Employees in California who are victims of violence—and their family members who are victims— now have expanded leave protections—when they seek legal, medical, mental health, or safety planning services. The new law, Assembly Bill (AB) 406, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed on October 1, 2025, and which took effect immediately, prohibits discrimination and retaliation and clarifies employer obligations, documentation options, and confidentiality.

Quick Hits

• Effective October 1, 2025, California law prohibits discrimination and retaliation against employees (and employees with victimized family members) for taking qualifying leave related to a “qualifying act of violence.”
• Employers with twenty-five or more employees must allow time off for a broadened list of covered activities, subject to reasonable notice and certification.
• The law does not mandate paid leave; employees may use available paid sick leave and other accrued PTO. Leave may run concurrently with federal and state family and medical leave laws where eligibility is met.

Who is a “victim,” and what is a “qualifying act of violence”? AB 406 defines a “qualifying act of violence” to include domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and specified acts or patterns of conduct, such as “caus[ing] bodily injury or death”; “exhibit[ing], draw[ing], brandish[ing], or us[ing] a firearm, or other dangerous weapon”; or using or “mak[ing] a reasonably perceived or actual threat to use[] force against another...

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