State Employee Bereavement Leave/Up To 40 Hrs.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 1140

Short Title: State Employee Bereavement Leave/Up To 40 Hrs. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Hawkins, Colvin, and Cotham (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
May 4, 2026
*H1140-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT PROVIDING STATE EMPLOYEES WITH PAID BEREAVEMENT LEAVE OF UP 2
TO FORTY HOURS ON DEATH OF AN IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER AND EIGHT 3
HOURS ON DEATH OF A COLLEAGUE AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR THAT 4
PURPOSE. 5
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 6
SECTION 1.(a) Effective July 1, 2026, Article 2 of Chapter 126 of the General 7
Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read: 8
"§ 126-8.8. Paid bereavement leave. 9
(a) The following definitions apply in this section: 10
(1) Colleague. – A coworker with whom the employee worked at the employee's 11
current agency, if the coworker worked for the agency within one year of their 12
death. 13
(2) Immediate family member. – A spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, 14
grandchild, or dependent living in the employee 's household. The term 15
includes the step, half, adoptive, foster, in-law, legal ward, and in loco parentis 16
relationships. 17
(b) The State Human Resources Commission (Commission) shall adopt rules and policies 18
to provide that a permanent, probationary, or time-limited full-time State employee is granted up 19
to 40 hours of paid leave following the loss of an immediate family member and up to eight hours 20
of paid leave to eligible employees for bereavement following the loss of a colleague. 21
(c) The Commission shall adopt rules and policies to provide that a permanent, 22
probationary, or time -limited part-time State employee shall be granted a prorated amount of 23
paid bereavement leave on an equitable basis. 24
(d) The rules and policies adopted by the Commission shall include the following 25
requirements, at a minimum: 26
(1) That an employee requesting paid bereavement leave submit a statement 27
stating the name and relationship of the deceased. 28
(2) Employees are eligible for paid bereavement leave immediately upon being 29
hired for any loss that occurs on or after the first day of work with the agency. 30
(3) No annual limit on the number of uses of paid bereavement leave, if the leave 31
follows the loss of an immediate family member or colleague. 32
(4) The amount of time required to travel to and from and to attend a funeral or 33
other memorial event of a colleague is allowed, but not to exceed eight hours. 34
The leave may only be used on the date of the funeral or other memorial event. 35
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 1140-First Edition
Employees shall provide documentation of attendance at the memorial event 1
following use of the leave. 2
(5) If an employee transfers from one agency to another agency, and the employee 3
has any amount of unused paid bereavement leave for which they are eligible, 4
the employee may use the remainder of the paid bereavement leave for which 5
they are eligible at that agency. 6
(6) Employees must provide documentation of death of an immediate family 7
member at the time the paid bereavement leave is requested or, if the 8
documentation is not available at the time of the request, as soon as the 9
documentation is available. Acceptable docu mentation may include a death 10
certificate, obituary, and funeral or memorial event information. 11
(7) Paid bereavement leave for an immediate family member must be used within 12
180 days of the date of death (or discovery of death if circumstances caused 13
the discovery of the death to be significantly later than the date of death). The 14
leave may be used as the employee needs and does not have to be used on 15
consecutive days, subject to approval. 16
(8) Any employee who attempts to gain eligibility for paid bereavement leave 17
through falsification of a familial relationship, falsification of a death, 18
falsification of supporting documentation , or any other untruthful manner 19
shall be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal. 20
(e) The paid bereavement leave authorized by this section: 21
(1) Is available without exhaustion of the employee's sick and vacation leave and 22
is awarded in addition to shared leave under G.S. 126-8.3, or other leave 23
authorized by State or federal law. 24
(2) Has no cash value upon termination from employment. 25
(3) May not be used for calculating an employee's retirement benefits. 26
(4) Shall not be applied to negative leave balances. 27
(5) Shall not be donated as shared leave under G.S. 126-8.3. 28
(f) The provisions of this section shall apply to employees of State agencies, 29
departments, and institutions, including The University of North Carolina; to public school 30
employees; and to community college employees. The appropriate governing board, officer, or 31
entity shall adopt rules and policies to award paid bereavement leave to employees that are 32
substantially equivalent to those adopted by the State Human Resources Commission." 33
SECTION 1.(b) Effective July 1, 2026, G.S. 126-5(c19) reads as rewritten: 34
"(c19) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, G.S. 126-8.6 applies 35
G.S. 126-8.6 and G.S. 126-8.8 apply to all State employees, public school employees, and 36
community college employees. G.S. 126-8.6 does and G.S. 126-8.8 do not apply to employees 37
described in subdivisions (2) and (3) of subsection (c1) of G.S. 126-5. The legislative and judicial 38
branches shall adopt parental leave and bereavement leave policies." 39
SECTION 2. Effective July 1, 2026, there is appropriated from the General Fund to 40
the Reserve for Compensation Increases the sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) for the 41
2026-2027 fiscal year to fund paid bereavement leave as authorized by this act. 42
SECTION 3. This act becomes effective July 1, 2026, and applies to requests for 43
paid bereavement leave for deaths occurring on or after that date. 44