Bereavement and Civic Leave Laws by State: Jury Duty and Voting

Federal law does not require private employers to provide bereavement leave — a handful of states do, and jury and voting leave are almost entirely state law.

There is no general federal statute that forces a private employer to give paid or unpaid time off when an employee loses a family member. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require pay for time not worked — including jury duty, voting, funerals, or bereavement — and the Family and Medical Leave Act does not list bereavement as a covered reason. Civic leave (jury, voting, and court appearances) and the few state bereavement mandates sit almost entirely in state statutes.

That patchwork is the employer problem. California requires up to five days of bereavement leave for employers with five or more employees. Illinois and Oregon require multi-week unpaid leave for larger employers. Maryland mostly requires that existing paid leave be usable for bereavement. Washington does not have a general private-employer bereavement bank, but its paid family leave program can cover seven days after the death of a child the employee would have bonded with. Jury duty pay is required in a small set of states (and D.C.); voting leave is paid in roughly twenty states. Domestic violence leave and “safe leave” often ride on paid sick leave or separate victim-leave statutes.

This research is state-dominant and intentionally partial where a full 50-state matrix would invent precision. Bereavement mandates are few enough to cover comprehensively. Jury-pay and voting-leave tables focus on jurisdictions with clear statutory rules verified against primary sources. Witness leave and domestic violence leave are summarized at a high level with cross-links to paid sick leave and paid family leave research where those statutes do the real work.

Skip to bereavement table → · Skip to jury duty → · Skip to voting leave →

Which sections matter for you

Do you employ people in California, Illinois, Oregon, or Maryland? Start with bereavement leave mandates and the California deep-dive.
Do you have 50+ employees and someone in Illinois who lost a child to suicide or homicide? Read Illinois Family Bereavement Leave and Child Extended Bereavement.
Did someone on your team get a jury summons? Jump to jury duty leave and pay — especially if you are in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, or D.C.
Is it election season? Use voting leave and check whether your state requires paid time, unpaid time, or a posted notice.
Is an employee dealing with domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking? See domestic violence and safe leave and cross-check paid sick leave laws by state.
Do you run multi-state or remote payroll? Read multi-state and remote workers — work location, not headquarters, usually controls.

Quick reference

Federal bereavement mandate: None for private employers. FMLA (29 USC §§ 2601–2654) does not list bereavement as a covered reason. FLSA does not require pay for time not worked.
Federal jury floor: FLSA does not require jury-duty pay. Federal jurors are protected from discharge and coercion under the Jury System Improvements Act, 28 USC § 1875. State court jury leave is state law.
Stand-alone private bereavement mandates (as of July 2026): California (5 days; 5+ employees), Illinois Family Bereavement Leave Act (up to 2 weeks unpaid; FMLA-covered employers, effectively 50+), Oregon OFLA bereavement (up to 2 weeks per family member / 4 weeks per year; 25+ employees), Maryland Flexible Leave Act (use of existing paid leave for death of child, spouse, or parent; 15+ employees that provide paid leave).
Washington: No general private bereavement leave bank. Paid Family and Medical Leave can provide up to seven calendar days of family leave after the death of a child the employee would have been eligible to bond with — not general bereavement for other relatives (RCW Title 50A; paidleave.wa.gov).
States that commonly require employer jury pay: Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York (11+ employees, first three days), Tennessee, and the District of Columbia — details vary sharply.
New York jury fee (June 8, 2025): Daily juror compensation raised to $72; employers with more than 10 employees generally must not withhold the first $72 of daily wages for the first three days (N.Y. Judiciary Law § 519 / § 521 amendments).
Voting leave: No federal private-employer voting-leave statute. Roughly two dozen states plus D.C. require paid or unpaid time off when the employee lacks sufficient non-work hours while polls are open.
Domestic violence / safe leave: Dozens of states provide some form of protected leave or allow paid sick leave use for DV-related needs; see also paid sick leave laws by state and paid family and medical leave laws by state.

The 5 most expensive civic and bereavement leave mistakes

Treating bereavement as “policy only” in California, Illinois, or Oregon. Employers with a three-day handbook bereavement benefit often assume the handbook is the ceiling. In California, Government Code § 12945.7 requires at least five days after a covered family member’s death for employers with five or more employees — even if the existing policy is shorter or unpaid. Illinois’s Family Bereavement Leave Act (820 ILCS 154) can require up to 10 workdays (and more after multiple losses) for FMLA-covered employers. Oregon’s OFLA bereavement entitlement runs up to two weeks per family member (capped at four weeks per leave year). Denying the statutory floor after a funeral is an unlawful employment practice in California and a leave-rights violation in Illinois and Oregon — not a handbook interpretation dispute.
Forcing employees to burn vacation for jury duty where state law forbids it. Alabama Code § 12-16-8 expressly bars requiring or requesting use of annual, vacation, unpaid, or sick leave for time spent responding to a jury summons, and full-time employees remain entitled to usual compensation. Similar “do not force PTO” rules appear in multiple states. Payroll systems that auto-deduct PTO for “court” absences create a statutory violation even when the employee ends up whole on total pay.
Missing New York’s three-day jury pay floor after the 2025 rate increase. Under N.Y. Judiciary Law § 519, an employer with more than ten employees generally may not withhold the first $72 of a juror’s daily wages during the first three days of jury service (rate effective June 8, 2025; previously $40). Employers with ten or fewer employees are not under that withhold-floor rule, but anti-retaliation still applies. The failure mode is paying “whatever the court pays” and zeroing the employee’s wage for day one of service.
Skipping California’s election-time posting and two-hour paid voting window. California Elections Code § 14000 gives eligible voters up to two hours of paid time to vote in a statewide election when they lack sufficient time outside working hours. Elections Code § 14001 requires employers to post a notice at least ten days before a statewide election. The operational miss is not the two hours — it is the missing poster and the manager who says “use PTO or vote on your lunch.”
Coding domestic violence leave as unprotected “personal time” in a safe-leave or paid-sick state. Many paid sick leave statutes expressly cover absences related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking for the employee or a family member. California Labor Code § 230.1, Washington’s Domestic Violence Leave Act (RCW 49.76), and municipal “safe and sick” ordinances are common traps. Disciplining attendance points for a protected DV absence is retaliation under the same statutes that create the leave right. See paid sick leave laws by state.

The federal floor

No general private-employer bereavement mandate

Neither the FLSA nor the FMLA requires private employers to provide bereavement leave. The FMLA’s covered reasons at 29 USC § 2612(a)(1) include the employee’s own serious health condition, care for a covered family member with a serious health condition, birth or placement of a child, and certain military-related exigencies and caregiver leave. Death of a family member, by itself, is not a listed reason. An employee’s own serious health condition triggered by grief can sometimes qualify for FMLA medical leave, but that is a medical-leave analysis — not a bereavement entitlement.

The DOL’s public guidance on jury duty states the FLSA baseline that also frames bereavement and voting: the Act “does not require payment for time not worked,” and jury pay is “generally a matter of agreement” except where state law requires it (DOL Jury Duty topic page).

Federal jury service protection — 28 USC § 1875

The Jury System Improvements Act protects employees summoned for federal jury service. Under 28 USC § 1875(a), an employer may not discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce any permanent employee because of federal jury service. § 1875(b) creates a civil action for damages, reinstatement, and attorney fees, and allows a $1,000 civil penalty per violation as of the statutory text. This is a protection statute, not a wage-payment statute: it does not require private employers to pay wages during federal jury service.

State-court jury service is governed by state law. Many states mirror the anti-retaliation idea; a smaller set require wages.

Voting leave — no federal private mandate

There is no federal statute that requires private employers to give time off to vote on Election Day. State election and labor codes fill that gap where they choose to. Federal employees and some public employees have separate rules outside this research’s private-employer focus.

Federal contractors and other narrow federal overlays

Executive Order 13706 requires paid sick leave for certain federal contractors (29 CFR Part 13). That is a sick-leave rule, not bereavement. SCA and Davis-Bacon wage determinations can include holiday and leave fringes for covered contracts, but they do not create a general private-sector bereavement mandate. See holiday pay laws by state for contractor holiday fringes.

California — the broadest private-employer bereavement rule

California Government Code § 12945.7 (added by AB 1949, Stats. 2022, ch. 767, effective January 1, 2023) is the load-bearing private-sector bereavement statute.

Who is covered

Employer: any person who employs five or more persons for a wage or salary, plus the state and its political subdivisions (§ 12945.7(a)(2)).
Employee: a person employed by the employer for at least 30 days prior to the start of leave (§ 12945.7(a)(1)(A)). Certain state employees covered by Government Code § 19859.3 are carved out of this section.

What leave is required

It is an unlawful employment practice to refuse a request for up to five days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member (§ 12945.7(b)). Days need not be consecutive (§ 12945.7(c)). Leave must be completed within three months of the date of death (§ 12945.7(d)).

“Family member” means spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law as defined by cross-reference to § 12945.2 (§ 12945.7(a)(3)).

Paid or unpaid

The statute does not create a freestanding paid-leave bank. Leave is taken under any existing employer bereavement policy. If there is no policy, leave may be unpaid, but the employee may use vacation, personal leave, accrued sick leave, or compensatory time off that is otherwise available (§ 12945.7(e)). If an existing policy provides fewer than five paid days, the employee still gets a total of five days — paid days under the policy plus unpaid days (or other available paid leave) to reach five.

Documentation, confidentiality, retaliation

The employer may require documentation of the death within 30 days of the first day of leave — death certificate, published obituary, or written verification from a mortuary, funeral home, burial society, crematorium, religious institution, or governmental agency (§ 12945.7(f)). Documentation and the request must be kept confidential except as necessary for internal personnel or counsel, or as required by law (§ 12945.7(i)). Retaliation and interference are separately unlawful (§ 12945.7(g)–(h)).

The Civil Rights Department publishes an employer/employee FAQ on the statute (CRD bereavement leave FAQ PDF).

Things employers consistently miss

Five days is the floor, not the handbook ceiling. A three-day paid policy does not cap the employee at three total days.
The three-month completion window is hard. Days can be non-consecutive, but they must finish within three months of the death date.
Sick leave interaction. Employees may elect to use accrued sick leave for bereavement days when the leave would otherwise be unpaid — which means the sick-leave balance and the bereavement designation both need to show up in the leave record.
Remote California employees count. A Texas-HQ company with one California remote worker who has been employed 30+ days is in § 12945.7 territory for that worker.

Illinois — Family Bereavement Leave and Child Extended Bereavement

Family Bereavement Leave Act (820 ILCS 154)

The Illinois Department of Labor’s official summary is the cleanest operational map (IDOL FBLA page).

Coverage: All public employers and private employers with 50 or more employees that are covered by the federal FMLA. Eligible employees generally need 1,250 hours of service in the prior 12 months — the FMLA-style test IDOL describes on the same page.
Amount: Up to 2 weeks (10 workdays) of unpaid leave for a covered event. Up to 6 weeks if the employee experiences more than one covered event in a 12-month period.
Covered events: Death of a covered family member; stillbirth; miscarriage; unsuccessful reproductive procedure; failed adoption match or contested adoption that is not finalized; failed surrogacy agreement; or a diagnosis that negatively impacts pregnancy or fertility.
Covered family member: Child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild, grandparent, or stepparent.
Uses: Grieve; attend the funeral or alternative to a funeral; make arrangements necessitated by the death.
Timing: Leave must be completed within 60 days after the employee receives notice of the event. Employee notice is generally 48 hours in advance unless not reasonable or practicable.
Interaction with FMLA: FBLA leave may not be taken in addition to unpaid FMLA leave in a way that exceeds unpaid leave time allowed under the FMLA; it is not a free extra bank on top of a full FMLA entitlement in the way some employers assume.

Employers may require reasonable documentation (for example, a death certificate or published obituary). For pregnancy/adoption/surrogacy-related events, employers may not require disclosure of the specific qualifying event.

Child Extended Bereavement Leave Act

Separately, Illinois’s Child Extended Bereavement Leave Act (often called Zachary’s Parent Protection Act) provides longer unpaid, job-protected leave when a parent loses a child by suicide or homicide (IDOL CEBLA page):

Employers with 50–249 employees: up to 6 weeks.
Employers with 250+ employees: up to 12 weeks.
Employers with fewer than 50 employees: not covered.

This is not ordinary bereavement for natural causes; it is a specific, longer entitlement for two categories of child death.

Oregon — OFLA bereavement leave

Oregon was the early mover on private-employer bereavement leave through the Oregon Family Leave Act. Current BOLI guidance (OFLA for workers) states:

Employer size: 25 or more employees.
Employee eligibility: Generally an average of 25 hours per week for 180 days (with public-health-emergency and other adjustments).
Bereavement amount: Available within 60 days after the employee learns of the death of a family member. Bereavement is limited to two weeks per family member, with a maximum of four weeks in a given leave year inside the broader OFLA bank for sick-child and bereavement uses.
Pay: OFLA leave is unpaid unless the employee or employer applies vacation, sick, or other paid leave. Paid Leave Oregon does not cover bereavement as a wage-replacement event.
Statute / rules: ORS 659A.150–659A.186; OAR 839-009-0200 et seq.

“Family member” for OFLA bereavement is broad and includes spouses and domestic partners, children and their spouses/partners, parents and their spouses/partners, siblings and stepsiblings (and their spouses/partners), grandparents and grandchildren (and their spouses/partners), and any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship.

Maryland — Flexible Leave Act (use of existing paid leave)

Maryland does not create a new bereavement bank for every employer. Under the Maryland Flexible Leave Act, as expanded by 2021 legislation (HB 56 / SB 473), private-sector employers with 15 or more employees that provide leave with pay must allow employees to use that earned paid leave for bereavement after the death of a child, spouse, or parent, in addition to using it for illness of those family members.

Operational meaning for SMB owners:

If you do not offer paid leave, the Flexible Leave Act’s bereavement-use rule does not invent paid leave for you.
If you do offer paid leave (vacation, PTO, sick, personal), employees can use what they have already earned for covered bereavement — and the statute does not impose a short “three-day funeral” cap on that use the way many handbooks do.
Retaliation for using leave under the Act is prohibited.

Cite the Labor and Employment Article Flexible Leave provisions in the Maryland Code (commonly discussed as the Flexible Leave Act expansion effective October 1, 2021) when building handbook language; confirm the current codified section numbers in the Maryland General Assembly code before relying on a secondary chart.

Washington — PFML child-loss leave, not general bereavement

Washington state civil service rules (for example, WAC 357-31-250) provide paid bereavement for state employees. That is not a private-employer mandate.

For private employers, the important state program is Paid Family and Medical Leave under RCW Title 50A. The Employment Security Department states plainly: “Paid Leave benefits do not cover bereavement leave.” But employees may use family leave for the seven days following the loss of a child if they would have qualified for prenatal/postnatal medical leave for that child’s birth, or for bonding leave after birth, placement, or adoption (paidleave.wa.gov child-loss FAQ; RCW 50A.05.010). Key limits:

Up to seven calendar days, beginning after the date of death or delivery of the deceased child.
Does not include leave for the death of other family members.
Draws from the employee’s available PFML family-leave duration.
Wage replacement is through the state program, not an employer-paid bereavement bank.

Separate from PFML, Washington’s Domestic Violence Leave Act (RCW 49.76) gives broad job-protected leave for domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or (as amended) certain hate crimes — often unpaid unless the employee uses available paid leave. See L&I’s domestic violence leave page.

Bereavement leave — state mandates

Jurisdiction	Private-employer rule (high level)	Paid?	Employer size / eligibility	Primary source
California	Up to 5 days after death of covered family member; complete within 3 months; days need not be consecutive	Unpaid unless policy or employee uses other available paid leave	5+ employees; employee employed 30+ days	Gov. Code § 12945.7
Illinois (FBLA)	Up to 2 weeks (10 workdays) per covered event; up to 6 weeks for multiple events in 12 months; complete within 60 days of notice of event	Unpaid (employee may use other paid leave if employer policy allows)	FMLA-covered employers (generally 50+); 1,250 hours in prior 12 months	820 ILCS 154 (IDOL summary)
Illinois (CEBLA)	Extended leave after child death by suicide or homicide	Unpaid	6 weeks (50–249 employees); 12 weeks (250+)	IDOL CEBLA
Oregon (OFLA)	Up to 2 weeks per family member, max 4 weeks/leave year; within 60 days of learning of death	Unpaid (may run with sick/vacation)	25+ employees; OFLA eligibility (generally 180 days / 25 hrs/week avg.)	OFLA / ORS 659A.150–.186
Maryland	Use of existing paid leave for death of child, spouse, or parent	Paid only to the extent the employer already provides paid leave	15+ employees that provide leave with pay	Maryland Flexible Leave Act expansion (2021 HB 56 / SB 473)
Washington	No general private bereavement bank; PFML family leave up to 7 calendar days after death of a child eligible for bonding/birth-related leave	State wage replacement if PFML-eligible; not employer-paid bereavement	PFML program rules (Title 50A RCW)	paidleave.wa.gov
All other states	No verified stand-alone private-employer bereavement mandate at research time; leave is policy, CBA, or sometimes available through sick leave / general paid-leave statutes if the use fits	Policy-driven	—	Employer policy; check paid sick leave for use expansions

Where sick leave or general paid leave can cover bereavement

Several states’ paid sick leave or “paid leave for any reason” laws allow uses that can include attending a funeral or grieving in limited ways, or treat bereavement as a permitted use under a general leave statute. Examples employers should check against primary text rather than assume:

Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act (820 ILCS 192) is general paid leave — not bereavement-specific — but it is usable for any reason, which in practice can cover funeral absences for employers already under that Act.
Colorado, California, and other sick-leave states sometimes allow leave for family care or other listed uses that can overlap funeral logistics only when the statutory use list actually fits; do not treat “sick leave” as automatic bereavement leave without reading the use section.
Municipal safe-and-sick ordinances (for example NYC ESSTA) focus on health and safety uses, not general bereavement.

When the statute does not list bereavement, the employer’s handbook is still the contract — and breaking a promised bereavement benefit can create a wage or contract claim even without a bereavement statute.

Jury duty leave and pay

Federal baseline (again)

FLSA: no required jury pay for time not worked (DOL).
Federal court jury service: anti-discharge/coercion under 28 USC § 1875; no general private wage mandate.
Almost every state protects employees from discharge for responding to a jury summons. The variable is pay and whether PTO can be forced.

States and D.C. that require employer pay (verified core set)

This table is the paid-jury core, not a claim that other states never require pay under narrow facts. Local court rules and public-employer rules can add obligations.

Jurisdiction	Employer pay rule (summary)	Notes	Primary / official source
Alabama	Full-time employees entitled to usual compensation while excused for jury service	Employer may not require/request use of annual, vacation, unpaid, or sick leave for jury response time	Ala. Code § 12-16-8
Colorado	Regular wages for first 3 days, not to exceed $50/day unless mutual agreement for more	Part-time/temporary/casual can count if hours are determinable; hardship excuse process exists	C.R.S. § 13-71-126; CDLE jury page
Connecticut	Full-time employed jurors (typically 30+ hrs/week) paid regular wages for first 5 days	Employer hardship waiver process; state may pay up to $50/day if employer excused	Conn. Gen. Stat. § 51-247; CT Judicial Branch juror guide
District of Columbia	Employers with 11+ employees: regular wages for full-time employees for first 5 days, less court fees (confirm current D.C. Code text before payroll coding)	Smaller employers often excluded from the pay mandate	D.C. jury / human rights employment provisions (verify current codification)
Louisiana	Commonly described as one day of full wages for full-time employees per jury term — confirm current La. R.S. text for your parish practice	Pair with anti-retaliation rules	State jury compensation statutes (verify)
Massachusetts	Private employers generally must pay regular wages for the first 3 days of trial juror service for covered employees	After day 3, state juror compensation rules apply	Mass. jury compensation statutes (c. 234A framework — verify current sections)
Nebraska	Employer pay of regular wages is widely reported with court-fee offset rules	Confirm Neb. Rev. Stat. jury employment sections for offsets	State statute (verify)
New York	Employers with more than 10 employees: may not withhold the first $72 of daily wages for the first 3 days of jury service (eff. June 8, 2025)	Anti-retaliation for all sizes; smaller employers not under the $72 withhold floor	N.Y. Judiciary Law § 519; NY Courts employer handbook
Tennessee	Employer pay obligations exist for covered employers (commonly described for employers with 5+ employees) — confirm current Tenn. Code Ann. sections before promising full wages	Anti-retaliation is clear; pay details need statute-level confirmation	Tenn. Code jury employment provisions (verify)

Job protection and “no forced PTO”

Even where the employer need not pay, state law usually:

Requires the employer to excuse the employee for jury service after notice of the summons.
Prohibits discharge, discipline, or coercion because of jury service.
Sometimes prohibits requiring the employee to use vacation or PTO for jury absences (Alabama is explicit; other states vary).

Exempt employees under the FLSA salary-basis rules raise a separate issue: docking full-day pay for partial-week absences can jeopardize the exemption if done incorrectly (29 CFR § 541.602). Many employers pay exempt staff through a jury week for that reason even when state law would allow unpaid leave for non-exempt staff.

Worked example — New York three-day floor

Marcus works full time at a 40-person Brooklyn logistics company earning $180 per day. He is sworn as a juror for a four-day trial in July 2026.

Days 1–3: Employer must not withhold the first $72 of each day’s wages. Because Marcus earns more than $72/day, the employer pays at least $72 for each of the first three days (many employers pay full wages as policy).
Day 4+: State juror fee rules apply for the court portion; employer wage continuation is policy unless another rule applies.
The company may not fire Marcus or write him up for the absence if he gave the required notice of the summons under § 519.

Voting leave

Federal baseline

No private-employer federal voting-leave mandate. State election codes control.

Pattern most states use

Where a voting-leave statute exists, it usually answers four questions:

Is leave paid or unpaid?
How many hours? (often 1–2 hours, sometimes “as much as needed” with a paid cap)
Is leave only available if the employee lacks enough non-work time while polls are open?
What notice must the employee give, and must the employer post a notice?

California — model paid rule with a posting duty

California Elections Code § 14000: if a voter does not have sufficient time outside working hours to vote at a statewide election, the voter may take enough time off to vote without loss of pay, but not more than two hours of that time is paid. Time is generally taken at the beginning or end of the shift unless the parties agree otherwise. Two working days’ notice is typically required when the employee knows they will need the leave. Elections Code § 14001 requires a workplace poster at least ten days before a statewide election (CA Secretary of State time-off notices).

Voting leave — multi-state snapshot (not a complete 50-state matrix)

Status (high level)	Examples (verify before payroll coding)	Typical rule shape
Paid voting leave (often conditional on insufficient non-work poll hours)	Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, and D.C. are widely reported as paid-leave jurisdictions in election-law surveys	1–3 hours common; some “as needed” with paid cap
Unpaid voting leave or schedule accommodation	Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Ohio, Wisconsin (examples from multi-state surveys)	Often 1–2 hours; notice required
No general private voting-leave statute	Several states rely on early voting, mail ballots, and employer policy rather than a leave mandate	Policy and culture still matter on Election Day

Coverage honesty: secondary 50-state charts disagree on edge cases and update slowly after election-code amendments. Treat the paid/unpaid grouping above as a routing map, then open the state election code (or secretary of state employer notice) for the worksite state before coding time. For California, the Elections Code sections above are primary-verified. For other states, confirm hours, pay status, notice, and whether early-vote options change the “insufficient time” analysis.

Witness leave and crime-victim court leave

Many states require unpaid, job-protected leave so an employee can:

Respond to a subpoena as a witness
Attend criminal proceedings as a crime victim
Seek a restraining or protective order
Participate in related police interviews or court hearings

Connecticut is a clean example of the layered approach: jury pay under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 51-247, plus separate unpaid leave rights to respond to a subpoena as a witness, attend proceedings as a crime victim, or seek protective orders under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-85b and related provisions.

California Labor Code §§ 230 and 230.1 protect time off for victims of crime, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including court and safety-related absences, with documentation rules and anti-retaliation provisions.

This research does not attempt a full 50-state witness-leave matrix. If your employee has a subpoena or is a named victim in a criminal case, default posture:

Do not discipline for the court appearance.
Ask only for the documentation the statute allows (often the subpoena or a court notice).
Check whether paid sick leave / safe leave must be available for the absence.
Keep the reason confidential.

Domestic violence and safe leave

Domestic violence leave is a high-overlap domain with paid sick leave and paid family leave.

Two common statutory shapes

Stand-alone DV / crime-victim leave — unpaid job-protected leave for safety planning, relocation, medical care, counseling, court, and related needs (examples: Washington RCW 49.76; California Lab. Code §§ 230, 230.1; numerous other states).
Safe leave inside paid sick leave — paid sick leave statutes that expressly allow use for domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking affecting the employee or a family member (common in CA, CO, NJ, NY, OR, WA municipal overlays, and others). See paid sick leave laws by state.

Some PFML programs also cover safe leave or DV-related needs as qualifying events (Oregon Paid Leave, for example, includes leave related to domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, bias crimes, or stalking for the employee or a minor child/dependent — separate from OFLA bereavement).

Employer operating rules that recur

Notice can be short when the danger is emergent.
Documentation, when allowed, is usually a police report, court order, or statement from a victim-services provider — not a full medical file.
Confidentiality is often mandatory.
Attendance points for protected DV absences are a classic retaliation vector.
Intermittent leave is common (court dates, safety moves, counseling).

Because DV statutes change frequently and interact with sick leave, this section is a map, not a 50-state table. For payroll and leave coding, identify (a) stand-alone DV leave, (b) paid sick/safe leave uses, and (c) PFML safe-leave eligibility for each work location.

Operational mechanism — leave codes, not “miscellaneous unpaid”

The compliance failure mode across bereavement and civic leave is the same: the absence is real, but the record is wrong.

What to track for every covered absence:

Leave type — bereavement (and which statute or policy), jury, voting, witness, DV/safe, sick, vacation, unpaid personal. One “UNPAID” bucket destroys auditability.
Work location on the day of leave — state (and city, if a local ordinance applies) controls the rule set.
Pay treatment — unpaid statutory leave vs. employer-paid policy vs. employee-elected PTO vs. state PFML wage replacement.
Notice and documentation — summons, death documentation, voting notice, protective order reference — stored confidentially.
Schedule impact — who covered the shift, whether overtime was created, whether an exempt salary week was docked incorrectly.
Attendance points — whether the absence was excluded from no-fault discipline.

For a 25-person multi-state employer, the practical system is a leave calendar that can mark “CA bereavement day 3 of 5,” “NY jury day 2 — $72 floor,” or “WA PFML child-loss day 1 of 7,” then export hours to payroll without retyping. Time-off balances, leave reason codes, and work-location tags are the operational primitives — not a single PTO bank labeled “everything.”

Multi-state and remote workers

Leave mandates generally follow where the employee works, not where the company is headquartered.

Maria is employed by a Dallas-based 60-person firm and works remotely from Sacramento. California § 12945.7 applies to her bereavement request after 30 days of employment. Texas handbook silence does not control.
Same firm, same Maria, summoned for Sacramento County jury duty: California’s jury anti-retaliation and any local pay rules apply; Texas jury statutes do not.
A Colorado warehouse lead on a three-day jury trial is owed regular wages up to $50/day for those three days under C.R.S. § 13-71-126 even if the corporate HQ is in Florida.
A New York employee at an 11-person employer hits the Judiciary Law § 519 $72 / first-three-days rule; the same company with nine total employees does not hit that withhold floor but still cannot retaliate.

Split-week multi-state work is rarer for bereavement and jury (those absences are full-day events), but voting leave can land on a day when a traveling employee is temporarily in another state. Default: apply the law of the state where the employee is working that day, and document the location.

Recent changes (last 18–24 months)

June 8, 2025 — New York jury fee to $72. N.Y. Judiciary Law §§ 519 and 521 amendments raised the daily juror compensation figure from $40 to $72. Employers with more than ten employees must account for the new withhold floor on the first three days of service.
Illinois Child Extended Bereavement Leave Act (Public Act 103-0466 era implementation) continues to require multi-week unpaid leave for covered employers after a child’s death by suicide or homicide — still an under-communicated Illinois-only rule.
Washington PFML 2025–2026 program amendments (including job-protection expansions in related session law) affect family leave generally; child-loss leave remains a seven-day family-leave use, not a general bereavement benefit. Confirm current ESD guidance when coding claims.
Oregon leave realignment. OFLA’s scope narrowed as Paid Leave Oregon took over many family and medical events; bereavement and sick-child leave remain OFLA-centric and still matter for 25+ employers.
Ongoing paid sick / safe leave expansions in multiple states continue to enlarge the set of absences that cannot be treated as unprotected “no-call” events. Track via paid sick leave laws by state.

FAQ

Does federal law require bereavement leave?

No. There is no general federal private-employer bereavement mandate. FMLA does not list bereavement as a covered reason. State statutes and employer policies control.

Which states require private employers to provide bereavement leave?

As of July 2026, the clear stand-alone private mandates are California (5 days), Illinois (FBLA up to 2 weeks unpaid, plus CEBLA for certain child deaths), Oregon (OFLA bereavement up to 2 weeks per family member / 4 weeks per year), and Maryland (use of existing paid leave for death of child, spouse, or parent). Washington offers limited PFML family leave after the death of a qualifying child, not general bereavement.

Is bereavement leave paid?

Usually no under the state mandates. California and Illinois leave may be unpaid unless the employee uses other available paid leave or the employer’s policy pays. Maryland’s rule only moves existing paid leave into bereavement uses. Washington PFML child-loss leave can include state wage replacement for eligible workers.

Do I have to pay employees for jury duty?

Only if you are in a state (or D.C.) that requires it, or your policy/CBA promises it. Federal law does not require private employers to pay for jury time. Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, New York (11+ employees, first three days), and several other jurisdictions do impose pay rules — check the jury table.

Can I make an employee use PTO for jury duty?

Sometimes no. Alabama expressly forbids requiring or requesting use of annual, vacation, unpaid, or sick leave for jury response time. Other states vary. Even where PTO use is allowed, forcing it against a statute or handbook promise creates risk.

How much paid voting leave does California require?

Up to two hours of paid time for a statewide election when the employee lacks sufficient time outside working hours, under Elections Code § 14000, plus the § 14001 posting rule.

Is witness leave the same as jury leave?

No. Jury leave is about service as a juror. Witness and crime-victim leave cover subpoenas, victim attendance, and protective-order proceedings. Pay is less often required; job protection and confidentiality are the usual floors.

Does paid sick leave cover domestic violence absences?

Often yes, where the sick-leave statute includes “safe leave” uses. Many states also have stand-alone DV leave. Read both layers for the work location — see paid sick leave laws by state.

If you discover you have been doing this wrong

Map headcount and work locations. Identify who sits in CA, IL, OR, MD, WA, NY, CO, CT, AL, and any DV/sick-leave jurisdiction.
Pull the last 24 months of “personal,” “unpaid,” and “PTO” codes that coincide with funerals, jury summons, elections, or court dates. Reclassify what the statute required.
Repair pay where a statute required wages (for example, CO first-three-day jury pay; NY $72 floor; AL full-time usual compensation; CA paid voting hours).
Rewrite handbook sections so bereavement floors, jury pay rules, voting leave, and DV/safe leave are separate from generic PTO.
Train managers that attendance points and “find coverage or else” threats are retaliation vectors for protected civic and DV leave.
Fix the leave system so reason codes, locations, and pay treatment export cleanly to payroll.

Closing

Bereavement and civic leave are not one national policy. They are a thin federal protection layer (mostly anti-retaliation for federal jurors and a hard FLSA “no pay for time not worked” baseline) under a state patchwork: a few bereavement mandates, a short list of jury-pay states, a larger set of voting-leave rules, and a dense web of DV/safe-leave and sick-leave overlaps.

The failure modes recur. All of them compound when the leave is miscoded and the wrong balance is docked:

Assuming handbook bereavement is enough in California, Illinois, or Oregon.
Zeroing wages on jury week in a pay-mandate state, or forcing PTO where the statute forbids it.
Skipping voting posters and paid hours in California (and parallel notice rules elsewhere).
Treating domestic violence absences as unprotected no-shows in a safe-leave jurisdiction.

When in doubt, code the leave correctly and keep the location on the record. The highest-leverage discipline is a leave ledger that can show statutory bereavement days, jury service days with the right pay rule, voting hours, and confidential DV/safe leave — each tied to the state where the employee worked. That record is what makes a short absence defensible instead of a long dispute.

Sources

Federal

Bereavement — primary and official

California Government Code § 12945.7
CRD — Bereavement Leave FAQ (AB 1949)
Illinois Department of Labor — Family Bereavement Leave Act
Illinois Department of Labor — Child Extended Bereavement Leave Act
Oregon BOLI — Oregon Family Leave Act
ORS chapter 659A (OFLA provisions)
Washington Paid Leave — loss of a child FAQ
RCW Title 50A — Paid Family and Medical Leave
Maryland Flexible Leave Act expansion (2021 HB 56 / SB 473) — Maryland General Assembly bill text / Labor & Employment Article