This bill amends the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the federal civil‑service leave statute to create a specific, job‑protected leave right for employees after the death of a son or daughter. It adds a new category of leave to the FMLA and mirrors the same change in title 5 for federal employees.
The change matters because it creates a statutory baseline for parental bereavement across covered private employers, federal agencies, and school systems that must follow FMLA rules. The bill sets limits and procedural rules — a 12‑month expiration, a prohibition on intermittent leave without agreement, allowance for substitution of paid leave, and a delegation to the Secretary (and OPM for federal employees) to prescribe certification requirements — all of which determine how employers will operationalize the new right.
At a Glance
What It Does
Creates a new FMLA leave ground specifically “because of the death of a son or daughter,” and makes the same change for federal civil‑service leave law. The definition of “son or daughter” is expanded for this purpose to include children of any age.
Who It Affects
Private employers covered by the FMLA (generally employers with 50+ employees), federal agencies and their employees under title 5, and local educational agencies whose employees already have special FMLA rules. Parents who lose a child (including biological, adopted, or otherwise covered children) are the primary beneficiaries.
Why It Matters
This is the first federal statutory parental‑bereavement entitlement added to the FMLA baseline: it creates a job‑protected interval for grieving parents while leaving pay, certification specifics, and scheduling details to agency regulation and employer‑employee negotiation. Employers, HR teams, and school administrators will need policies to implement the 12‑month window, documentation process, and scheduling restrictions.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill inserts a distinct bereavement category into the FMLA framework by adding a new leave reason to 29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1). For this new leave, the statutory definition of “son or daughter” is modified so that, when the leave is taken because of a death, the child may be any age.
The entitlement is otherwise subject to standard FMLA protections: job restoration and continuation of group health coverage, but not automatic pay.
Rather than letting parents use the bereavement leave intermittently as a matter of course, the bill bars intermittent or reduced‑schedule use unless the employee and employer agree. The bill also requires that leave for the death of a child be taken within 12 months of the date of death; the right to take that leave expires at the end of that 12‑month period.
Employees may substitute accrued paid leave (sick, vacation, or PTO) consistent with existing FMLA substitution rules.On process, the bill permits employers to require a certification to support a bereavement leave request, but it does not itself define what that certification looks like; instead, it delegates that detail to the Secretary of Labor (and to OPM for federal employees). Where the need for leave is foreseeable, employees must provide reasonable and practicable notice.
The bill also adjusts the special provisions that govern school employees so that foreseeable bereavement is treated alongside foreseeable medical treatment in counting and scheduling rules.The amendments are mirrored in title 5 for federal employees (adding a like entitlement, the same 12‑month expiration, the same prohibition on intermittent use without agreement, notice, paid‑leave substitution, and the delegation to OPM for certification standards). The measure also tweaks the FMLA provisions that govern failure‑to‑return and certification where an employee does not come back to work following authorized leave, explicitly accounting for death‑related leave in those enforcement and recovery provisions.
The Five Things You Need to Know
For bereavement leave under the bill, “son or daughter” is treated as any age — the statutory parent‑child age limit does not apply when the leave is taken because of a child’s death.
An employee must take bereavement leave within 12 months after the date of the child’s death; the entitlement expires at the end of that 12‑month period.
The bill prohibits intermittent or reduced‑schedule use of bereavement leave unless the employer and employee agree in writing or otherwise, making continuous leave the default.
Employers may require a certification to support a bereavement leave request, but the content and timing of such certification are delegated to the Secretary of Labor’s regulations (and to OPM for federal employees).
The bill explicitly treats spouses employed by the same employer as subject to combined limits for this leave (parallel to existing FMLA spouse rules) and adjusts FMLA rules that specifically govern local educational agency employees.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title
Names the measure the “Parental Bereavement Act of 2026” (Sarah Grace‑Farley‑Kluger‑Barklage Act). This is purely stylistic and has no legal effect on rights or obligations.
Treat death‑related leave as applying to children of any age
Amends the FMLA definition of “son or daughter” by creating a subcategory: for leave taken under the new bereavement reason, the child may be any years of age. Mechanically, it redesignates existing subparagraphs and appends a new clause establishing the age‑agnostic rule only for death‑related leave; other FMLA uses of “son or daughter” remain unchanged.
Adds a new leave reason: death of a son or daughter
Inserts a new subparagraph (G) into the list of reasons that trigger FMLA leave: specifically, leave because of the death of a son or daughter. This creates a distinct statutory basis for up to the equivalent FMLA leave entitlement (subject to the expiration rule added in paragraph (2)). The addition follows existing FMLA structure so the general protections (job restoration, health benefits continuation) attach to this leave unless otherwise limited by the statute.
12‑month expiration; default single‑block leave; paid substitution and notice rules
The bill requires that bereavement leave for a child’s death be used within 12 months of the death and expressly states that the entitlement expires after that window. It adds a default rule that the leave may not be taken intermittently or on a reduced schedule unless the employer and employee agree, which shifts predictability toward employers. The text amends the paid‑leave substitution rules so employees may apply accrued paid leave to bereavement leave under existing substitution mechanics. It also adds a foreseeability notice requirement (reasonable and practicable) and extends the combined‑spouse limit to include this new reason for spouses working for the same employer.
Certification authority, enforcement tweaks, and local education agency adjustments
The bill authorizes employers to require certification for bereavement leave but leaves the content and timing to Secretary of Labor regulation. It amends failure‑to‑return remedies and related certification language to account for death‑related leave in the same framework that governs other FMLA leaves. For local educational agencies, the bill modifies special‑rules language so foreseeable bereavement is handled alongside foreseeable medical treatment and adjusts counting/exceeding rules that apply to school employees — a technical change that shifts how school districts calculate and schedule this leave against school‑year constraints.
Mirrors FMLA changes for federal employees and agencies
Repeats the same structural changes for federal civil‑service law (chapter 63 of title 5): expands the definition of son/daughter for death‑related leave, adds the new leave reason, sets the 12‑month expiration, bars intermittent use without agreement, permits substitution of paid leave, imposes a foreseeability notice obligation, and authorizes OPM to issue certification regulations. Operationally, this places a comparable bereavement entitlement on federal payrolls and requires agencies to update leave procedures and guidance in line with OPM regulations.
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Explore Employment in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Parents who lose a child (biological, adopted, or otherwise recognized as a son or daughter) — gain a statutory, job‑protected leave up to the FMLA entitlement to grieve and manage post‑death affairs.
- Federal employees — receive the same bereavement entitlement under title 5, ensuring parity between private‑sector FMLA coverage and civil‑service leave rules for this reason.
- Local educational agency employees — the bill clarifies treatment of foreseeable bereavement under school‑employee rules, which can help protect job status for teachers and staff navigating school calendars.
- HR, leave administrators, and legal counsel — gain a clear statutory construct to base bereavement policies on, reducing ad hoc decisionmaking and potential inconsistent treatment across employers.
Who Bears the Cost
- Covered private employers (generally 50+ employees) — must incorporate another FMLA leave reason into staffing and payroll practices, manage potential longer or unpredictable absences within the 12‑month window, and may face replacement or overtime costs.
- Federal agencies and OPM — must develop implementing regulations, guidance, and certification standards and absorb administrative workload for processing and monitoring new leave claims.
- Local school districts — may face scheduling challenges and operational disruptions because of the single‑block default combined with school‑year staffing constraints, particularly for small districts.
- Employers required to review and manage certifications — must create processes to receive, store, and validate any new documentation consistent with forthcoming Secretary/OPM regulations, adding HR compliance costs.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between protecting a parent’s need for time‑protected grieving and the employer’s need for predictable, administrable leave rules: the bill gives parents a statutory safety net but constrains flexibility (12‑month limit, no default intermittent use) and delegates sensitive details (what counts as certification) to regulators — a design that eases employer planning but risks undercutting the real, episodic needs of grieving families.
The bill leaves several consequential implementation questions to future regulations. It authorizes certification but does not define acceptable documentation; the Secretary of Labor and OPM will decide whether a death certificate, obituary, funeral program, or other third‑party verification suffices, and how employers must handle sensitive medical privacy around cause of death.
That regulatory gap matters because strict certification standards could undermine the statute’s intent by burdening grieving parents, while vague standards could generate inconsistent employer practices and litigation.
The 12‑month expiration and the default prohibition on intermittent leave favor administrative predictability but clash with how grieving often occurs: needs for short, intermittent time off (court dates, counseling, anniversaries, estate matters) are common and may be disadvantaged unless employers agree to flexibility. The bill permits substitution of paid leave, but it does not mandate paid bereavement; parents who lack accrued leave may still face unpaid time off, producing disparate economic effects.
Finally, the interaction with existing state bereavement laws, collective bargaining agreements, and employer policies will require careful reconciliation: the federal baseline leaves room for narrower or broader state or contract provisions, creating a patchwork of entitlements across workplaces.
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