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Time Off After a Crime or Act of Violence in California

The amount of protected time depends on why the employee is out and how large the employer is. Safety accommodations are a separate duty.

General education for California employees—not legal advice. Your facts and deadlines control. This is not a Workplace Rights Advocacy case result. It explains the Civil Rights Department workplace notice in plain English. It is not the poster and it is not a complete statement of every exception.

Court and legal relief

Government Code § 12945.8 protects an employee who is a victim and takes time off to obtain a temporary restraining order, restraining order, or other relief for the health, safety, or welfare of the victim or the victim’s child. That protection applies to employers of one or more people. Beginning January 1, 2026, employees who are victims, and family members of victims, are also protected when they take time off to attend judicial proceedings related to specified serious crimes, including delinquency, release, plea, and sentencing proceedings.

Reasonable notice is required when it is feasible. After an unscheduled absence, a certification provided within a reasonable time is enough if the employer asks. Certification can be a police report, a court order, documentation from a counselor, advocate, or health-care provider, or a written statement signed by the employee.

The broader leave at employers of 25 or more

Employers with 25 or more employees have a longer list. They cannot punish a victim, or an employee whose family member is a victim, for time off to seek medical care, services from a shelter or victim-services agency, counseling, safety planning, relocation, care for a family member recovering from injuries, civil or criminal legal services, court proceedings, or childcare needed to keep a child or dependent adult safe.

The employer may cap that broader leave at 12 weeks. If the employee is not personally the victim and the family member did not die, the cap can be 10 days, and relocation leave in that situation can be limited to five days. Leave under this section runs at the same time as FMLA or CFRA leave when the employee is eligible for those statutes. It does not create an extra bank of unpaid leave on top of the 12 weeks of FMLA. Safety accommodations at work are explained on the victim status and safety accommodations page.

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