AB 2499 Expands Leaves, Accommodations, and Sick Leave Requirements for Victims | By: Kelly O. Scott 

Beginning January 1, 2025, Assembly Bill 2499 will expand the definition of “victim” for purposes of certain leaves and accommodations, and permit the use of paid sick leave for time away from work taken to seek relief or serve as a witness by an employee who is a victim, or in certain instances, by an employee with a family member who is a victim.  Further, jury, witness, and victim leave and accommodation protections will no longer be covered by the Labor Code, but will instead be unlawful employment practices under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and, therefore, will be under the authority and enforcement power of the Civil Rights Department (CRD).  

Currently, victims of “crime” and “crime or abuse” are provided certain leaves and accommodations protection.  AB 2499 will instead define “victim” as an individual against whom “a qualifying act of violence” is committed. A “qualifying act of violence” means any of the following, regardless of whether anyone is arrested for, prosecuted for, or convicted of committing any crime:

• Domestic violence
• Sexual assault
• Stalking
• An act, conduct, or pattern of conduct that includes:
  • An individual causing bodily injury or death to another
  • An individual exhibiting, drawing, brandishing, or using a firearm or other dangerous weapon, with respect to another
  • An individual using or making a reasonably perceived or actual threat of use of force against another to cause physical injury or death.

Employees who are victims of a qualifying act of violence may take time off from work to obtain judicial relief to ensure their own health, safety or welfare or that of their child.  Further, employers with 25 or more employees are required to provide a leave of absence to an employee who is a victim, or if the employee’s family member is a victim, to seek various specified forms of relief, treatment, or services.  “Family member” is defined broadly to include an employee’s “child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner, or a designated person.”  Employees may use available paid sick leave to cover the time taken away from work under these leaves; available vacation, personal leave, or compensatory time off may also be used. 

The leaves of absence that are protected for employees who are victims or who have family members that are victims under AB 2499 for employers with 25 or more employees are as follows:

1. To seek any relief for the family member, including a temporary restraining order or other injunctive relief to help ensure the health, safety, or welfare of the family member of the victim.
2. To assist a family member to seek medical attention for or to recover from injuries caused by a qualifying act of violence.
3. To assist a family member to seek services from a domestic violence program, rape crisis center, or victim services organization as a result of a qualifying act of violence.
4. To assist a family member to seek psychological counseling or mental health services related to an experience of a qualifying act of violence.
5. To participate in safety planning or take other actions to increase safety from future qualifying acts of violence.
6. To secure a new residence due to the qualifying act of violence, including, but not limited to, securing temporary or permanent housing or enrolling children in a new school or childcare.
7. To provide care to a family member who is recovering from injuries caused by a qualifying act of violence.
8. To assist a family member to seek civil or criminal legal services in relation to the qualifying act of violence.
9. To prepare for, or attend, any civil, administrative, or criminal legal proceeding related to the qualifying act of violence.
10. To seek or provide childcare or care to a care-dependent adult if the care is necessary to ensure the safety of the child or dependent adult as a result of the qualifying act of violence.

Employees are required to provide the employer reasonable advance notice of the employee’s intention to take time off, unless advance notice is not feasible.  When an unscheduled absence occurs, employers are prohibited from taking any action against the employee if the employee provides a certification to the employer within a reasonable time after the absence.  Such a certification can be in any of the following forms: a police report indicating that the employee or a family member of the employee was a victim; a court order protecting or separating the employee or a family member of the employee from the perpetrator of the qualifying act of violence, or other evidence from a court or prosecuting attorney that the employee or a family member of the employee has appeared in court; documentation from a licensed medical professional, domestic violence counselor, sexual assault counselor, victim advocate, licensed health care provider, or counselor that the employee or a family member of the employee was undergoing treatment or seeking or receiving services directly related to the qualifying act of violence; any other form of documentation that reasonably verifies that the qualifying act of violence occurred, including, but not limited to, a written statement signed by the employee, or an individual acting on the employee’s behalf, certifying the purpose of the absence.

AB 2499 will also make it an unlawful practice under the FEHA to discriminate or retaliate against an employee who takes time off to serve on a jury, provided that the employee gave reasonable advance notice when feasible.  Discrimination or retaliation is also unlawful under the FEHA against an employee who is a victim for taking time off to appear in court as a witness pursuant to a subpoena or court other court order.  Paid sick leave may be used by an employee in such circumstances to cover the time away from work.

Employers may limit the total leave taken under each of these leaves to 12 weeks and require that such leave run concurrently with leave taken pursuant to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the California Family Rights Act, if the employee would have been eligible for that leave.  Additionally, leave for employees whose family member is a victim may be limited to as few five days to secure a new residence due to the qualifying act of violence, including enrolling children in a new school or childcare, or ten days for all other leave purposes.

AB 2499 will also expand the eligibility for reasonable accommodations for the safety of the employee while at work to include an employee who is a victim or whose family member is a victim of a qualifying act of violence. The new statute provides that such reasonable accommodations may include “the implementation of safety measures, including a transfer, reassignment, modified schedule, changed work telephone, permission to carry telephone at work, changed work station, installed lock, assistance in documenting domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or another qualifying act of violence that occurs in the workplace, an implemented safety procedure, or another adjustment to a job structure, workplace facility, or work requirement in response to domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other qualifying act of violence, or referral to a victim assistance organization.”  Employers are required to engage in a timely interactive process with the employee to determine effective reasonable accommodations, and must consider an exigent circumstance or danger facing the employee or their family member in determining the reasonableness of the request.  Employers need not provide an accommodation that would constitutes an undue hardship on the employer’s business operations, including an accommodation that would violate an employer’s duty to furnish and maintain a place of employment that is safe and healthful for all employees.

Employers must maintain the confidentiality of employees seeking to exercise rights under AB 2499.  Employers must also notify employees of their rights in writing under these laws, upon hire, annually, at any time upon request, and whenever an employee informs an employer that the employee or the employee’s family member is a victim.  The CRD is required to provide a model notice of these rights by July 1, 2025.

The author would like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Joanne Warriner.