181.9447/subd/181.9447.4
- Maryland → Maryland Department of Labor guidelines: https://labor.maryland.gov/labor/wages/essguide.shtml
- California → SB 848: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB848
- 820 ILCS 156/10: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/documents/082001560K10.htm