Carer's and compassionate leave in the United States
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Carer's leave and compassionate leave are not guaranteed by federal law in the United States as standalone entitlements. What employees actually have access to depends on a patchwork of federal statutes, state laws, and whatever their employer has chosen to offer voluntarily.
What the federal law does (and does not) cover
There is no federal law called "carer's leave" or "compassionate leave." The closest federal protection is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. FMLA covers:
- Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition
- The employee's own serious health condition
- The birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child
- Qualifying exigencies related to a family member's military service
To qualify, an employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months, have logged at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months, and work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Smaller employers are not covered.
Critically, FMLA leave is unpaid unless the employer requires employees to use accrued paid leave concurrently. There is also no federal equivalent for bereavement or compassionate leave following a death — that is entirely at the employer's discretion unless a state law applies.
State laws fill some of the gaps
Several states have gone further than federal law, and the differences are significant.
Paid family leave programs exist in a growing number of states. California, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado, and others have state-run paid leave programs that can cover caregiving situations. Benefit amounts, duration, and funding mechanisms vary by state.
Bereavement leave is required by law in a small number of states. California, for example, requires employers with five or more employees to provide up to five days of bereavement leave following the death of a qualifying family member. Illinois has a similar requirement. Most states, however, impose no such obligation.
Paid sick leave laws in states like California, New York, and Washington sometimes allow employees to use accrued sick time to care for an ill family member, which functions in practice as a form of carer's leave.
If you employ people in multiple states, you cannot apply a single blanket policy. Each state's rules need to be checked individually and your policies should reflect the most protective applicable law for each location.
What employers typically offer voluntarily
Because federal law is sparse, employer policy does most of the work in practice. Common voluntary provisions include:
- Bereavement leave: typically three to five paid days for an immediate family member's death, fewer (or none) for extended family. Some employers have expanded this to cover miscarriage, stillbirth, and the death of a close friend.
- Carer's days: some employers allow employees to use a portion of their PTO or sick leave for dependent care without requiring it to qualify as FMLA-eligible.
- Compassionate leave policies: less formal, often handled on a case-by-case basis at manager discretion — which creates inconsistency and legal risk.
Ad hoc manager discretion is worth flagging as a risk. If two employees in similar circumstances receive different amounts of leave, that disparity can become the basis for a discrimination complaint. Written policies, applied consistently, are better for everyone.
How to build a defensible policy
If your company does not have written carer's and bereavement leave policies, here is what to consider:
1. Map your state obligations first. Identify every state where you have employees and check the current paid family leave, sick leave, and bereavement leave requirements for each. Requirements change, so build in an annual review.
2. Define qualifying relationships clearly. "Immediate family" sounds obvious until an employee asks whether it includes a domestic partner, a grandparent, or a sibling. Spell it out.
3. Decide whether leave is paid, unpaid, or a mix. For bereavement, most employees expect some paid days. For extended caregiving, you may offer a combination of paid days followed by unpaid FMLA-protected leave.
4. Integrate with FMLA and state leave correctly. Where FMLA applies, leave taken for a qualifying reason typically runs concurrently with any company leave. Make this explicit in your policy so employees understand the interaction.
5. Put it in writing and train managers. A policy only reduces risk if managers know it exists and apply it consistently. A short manager brief alongside the written policy goes a long way.
The absence of a federal paid leave floor means US employers have more discretion than employers in most other countries — but that discretion comes with the responsibility to build clear, fair policies rather than handling sensitive situations informally.
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