Employees: bereavement leave.

Existing law, commonly known as the California Family Rights Act, which is a part of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, as defined, to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period for family care and medical leave, as specified. This bill would additionally make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 5 days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member, as defined. The bill would require that leave be completed within 3 months of the date of death. The bill would require that leave be taken pursuant to any existing bereavement leave policy of the employer. Under the bill, in the absence of an existing policy, the bereavement leave may be unpaid. However, the bill would authorize an employee to use certain other leave balances otherwise available to the employee, including accrued and available paid sick leave. This bill would require, if an existing leave policy provides for less than 5 days of bereavement leave, a total of at least 5 days of bereavement leave for the employee, as prescribed. The bill would make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to engage in specified acts of discrimination, interference, or retaliation relating to an individual's exercise of rights under the bill. The bill would require the employer to maintain employee confidentiality relating to bereavement leave, as specified. The bill would not apply to an employee who is covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement that provides for prescribed bereavement leave and other specified working conditions. Existing law requires the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to create a small employer family leave mediation pilot program for alleged violations of specified family care and medical leave provisions, applicable to employers with between 5 and 19 employees. This bill would require the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to expand the program to include mediation for alleged violations of these provisions. Existing law grants specified permanent employees of the state up to 3 days of bereavement leave, with up to 2 additional days of bereavement leave upon request if the death is out of state. Existing law specifies that these 2 additional days are to be without pay or are to be charged against existing sick leave credits. This bill would recast those provisions to specify that the first 3 days of bereavement leave are to be paid leave, and to remove the condition that the death be out of state for the additional 2 days. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.