State Employee Bereavement Leave/Up To 40 Hrs.

This bill establishes a paid bereavement leave program for state employees, public school staff, and community college workers in North Carolina, effective July 1, 2026. It grants up to 40 hours of paid time off for the death of an immediate family member and up to eight hours for the death of a colleague who worked at the same agency within the past year. The legislation requires employees to provide documentation of the death and mandates that leave for family members be used within 180 days, while also allocating $2 million from the state budget to fund these benefits.