State Emp. Leave/Bereavement/Pregnancy Loss.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
S 1
SENATE BILL 549

Short Title: State Emp. Leave/Bereavement/Pregnancy Loss. (Public)
Sponsors: Senator Murdock (Primary Sponsor).
Referred to: Rules and Operations of the Senate
March 26, 2025
*S549-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT PROVIDING STA TE EMPLOYEES WITH PA ID LEAVE DESIGNATED FOR 2
BEREAVEMENT AND FOLLOWING A PREGNANCY LOSS AND APPROPRIATING 3
FUNDS FOR THOSE PURPOSES. 4
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5
SECTION 1.(a) Effective July 1, 2025, Article 2 of Chapter 126 of the General 6
Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read: 7
"§ 126-8.7. Paid leave for pregnancy loss. 8
(a) The State Human Resources Commission (Commission) shall adopt rules and policies 9
to provi de that a permanent, probationary, or time -limited full -time State employee shall be 10
granted paid leave for pregnancy loss. For the purposes of this section, the term "pregnancy loss" 11
means a miscarriage, an unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or of an assisted 12
reproductive technology procedure, a failed adoption arrangement, a failed surrogacy 13
arrangement, or a diagnosis or event that impacts pregnancy or fertility. 14
(b) The Commission shall adopt rules and policies to provide that a permanent, 15
probationary, or time -limited part-time State employee shall be granted a prorated amount of 16
paid leave for pregnancy loss on an equitable basis. 17
(c) The rules and policies adopted by the Commission shall include the following 18
requirements, at the minimum: 19
(1) That the duration of leave for pregnancy loss shall be not less than 56 hours 20
of paid leave. 21
(2) That an employee requesting the paid leave shall submit a request for leave to 22
process and address their own health needs and the health needs of their 23
partners during the time period following a pregnancy loss. 24
(3) A period of minimum service before an employee becomes eligible for paid 25
leave under this section. The rules shall provide that the period of minimum 26
service may be met by aggregating employment at any of the following: 27
a. State agencies, departments, and institutions, including The University 28
of North Carolina. 29
b. Public school units that provide paid leave in accordance with this 30
section. 31
c. Community colleges located in this State. 32
(d) The leave authorized by this section: 33
(1) Is available without exhaustion of the employee's sick and vacation leave and 34
is awarded in addition to shared leave under G.S. 126-8.3, or other leave 35
authorized by State or federal law. 36
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 Senate Bill 549-First Edition
(2) Has no cash value upon termination from employment. 1
(3) May not be used for calculating an employee's retirement benefits. 2
(e) The provisions of this section shall apply to employees of State agencies, 3
departments, and institutions, including The University of North Carolin a; to public school 4
employees; and to community college employees. The appropriate governing board, officer, or 5
entity shall adopt rules and policies to award paid leave for pregnancy loss to employees that are 6
substantially equivalent to those adopted by the State Human Resources Commission." 7
SECTION 1.(b) Effective July 1, 2025, G.S. 126-5(c19) reads as rewritten: 8
"(c19) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, G.S. 126-8.6 applies and 9
126-8.7 apply to all State employees, public school employees, and community college 10
employees. G.S. 126-8.6 does and 126-8.7 do not apply to employees described in subdivisions 11
(2) and (3) of subsection (c1) of G.S. 126-5. The legislative and judicial branches shall adopt 12
parental leave and paid bereavement leave policies." 13
SECTION 1.(c) Effective July 1, 2025, there is appropriated from the General Fund 14
to the Reserve for Compensation Increases the sum of one million eight hundred thousand dollars 15
($1,800,000) for the 2025 -2026 fiscal year and the sum of one million eight hundred thousand 16
dollars ($1,800,000) for the 2025 -2027 fiscal year to fund paid leave for pregnancy loss as 17
enacted in this section. 18
SECTION 1.(d) This section becomes effective July 1, 2025, and applies to requests 19
for pregnancy loss leave occurring on or after that date. 20
SECTION 2.(a) Effective July 1, 2025, Article 2 of Chapter 126 of the General 21
Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read: 22
"§ 126-8.8. Paid bereavement leave for death of immediate family member. 23
(a) The State Human Resources Commission (Commission) shall adopt rules and policies 24
to provide that a permanent, probationary, or time -limited full -time State employee shall be 25
granted up to three consecutive workdays of paid bereavement leave on the death of any member 26
of the employee 's immediate family. For the purposes of this section, "immediate family 27
member" means a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent, or grandchild. The term 28
includes the step, half, and in-law relationships. 29
(b) The Commissi on shall adopt rules and policies to provide that a permanent, 30
probationary, or time -limited part-time State employee shall be granted a prorated amount of 31
paid bereavement leave on an equitable basis. 32
(c) The rules and policies adopted by the Commission shall include the following 33
requirements, at a minimum: 34
(1) That an employee requesting paid bereavement leave submit a statement 35
stating the name and relationship of the deceased. 36
(2) A period of minimum service before an employee becomes eligi ble for paid 37
bereavement leave under this section. The rules shall provide that the period 38
of minimum service may be met by aggregating employment at any of the 39
following: 40
a. State agencies, departments, and institutions, including The University 41
of North Carolina. 42
b. Public school units that provide paid bereavement leave in accordance 43
with this section. 44
c. Community colleges located in this State. 45
(d) The paid bereavement leave authorized by this section: 46
(1) Is available without exhaustion of the employee's sick and vacation leave and 47
is awarded in addition to shared leave under G.S. 126-8.3, or other leave 48
authorized by State or federal law. 49
(2) Has no cash value upon termination from employment. 50
(3) May not be used for calculating an employee's retirement benefits. 51
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Senate Bill 549-First Edition Page 3
(e) The provisions of this section shall apply to employees of State agencies, 1
departments, and institutions, including The University of North Carolina; to public school 2
employees; and to community college employees. The appropriate go verning board, officer, or 3
entity shall adopt rules and policies to award paid bereavement leave to employees that are 4
substantially equivalent to those adopted by the State Human Resources Commission." 5
SECTION 2.(b) Effective July 1, 2025, G.S. 126-5(c19), as amended by Section 1 6
of this act, reads as rewritten: 7
"(c19) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, G.S. 126-8.6 and G.S. 126-8.7 8
G.S. 126-8.6, 126-8.7, and 126-8.8 apply to all State employees, public school employees, and 9
community college employees. G.S. 126-8.6 and G.S. 126-8.7 G.S. 126-8.6, 126 -8.7, and 10
126-8.8 do not apply to employees described in subdivisions (2) and (3) of subsection (c1) of 11
G.S. 126-5. The legislative and judicial branches shall adopt parental leave and pregnancy loss 12
leave policies." 13
SECTION 2.(c) Effective July 1, 2025, there is appropriated from the General Fund 14
to the Reserve for Compensation Increases the sum of two million dollars ($2, 000,000) for the 15
2025-2026 fiscal year and the sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) for the 2026 -2027 fiscal 16
year to fund paid bereavement leave as enacted in this section 17
SECTION 2.(d) This section becomes effective July 1, 2025, and applies to requests 18
for paid bereavement leave for deaths occurring on or after that date. 19
SECTION 3. Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes 20
law. 21