Quick Hits:

• Effective October 1, 2025, employees may take paid leave to serve on a jury or to appear as a witness in court in compliance with a subpoena or court order where the employee is a victim of any crime.
• Effective January 1, 2026, employees may take either paid or unpaid leave if they or a family member are a victim of certain crimes and are attending judicial proceedings related to that crime.
• Effective July 1, 2028, employees may take Paid Family Leave to care for a seriously ill “designated person.”

AB 406: Expanded Leave – Victims of Violence 

California continues to expand the reasons employees may take protected paid and unpaid leave. Prior to AB 406, employees were permitted to take paid leave for certain qualifying reasons under the Healthy Workforces Healthy Families Act (HWHFA), such as paid time off for illness or where an employee or an employee’s family member is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Employees were also permitted to take unpaid leave under Government Code section 12945.8 for various reasons, including those overlapping with HWHFA.  AB 406 reflects the Legislature’s effort to align covered uses under the paid HWHFA leave with covered uses under the unpaid Government Code leave. 

Beginning January 1, 2026, employees will be able to use either paid or unpaid leave if they or a family member are a victim of certain crimes and are attending judicial proceedings related to that crime, including but not limited to any delinquency proceeding, a post-arrest release decision, plea, sentencing, postconviction release decision, or any proceeding where a right of that person is an issue.  

AB 406 defines a “victim” as a person against whom a violent felony, serious felony, and/or felony theft or embezzlement is committed as well as a person who suffers direct or threatened physical, psychological, or financial harm due to the commission or attempted commission of certain specified crimes or delinquent acts. The leave may be unpaid, or the employee may choose to use personal leave, paid sick leave, vacation, or compensatory time otherwise available to the employee.  

Effective October 1, 2025, employees will be able to take paid leave (using vacation, sick leave, or other available compensatory time) for covered uses that were previously available under the unpaid leave laws, including:  

• Where the employee is a victim of any crime and is appearing in court as a witness to comply with a subpoena or other court order; or 
• Where an employee is serving on an inquest jury or trial jury.  

Employers must provide written notice to employees of these rights upon hire, annually, on request, and at the time an employee informs their employer that the employee or a family member is a victim of a crime. The Civil Rights Department has developed an approved notice, “Survivors of Violence and Family Members of Victims Right to Leave and Accommodations,” which may be found on its website and is available in several languages.  

In light of these new covered uses, employers should review and update their policies and procedures relating to paid and unpaid leaves of absence. 

SB 590: California’s Paid Family Leave Broadened to Include a “Designated Person” 

On October 13, 2025, Governor Newsom signed SB 590 into law as part of California’s ongoing effort to expand paid leave laws. Currently, California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) provides eligible employees with up to eight weeks of partial wage replacement to take time off to care for a seriously ill family member, bond with a new child, or assist a military family member deploying to a foreign country.  

California also provides unpaid leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) for eligible employees to care for a family member or “designated person,” defined as any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of family. 

Beginning July 1, 2028, paid leave will be extended to eligible employees who take time off to care for a seriously ill “designated person.” For employers concerned with the potential abuse of this expansion, the Legislature has created several hoops through which an employee must first jump in an effort to maintain accountability:  

• Identify the designated person at the time of their first claim for such benefits;  
• Attest under penalty of perjury how the relationship is either blood-related or the equivalent to a family relationship. 

Employers may also limit employees to one designated person per 12-month period. Notably, SB 590 does not extend the total length of time for which employees may take paid leave. 

The lawyers at MHS are able to assist with any policy review or modification in light of these new laws.