California’s Reproductive Loss Leave Law Explained: Your Rights

Navigating a reproductive loss, whether through a miscarriage, stillbirth, unsuccessful assisted reproduction such as IVF, or a failed surrogacy, is physically and emotionally overwhelming. In the midst of processing everything, the pressure of returning to work immediately should be the last thing on your mind.

Under California law, eligible employees are entitled to take time off to grieve and recover after a reproductive loss, without fear of losing their job or facing retaliation. Understanding your rights during such a difficult time shouldn’t add to your burden.

At Shirazi Law Firm we believe no employee should have to fight for basic leave during a time of recovery.

Key Takeaways

• You can take up to five days off after a reproductive loss event, and up to 20 days total if more than one happens within a 12-month period
• The law covers miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, failed surrogacy, and unsuccessful assisted reproduction, and it applies to either parent
• Any California employer with five or more workers has to grant the leave once you’ve been on the job 30 days
• The days can be unpaid, but you’re allowed to use sick leave, vacation, or PTO to cover them
• Your employer can’t punish you for asking, and a newer state program lets you mediate a violation instead of only filing a formal claim

Employer denials are not always lawful. If you believe your leave request was wrongly turned down, consulting with our attorneys can help clarify your options.

What Is California’s Reproductive Loss Leave Law

Senate Bill 848 added Section 12945.6 to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), codified in the California Government Code, effective January 1, 2024. It gives eligible employees the right to take up to five days off following a reproductive loss event, and it makes it illegal for an employer to refuse that request.

Lawmakers modeled it on California’s existing bereavement leave, treating the loss of a pregnancy or a planned adoption the same way the law already treats the death of a family member.

If your HR department tells you this leave doesn’t exist or that it only applies to birth mothers, that’s not accurate, and it’s worth pushing back.

Who Qualifies for Reproductive Loss Leave

Three things determine whether you’re covered, and all three are easy to check before you even talk to your employer.

1. You’ve worked for your employer for at least 30 days before the leave starts, with no minimum hours requirement
2. Your employer has five or more employees, whether it’s a private company, a nonprofit, or a government agency
3. You experienced a qualifying reproductive loss event, whether it happened to you, your spouse, your domestic partner, or a surrogate carrying a child for you

There’s no length-of-service cliff like the one under CFRA, so a new hire is protected just as fast as someone who’s been there ten years.

What Counts as a Reproductive Loss Event

“Reproductive loss event” is defined broadly under Government Code 12945.6, and it covers more situations than most employees expect.

Miscarriage and Stillbirth

This includes a miscarriage or stillbirth experienced by the employee, a spouse, or a registered domestic partner. If a gestational surrogate carrying a child for someone else suffers a miscarriage, the intended parent qualifies too, since they would have become a parent had the pregnancy succeeded.

Failed Adoption or Surrogacy

A failed adoption means the adoption agreement fell apart or was never finalized because someone contested it. A failed surrogacy covers a surrogacy arrangement that collapsed before the child was born. Either intended parent in the arrangement can take the leave.

Unsuccessful Assisted Reproduction

This covers a failed attempt at pregnancy through artificial insemination or embryo transfer, including donated gametes or embryos. It does not cover an unsuccessful attempt to conceive through sexual intercourse, since the law limits assisted reproduction to clinical methods.

Is the Leave Paid or Unpaid

The law itself doesn’t require your employer to pay you for these five days. What it does require is that you’re allowed to use any sick leave, vacation, or paid time off you’ve already accrued to cover them, and if your employer has its own paid leave policy that applies here, that policy governs instead. Some employers pay it anyway as a matter of policy, so check your handbook, and the state’s own guidance on CFRA and paid leave overlap explains how paid family leave benefits interact with unpaid leave laws like this one.

Not sure whether your PTO balance actually covers your five days, or whether your employer’s policy is even legal? Shirazi Law Firm can look at your specific policy and tell you where you stand.

Can Your Employer Say No or Retaliate Against You

Refusing the leave outright is illegal, so is punishing you for asking, whether that means a bad review, a sudden schedule change, or termination. Most employees assume the only option is a formal complaint through California’s Civil Rights Department.

In 2025, Assembly Bill 2011 made a small employer mediation program permanent this year and added reproductive loss leave violations to it, so a dispute can go through a free, confidential mediator instead of a long complaint queue.

This mediation option applies only to employers with 5 to 19 employees; if your employer is larger, you’d still go through CRD’s standard complaint process instead. If you’re in Los Angeles County and this happened to you, that retaliation is its own separate claim on top of the leave violation itself.

How This Leave Differs From CFRA and Bereavement Leave

Reproductive loss leave sits next to two other leave types you may have heard of, and mixing them up costs people time they don’t have.

1. Bereavement leave (Government Code 12945.7) covers the death of a family member and guarantees 5 days per death.
2. CFRA gives up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for a serious health condition or new child, and it only kicks in after 12 months of service and 1,250 hours worked, unlike reproductive loss leave’s flat 30-day threshold
3. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act runs alongside CFRA in many cases but has its own 50-employee threshold, so a Beverly Hills boutique with eight employees may owe CFRA leave without ever triggering FMLA

If you’ve been denied any of these three leave types in the Los Angeles area, we can help clarify your legal protections under California law and work with you to make sure you get the time and support you need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does my employer need proof of my reproductive loss?

A: No, the law doesn’t spell out a documentation requirement the way FMLA does for medical leave. Lawmakers left this part vague on purpose, and even legal analysts have flagged it as unresolved. If your employer’s demanding a doctor’s note before approving your leave, that’s a fight worth having with a lawyer in your corner.

Q: Can I split the five days up instead of taking them all at once?

A: Yes, you don’t have to take reproductive loss leave in one block. You do have to use all five days within three months of the event though, so plan around that window. That three-month clock is the part people miss most often.

Q: Does this apply if I wasn’t the one who was pregnant?

A: Yes, the law covers spouses, domestic partners, and intended parents in a surrogacy, not just the person who physically went through the loss. A surrogate’s miscarriage counts for the intended parent too, as long as they would’ve become a parent if things had gone differently. Don’t assume you’re excluded just because you weren’t the one carrying the pregnancy.

Q: What if my company only has three or four employees?

A: Then reproductive loss leave technically doesn’t apply, since the law only covers employers with five or more workers. Some small employers grant it anyway as a matter of goodwill, but they’re not required to under state law. It’s worth asking directly rather than assuming you’re out of luck.

Q: Can I use this leave on top of CFRA leave for the same loss?

A: Generally yes, since the two are separate rights under the law and one doesn’t cancel out the other. If you’re already out on CFRA or pregnancy disability leave when the loss happens, you’ll usually need to finish your reproductive loss leave within three months of that other leave ending. Talk to your employer’s HR department early so the timing doesn’t get tangled.

Shirazi Law Firm, P.C.: Your Employment Law Firm

Grieving a pregnancy loss, an unsuccessful adoption, or a failed surrogacy is overwhelming enough without the added distress of workplace tension. California law gives you the right to step away and heal, and employers are required to honor that protection.

Emanuel Shirazi brings a unique perspective to employee advocacy. Having spent years on the employer-defense side at some of the nation’s largest employment law firms earlier in his career, he understands exactly how defense teams evaluate leave denials and workplace retaliation.

If you believe your leave rights were violated in Los Angeles County, contact our firm today to learn how we can support you.