California Governor Newsom has signed three bills that will require California employers to revisit their written policies and their training programs. On the policy side, SB 1149 widens who counts as a “family member” for bereavement leave. On the training side, AB 1803 adds an anti-hate speech component to mandatory harassment prevention training starting Jan. 1, 2028. And AB 2563, which touches both, sets a broad, uniform definition of “sex discrimination” across the California codes, including the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the Labor Code.

Policy Update: SB 1149 Expands Bereavement Leave to a “Designated Person”

California already makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse an employee’s request for up to five days of bereavement leave after the death of a family member. SB 1149 amends Government Code section 12945.7 so that “family member” also includes a “designated person.” 

Who qualifies. A “designated person” is any individual related to the employee by blood, or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. The employee may identify that person when requesting leave. This adds to the existing list of spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, and parent-in-law. 

The employer-friendly limit. An employer may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period. Employers that want to use this limit should say so expressly in their written policy.

Framework unchanged. The rest of the statute is the same: it covers employers with five or more employees and employees with at least 30 days of service; leave need not be consecutive but must be completed within three months of the death; and employers may request documentation of the death within 30 days of the first day of leave, which must be kept confidential. 

Policy and training takeaway. Revise your bereavement policy’s definition of family member, and brief HR and managers to expect requests involving close friends, chosen family, and extended relatives. The documentation covers proof of death, not proof of the relationship. 

Training Update: AB 1803 Adds Anti-Hate Speech Content to Harassment Prevention Training

Employers with five or more employees must already provide two hours of interactive harassment prevention training to supervisors and one hour to nonsupervisory employees in California every two years. That training must already cover abusive conduct and harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. 

What’s new. Starting Jan. 1, 2028, the training must also include anti-hate speech training. It must give supervisors and employees practical guidance on recognizing, reporting, and confronting workplace speech that vilifies, humiliates, or incites hatred against people based on the protected characteristics listed in Government Code section 12940(a). 

Built-in safe harbor. Employers may not need to overhaul their training curriculum. A training that covers the prohibition against unlawful harassment and the prevention of abusive conduct based on protected characteristics satisfies the new requirement. Still, employers should confirm that their modules address speech specifically, including how to recognize, report, and respond to it.

Training takeaway. Update your training now, and prepare supervisors to handle reports of hateful speech.

Policy and Training Update: AB 2563 Broadens the Definition of “Sex Discrimination”

AB 2563 is the broadest of the three bills. It adds parallel provisions to more than two dozen California codes, including the Labor Code, Government Code, and Civil Code. Under these provisions, any law prohibiting discrimination based on sex, gender, or similar grounds must be interpreted to prohibit “sex discrimination” as the bill defines it. 

The definition. “Sex discrimination” includes, but is not limited to, discrimination based on any of the following actual or perceived characteristics or actions: 

• Assigned sex or gender category, including nonbinary, and conformity to sex or gender stereotypes
• Gender identity, gender expression, and use of gender-affirming care 
• Pregnancy or related conditions (including abortion, lactation, miscarriage, fertility, and contraception) and related healthcare decisions 
• Sexual orientation and intersex traits

“Discrimination” expressly includes harassment. 

FEHA changes. The bill amends FEHA’s definition of “sex” in Government Code section 12926 to include every characteristic in the new definition. 

“Declarative of existing law.”  The Legislature states that the bill declares existing law and does not expand or contract any existing rights or responsibilities.

Policy and training takeaway. Update the protected-category language in EEO and anti-harassment policies to track the new definition, and make sure your training explains that “perceived” characteristics, sex stereotyping, and reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare decisions are covered.