How Bereavement Leave Rules Vary by State

When state law requires bereavement time

Most states leave bereavement leave to your policy. Federal law does not require private employers to provide it. California requires up to five days after a covered family death for employers with five or more employees. Illinois Family Bereavement Leave can require up to two weeks unpaid for FMLA-covered employers (generally 50+). Oregon OFLA bereavement allows up to two weeks per family member (four weeks max per leave year) at 25+ employees. Maryland makes existing paid leave usable for the death of a child, spouse, or parent when you have 15+ employees and already provide paid leave.

Washington is not a general private bereavement mandate — its paid family leave program can cover seven calendar days after the death of a child eligible for bonding leave, not funerals for every relative.

What to fix in the handbook this week

• Compare your bereavement policy to California’s five-day floor if anyone works there.
• Separate statutory bereavement from generic “personal” and PTO codes.
• For Illinois and Oregon, check employer-size thresholds before denying multi-week requests.
• In Maryland, allow earned paid leave for covered family deaths if you already offer paid leave.
• Keep documentation confidential and leave attendance points off protected statutory leave.

Where employers get bereavement wrong

• Capping California employees at three handbook days when the statute requires five total.
• Treating Illinois’s extended leave after a child’s death by suicide or homicide like ordinary bereavement.
• Applying HQ-state silence to a remote California employee.
• Coding funerals as unprotected personal time in a mandate state and docking attendance.

Match the statute, then keep the promise

If you work only outside the mandate states, your handbook is the law of the workplace — keep what you promise. If anyone works in California, Illinois, Oregon, Maryland, or uses Washington PFML after a child loss, the statute is the floor and the leave code should say so.