Crime Victim Leave in California: Gov. Code 12945.8 for Employers

Twenty-five employees is the line that matters most under California’s victim leave law. Every employer must allow time off for jury duty, witness subpoenas, restraining orders, and certain criminal proceedings. Employers with 25 or more employees must also allow leave for medical care, counseling, safety planning, relocation, and legal help after domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other violence. Government Code section 12945.8 also requires safety accommodations. The defense of a claim usually depends on what the employee told the company and how the leave caps were applied.

Which employers does the law cover?

All of them, for the core protections. The statute defines an employer as “Any person who directly employs one or more persons to perform services for a wage or salary.” Every employer is barred from penalizing an employee for jury service, for appearing as a witness under a subpoena or court order, or, for a victim, for taking time off “to obtain or attempt to obtain any relief,” such as a restraining order.

Since January 1, 2026, the same subdivision also protects a victim or a family member who takes time off “to attend judicial proceedings related to that crime,” including sentencing and release decisions. That right applies to victims of listed serious and violent felonies, felony theft or embezzlement, and several other crimes.

The broader leave rights in subdivision (b) apply to an “employer with 25 or more employees.” Those cover a victim, or an employee whose family member is a victim, of a “qualifying act of violence.” The statute defines that term to include domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and acts causing bodily injury or involving a firearm or other dangerous weapon, “regardless of whether anyone is arrested for, prosecuted for, or convicted of committing any crime.”

What can employees take time off for?

A list that goes well beyond medical care. Under subdivision (b), covered purposes include medical attention, services from a shelter or rape crisis center, counseling, and legal services. The list also includes time “To participate in safety planning or take other actions to increase safety from future qualifying acts of violence” and time “To relocate or engage in the process of securing a new residence due to the qualifying act of violence.”

“Family member” reaches further than most leave laws. It includes a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, or “designated person,” meaning someone related by blood or whose association with the employee “is the equivalent of a family relationship.” The statute lets an employer limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period.

How much leave is required, and is it paid?

It’s unpaid, with caps. Under subdivision (i), an employer “may limit total leave time taken pursuant to subdivision (b) to 12 weeks.” When the employee isn’t a victim and the family member survived, the employer may limit the total to 10 days, and relocation leave to five days.

Under subdivision (g), the employee may use “vacation, personal leave, paid sick leave, or compensatory time off” that’s otherwise available. The leave also runs concurrently with FMLA and CFRA leave “if the employee would have been eligible for that leave.” Those caps only help an employer that tracks the leave and tells the employee how it’s being counted. A company that never applies the limits will have a hard time invoking them after a termination.

What proof can an employer require?

Advance notice when feasible, and certification after an unscheduled absence. Subdivision (c) requires “reasonable advance notice of the employee’s intention to take time off, unless the advance notice is not feasible.” When the absence is unscheduled, the employer can’t act against the employee who provides certification “within a reasonable time after the absence.”

The certification bar is low. Along with a police report, court order, or provider’s documentation, the statute accepts “a written statement signed by the employee, or an individual acting on the employee’s behalf, certifying that the absence is for a purpose authorized under this section.” Managers who insist on a police report before excusing an absence create exposure the statute doesn’t require.

Confidentiality is mandatory. Under subdivision (e)(7), any statement or record identifying an employee or family member as a victim “shall be maintained as confidential by the employer” unless disclosure is required by law or needed to protect the employee’s safety at work, and the employee gets notice first. Keep these records out of the general personnel file.

What accommodations does the law require?

Reasonable safety measures, through an interactive process. Under subdivision (e), an employer must accommodate a victim, or an employee whose family member is a victim, “who requests an accommodation for the safety of the employee while at work.” Examples in the statute include a transfer, a modified schedule, a changed work telephone or work station, an installed lock, and a safety procedure.

The employer “shall engage in a timely, good faith, and interactive process” and must consider “an exigent circumstance or danger facing the employee or their family member.” The undue hardship defense is broader than under the disability rules. It “also includes an action that would violate an employer’s duty to furnish and maintain a place of employment that is safe and healthful for all employees.” No accommodation is required for an employee who hasn’t disclosed victim status.

Is a claim brought under FEHA or the Labor Code?

Possibly both. Assembly Bill 2499 (Stats. 2024, ch. 967) moved these protections from the Labor Code into the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Section 12945.8 makes it “an unlawful employment practice” to interfere with any right in the section, which brings in the Civil Rights Department’s complaint process.

Assembly Bill 406 (Stats. 2025, ch. 148), effective October 1, 2025, then added new versions of Labor Code sections 230 and 230.1 that remain in effect until January 1, 2035. Under section 230, an employee may file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner “pursuant to Section 98.7.” An employee can therefore pursue the same absence in two forums, and an early response to a Labor Commissioner retaliation complaint can shape a later FEHA lawsuit.

How do the victim leave rights compare?

What should an employer do once a victim leave claim arrives?

These cases turn on what the employee told the company and how managers responded. Collect that record early.

1. Put a litigation hold on attendance and leave records, schedules, certifications, accommodation requests, emails and texts with the employee, the termination or discipline paperwork, and the notice of rights provided to the employee.
2. Calendar the response date on the CRD complaint, Labor Commissioner complaint, or summons, and check for an arbitration agreement and an employment practices liability (EPLI) policy with notice requirements.
3. Identify the managers who handled the absences and any accommodation request, and avoid further action against the employee that could look like retaliation.
4. Pull the documents the claim depends on, including the dates of each absence, what notice and certification the employee gave, the leave counted against the caps, and the confidential file kept for the employee.
5. Talk to a lawyer before responding to the agency, contacting the employee or their lawyer, or offering anything to settle.

Employers looking for leave and accommodation defense for California employers can review the firm’s practice page.

Victim leave questions from California employers

Do we have to provide a written notice of these rights?

Yes. The statute requires notice to new employees, all employees annually, on request, and when an employee discloses victim status. The Civil Rights Department publishes a model Survivors of Violence and Family Members of Victims notice in English and other languages. An employer may write its own, but subdivision (k) requires it to be “substantially similar in content and clarity” to the department’s form.

Can we ask for a police report?

You can ask for certification, but the employee chooses the form. The statute accepts a police report, a court order, a provider’s documentation, or a signed statement from the employee. Demanding a specific document, or refusing to accept the employee’s own statement, is a common source of claims. For accommodations, recertification may be requested every six months.

Does an employee have to say why they need time off?

The employee has to give reasonable advance notice when feasible and, if asked, certify the purpose. An employer isn’t required to accommodate an employee who hasn’t disclosed victim status. Once a manager has actual knowledge of that status, though, the law bars discrimination because of it, so the manager’s knowledge often becomes the central fact in a termination case.

Does this leave overlap with paid sick leave?

Yes. Paid sick leave can be used for victim-related purposes, and the statute lets the employee use accrued vacation, personal leave, paid sick leave, or compensatory time. The statute frames that as the employee’s option, so review any policy that forces employees to use paid time first before applying it to victim leave.

If a victim leave claim reaches your company

If your company has received a CRD complaint, Labor Commissioner complaint, or lawsuit claiming it denied leave or an accommodation to a victim of violence, the leave records and what managers knew usually decide how much of the claim is real. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents employers defending employment lawsuits and claims through its business litigation practice, including leave and accommodation claims under Government Code section 12945.8. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.

Sources

The statutes are Government Code section 12945.8 and Labor Code section 230. The bills are Assembly Bill 2499 (Stats. 2024, ch. 967) and Assembly Bill 406 (Stats. 2025, ch. 148). The agency source is the Civil Rights Department’s Survivors of Violence and Family Members of Victims Right to Leave and Accommodations notice.

This post is general information about California employment law as of November 7, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Employment statutes, regulations, and court decisions change often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.