Bereavement Leave 2026: Laws, Rights and How Many Days You Get
Important:
The federal government does NOT require employers to provide bereavement leave. Only 5 states have mandatory bereavement leave laws. Most bereavement leave is provided by employer policy, not law.
Is Bereavement Leave Required by Law?
At the federal level, no. There is no federal law — not FMLA, not any other statute — that requires an employer to give an employee time off for the death of a family member. At the state level, the answer is nearly as narrow: only 5 states currently mandate any bereavement leave at all. In the other 45 states, whether you get time off, and whether it's paid, depends entirely on what your employer chooses to offer.
States With Mandatory Bereavement Leave
| State | Days | Employer Threshold | Law | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 5 | 5+ | AB 1949 | 2023-01-01 |
| Illinois | 10 | 50+ | Family Bereavement Leave Act | 2023-01-01 |
| Oregon | 14 | 25+ | Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) bereavement provision | 2014-01-01 |
| Washington | 7 | 1+ | Washington Bereavement Leave (SB 5217) | 2026-07-01 |
| Vermont | 10 | 10+ | Vermont Parental and Family Leave Act bereavement provision | 2024-07-01 |
- Oregon: Up to 2 weeks (14 days) per family member's death, capped at 4 weeks (28 days) total per year for multiple deaths.
- Washington: Expanded from 3 to 7 days by SB 5217 (2025); usable within 12 months of the death, for any qualifying family member.
- Vermont: Taken in blocks of no more than 5 consecutive workdays at a time, at employers with 10+ employees averaging 30+ hours/week.
States That Only Require Using Your Own Accrued Leave
A few states — including Maryland, Colorado, and Minnesota — require employers to let workers use their own already-accrued paid sick or vacation leave for a family member's death. This is meaningfully different from the states in the table above: it grants no new bank of time off, so an employee with no accrued leave left gets nothing extra. These states are not counted among the 5 above because they don't create a distinct bereavement-leave entitlement.
How Many Days of Bereavement Leave Do Most Employers Give?
Outside the 5 states above, bereavement leave is purely a matter of company policy. Industry practice typically runs 3 to 5 days for the death of an immediate family member (spouse, child, parent, sibling), with shorter allowances — often 1 to 2 days — for extended family. Some employers offer none at all, and instead expect employees to use accrued PTO or sick leave.
Who Qualifies as a Family Member for Bereavement Leave?
This varies by employer and by state. Most policies and laws cover, at minimum, a spouse, child, parent, and sibling. Broader policies also include grandparents, in-laws, domestic partners, and step-relatives. Always check your specific employer's handbook or your state's statute for the exact covered-relationship list.
Bereavement Leave for Grandparents
Many employer bereavement policies, and some of the state laws above, extend coverage to grandparents — but it isn't universal. Some narrower policies limit paid bereavement leave to immediate family only (spouse, child, parent, sibling) and treat a grandparent's death the same as extended family, often with a shorter allowance or unpaid time off instead.
Bereavement Leave for In-Laws
Coverage for a spouse's parents or siblings (in-laws) is one of the more inconsistent areas of bereavement policy. Some employers and state laws explicitly include in-laws alongside blood relatives; others restrict bereavement leave to an employee's own family, treating an in-law's death as extended family or excluding it from paid leave entirely.
Can You Use FMLA for Bereavement?
Not directly. The death of a family member is not, by itself, a qualifying reason under federal FMLA — FMLA covers serious health conditions, new children, family caregiving, and military leave, not grief itself. That said, if the stress or grief following a loss triggers a diagnosable, treatable condition in you (such as clinical depression requiring ongoing treatment), that condition could independently qualify for FMLA leave, separate from the bereavement.
How to Request Bereavement Leave
- Notify your manager or HR as soon as you're able to.
- Check your employee handbook, or your state's law if you're in one of the 5 states above, for how many days you're entitled to.
- Be prepared to provide documentation, such as an obituary or death certificate, if your employer's policy requires it.
- Ask whether any unused days can be combined with PTO or unpaid leave if you need more time.
Frequently Asked Questions
No federal law requires bereavement leave. Only 5 states currently mandate it: California, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, Vermont. Everywhere else, bereavement leave is entirely a matter of employer policy.
California (5 days, employers with 5+ employees, under AB 1949); Illinois (10 days, employers with 50+ employees, under Family Bereavement Leave Act); Oregon (14 days, employers with 25+ employees, under Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) bereavement provision); Washington (7 days, employers with 1+ employees, under Washington Bereavement Leave (SB 5217)); Vermont (10 days, employers with 10+ employees, under Vermont Parental and Family Leave Act bereavement provision).
Most US employers that offer bereavement leave provide 3 to 5 days for the death of an immediate family member, based on common industry practice — not a legal requirement, since only 5 states mandate any bereavement leave at all.
This varies widely by employer and by state law. Most policies and laws cover a spouse, child, parent, and sibling as a minimum; some extend to grandparents, in-laws, and domestic partners. Check your specific employer's policy or your state's law for the exact list.
It depends on the policy or law. Many employer bereavement policies and some state laws include grandparents in the covered-relationship list, but it is not universal — always confirm against your specific employer's handbook or your state's statute.
Coverage for in-laws (a spouse's parents or siblings) varies by employer and state. Some policies explicitly include them, others limit bereavement leave to blood relatives and a spouse only.
Not directly — the death of a family member itself is not a qualifying reason for FMLA leave. However, if grief triggers your own serious health condition requiring treatment, that condition could separately qualify for FMLA leave, unrelated to the bereavement itself.
Notify your manager or HR as soon as possible, check your employee handbook or state law for how many days you're entitled to, and be prepared to provide documentation such as an obituary or death certificate if your employer's policy requires it.