California’s Crime Victim Leave and Workplace Safety Rights: What Changed on January 1, 2026
If you have ever had to choose between keeping your job and going to court, you already understand why this law exists. Restraining orders are obtained during business hours. Counselling, a locksmith, a new school, a move to an address the person who hurt you does not know: all of it happens on weekdays. In Los Angeles County and elsewhere throughout California a restraining order hearing may be set at your nearest district courthouse, mid-morning, which is exactly the collision this law resolves.
Labor Law PC represents employees only, never employers, from our offices in Santa Monica and Palo Alto. From Los Angeles to the Bay Area, we handle these as what they usually become: not an argument about a day off, but a retaliation or accommodation case that began with a court date.
What Changed
These protections used to sit in the Labor Code and were enforced by the Labor Commissioner. As of January 1, 2025 they moved into the Fair Employment and Housing Act, enforced by the Civil Rights Department. That changes which remedies are on the table: compensatory and emotional distress damages with no statutory cap of the federal kind, and attorney’s fees to a prevailing employee.
The final piece, effective January 1, 2026, added the right to take time off to attend judicial proceedings related to the crime, including a plea, a sentencing, and post-arrest or post-conviction release decisions.
Who Is Covered
Every employer in California, regardless of size, must not fire or discriminate against you for taking time off to:
- Serve on a jury
- Appear in court as a subpoenaed witness
- Obtain a restraining order or other relief for your safety or your child’s
- Since January 1, 2026, attend judicial proceedings related to the crime
Employers with 25 or more employees must also allow time off to get medical attention, counselling, shelter or victim services, to participate in safety planning, to relocate or enrol children in a new school, to obtain legal services, or to arrange care needed for safety.
“Qualifying Act of Violence” Is Broader Than You Think
It includes domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. It also includes any conduct where someone causes bodily injury, brandishes a weapon, or threatens force intended to cause injury.
And it applies regardless of whether anyone is arrested, prosecuted or convicted. You do not need a conviction. You do not need charges. You do not need a police report to have been taken seriously or taken at all.
Your Employer Cannot Demand Proof It Is Not Entitled To
If your absence was unscheduled, your employer may ask for certification. A police report counts. So does a court order, or documentation from a counsellor, advocate or health care provider. So does any other documentation that reasonably verifies it happened, including a written statement signed by you.
That last one is not a fallback. The statute lists it as sufficient, on equal footing with a police report. If you have been told it is a police report or nothing, that is wrong. Whatever you provide must be kept confidential, and you are entitled to notice before any permitted disclosure.
The Right Most Workers Have Never Heard Of
Time off gets written about. This part changes daily life.
If you are a victim, or your family member is, and you request an accommodation for your safety at work, your employer must provide a reasonable one. The statute gives examples: a transfer, a modified schedule, a changed work phone number, permission to carry your phone, a moved work station, an installed lock, a safety procedure, or a referral to a victim assistance organisation.
Your employer must engage with you in a timely, good faith, interactive process, and must weigh any exigent danger to you. It can decline only on a showing of undue hardship, which is its burden.
One honest limitation. This accommodation right took effect on January 1, 2025 and no California appellate court has interpreted it yet. We can tell you what the statute requires. Nobody can yet tell you how courts will apply it, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Your employer also may not retaliate against you for requesting an accommodation, whether or not it was granted.
What the Leave Costs You
It is unpaid by default, but you may elect to use vacation, personal leave, paid sick leave or comp time. California paid sick leave can be used for these purposes, which for most workers is how the time gets paid.
Deadlines. Because this is now a FEHA claim, a complaint with the Civil Rights Department must generally be filed within three years, and a lawsuit within one year of a right-to-sue notice. Conduct from before 2025 may run on shorter clocks. Do not work the date out alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Am I protected if I never filed a police report? (California)
Yes. The statute applies regardless of arrest, prosecution or conviction, and a written statement signed by you is sufficient certification.
Does crime victim leave apply to small employers in California?
Yes, the first tier does. Time off for jury service, as a subpoenaed witness, for a restraining order, and since January 2026 for judicial proceedings, is protected at every employer regardless of size.
Is it retaliation if my hours were cut after crime victim leave?
Yes, that is the case. Approving leave and then punishing you for it is retaliation. Write down the dates and the schedule before and after, tonight, while it is fresh.
Can I take leave if a family member was the victim?
Yes. The law covers you when the victim is a family member — spouse or partner, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or parent-in-law — and even a “designated person” you name. What you’re entitled to depends on the reason for the time off and your employer’s size: court-related leave is protected everywhere, while counseling, safety planning, and relocation apply at employers with 25 or more.
You Should Not Have to Choose Between Safety and a Paycheck
If taking the time you needed cost you something at work, or you asked for a safety measure and got silence, call (877) 775-2267 or contact us online for a free, confidential consultation. No fees unless we win.
This article is general information about California law as of September 2026 and is not legal advice about your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines in employment matters are short and vary by claim.
