California Reproductive Loss Leave: Eligibility, Time, and Pay

California’s reproductive loss leave gives eligible employees up to five days of unpaid, job-protected time off after a miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy, or unsuccessful assisted reproduction. The right comes from Government Code Section 12945.6, which took effect January 1, 2024 under Senate Bill 848, and it treats reproductive loss as its own protected category, separate from bereavement, medical disability, or family leave.¹ Your employer cannot ask you to prove the loss, and cannot punish you for taking the days.

Who Qualifies

Two things determine whether you’re covered: your employer’s size and how long you’ve been there. Private employers with five or more employees are covered, and all public employers are covered regardless of size.¹ You qualify once you’ve worked for that employer for at least 30 days before the leave begins. Full-time, part-time, salaried, hourly — it doesn’t matter.

The five-employee threshold is far more inclusive than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, so if you work for a small California business the state law may still protect you even when federal law does not.²

What Counts as a Reproductive Loss

The statute identifies five triggering events:¹

A miscarriage by you, your current spouse or domestic partner, or another person if you would have been a parent of the child.
A stillbirth from the same range of pregnancies. The statute does not specify a gestational threshold.
An unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or other assisted reproductive technology, such as a failed embryo transfer.
A failed adoption, meaning one that falls apart because the birth parent or legal guardian dissolves the agreement or another party contests it.
A failed surrogacy, meaning a dissolved surrogacy agreement or a failed embryo transfer to the surrogate.

Each definition reaches beyond the person who was physically pregnant. If you would have been a parent of the child, you are covered, so intended parents pursuing surrogacy or adoption have the same rights as someone who experienced the loss directly.³

How Much Time You Get and When to Take It

You get five days per qualifying event. The days do not have to be taken consecutively. You can spread them out across the three-month window that follows the loss, taking individual days as you need them.¹ Your employer cannot force you to take them all at once.

If more than one qualifying event happens within a 12-month period, the total is capped at 20 days. The 12-month period is measured from the date of your first qualifying event rather than resetting every January.

One useful wrinkle: if you’re on another type of leave when the reproductive loss occurs, you can take the five days within three months of finishing that other leave.³ That prevents someone on pregnancy disability leave from burning through the reproductive loss window before returning to work.

Is the Leave Paid?

Reproductive loss leave is unpaid unless your employer already has a paid leave policy that covers this type of absence.¹ If there’s no such policy, you can choose to use accrued vacation, personal days, sick time, or compensatory time to get paid during your days off. That choice is yours, and your employer must let you use those hours if you have them.³

Using paid time you’ve already accrued does not shrink your five-day entitlement. The five protected days exist regardless of how you fund them.

No Documentation Required

Your employer cannot require medical records, a doctor’s note, or any other proof that the loss occurred.³ You request the leave, and the employer grants it. This is one of the strongest confidentiality protections in California employment law.

Any information you do share must be kept confidential. Your employer can only disclose it to internal personnel or legal counsel when necessary, or when the law requires disclosure.¹ In practical terms, a manager should not be telling coworkers why you’re out.

What Your Employer Cannot Do

The law forbids retaliation. Your employer cannot fire, demote, suspend, fine, or otherwise discriminate against you because you took the leave, and the same protection covers anyone who provides information or testimony in a proceeding about reproductive loss leave.¹

The law also forbids interference. An employer that discourages you from requesting leave, pressures you to come back early, or puts obstacles in the way of using your days is violating the statute even if the request was never formally denied. Many real-world violations happen through pressure rather than a flat refusal.

How It Interacts With Other Leaves

Reproductive loss leave is separate from and in addition to other leaves you may have.³ The five days do not count against your California Family Rights Act leave, FMLA leave, or pregnancy disability leave under FEHA. If you qualify for more than one type, you get each one independently.

If your loss involves a medical condition needing ongoing recovery, you may also qualify for California State Disability Insurance through the Employment Development Department, which provides partial wage replacement and can help bridge the gap while the reproductive loss leave itself is unpaid.

Federal Laws That May Add More

California sets the floor, and several federal laws may layer on top depending on your employer and situation. If your employer has 50 or more employees and you’ve worked there at least 12 months, the FMLA can provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, and the Department of Labor has confirmed that recovery from a stillbirth qualifies as a serious health condition under the FMLA.⁴

The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, effective in 2023, requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, and the EEOC has confirmed that miscarriage falls within that definition.⁵ Accommodations can include schedule changes, telework, additional breaks, or leave to recover.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act separately requires employers to treat pregnancy-related medical conditions the same as any other temporary disability, so if your employer provides leave for workers with broken bones or surgeries it must do the same for pregnancy-related complications, including those arising from a reproductive loss.⁶

If Your Employer Violates the Law

You can file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. You have three years from the date of the violation to submit an intake form, and there is no fee.⁷ Because Section 12945.6 violations are treated as unlawful employment practices under California law, the full range of FEHA remedies can apply, including back pay and attorney fees.

If you also have a federal claim under the FMLA, PWFA, or Pregnancy Discrimination Act, a separate filing with the EEOC may be warranted. Because California has its own anti-discrimination agency, the EEOC deadline extends to 300 days from the discriminatory act rather than the standard 180.⁸ An internal HR grievance does not pause these deadlines, so file with the agency even if you’re still working through the company’s own process.

1
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 12945.6
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #28: The Family and Medical Leave Act
3
Civil Rights Department. Leave from Work After a Reproductive Loss
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #28P: Taking Leave from Work When You or Your Family Member Has a Serious Health Condition under the FMLA
5
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
6
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues
7
Civil Rights Department. Employment Discrimination
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge