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HB 810

An Act amending the act of June 30, 2011 (P.L.81, No.18), known as the Pennsylvania Web Accountability and Transparency (PennWATCH) Act, further providing for searchable budget database and for administration.

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Sheryl Delozier and 16 co-sponsors

Creates paid state bereavement leave: up to 40 hours for immediate family, up to 8 hours for a colleague; funded ($2M/yr), effective July 1, 2025; rules to implement.

Referred to Intergovernmental Affairs & Operations
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Bill Summary · HB 810

HB 810 — State Employee Bereavement Leave (Up to 40 Hours)

Status: Passed First Reading
Introduced: November 12, 2024
Subject areas: Appropriations; Personnel; State employees; Leave; Death & dying; Salaries & benefits

Purpose / Intent

The bill creates a statutory paid bereavement leave benefit for State employees, giving workers paid time off after the death of an immediate family member or a colleague. It directs the State Human Resources Commission to adopt rules to implement the benefit and appropriates funds to cover the cost.

Key provisions

  • New statute (G.S. 126‑8.7) creating paid bereavement leave effective July 1, 2025. The law applies to death dates on or after that date.
  • Eligibility
    • Permanent, probationary, and time‑limited full‑time State employees: up to 40 hours paid leave for death of an immediate family member; up to 8 hours paid leave for death of a colleague.
    • Part‑time employees: prorated bereavement leave on an equitable basis.
    • Employees are eligible immediately upon hire for losses occurring on or after their first day of work.
  • Definitions
    • “Immediate family member” includes spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, dependents living in the household, and step/half/adoptive/foster/in‑law/legal ward and in loco parentis relationships.
    • “Colleague” means a coworker at the employee’s current agency who worked there within one year of death.
  • Use and documentation
    • No annual limit on uses of this leave when taken for qualified losses.
    • Leave for an immediate family member must be used within 180 days of the date (or discovery) of death and may be taken non‑consecutively as approved.
    • Colleague leave is limited to the time required to travel to and attend the funeral/memorial (not to exceed 8 hours) and may only be used on the date of the event; employees must provide documentation of attendance.
    • Employees must provide documentation of death (e.g., death certificate, obituary, funeral information) when requesting leave.
  • Administrative and other provisions
    • The Commission must adopt rules and policies to implement the benefit; governing boards for UNC, public schools, and community colleges must adopt substantially equivalent policies.
    • The leave is in addition to (does not require exhaustion of) sick or vacation leave and shared leave; it has no cash value at termination; it does not count toward retirement; it cannot be applied to negative leave balances or donated as shared leave.
    • Fraudulent attempts to obtain leave may result in discipline up to dismissal.

Appropriation / Fiscal impact

  • Appropriates $2,000,000 from the General Fund to the Reserve for Compensation Increases for each year of the 2025–2027 biennium to fund the paid bereavement leave.

Who is affected

  • State agency employees (permanent, probationary, time‑limited), public school employees, community college employees, and University of North Carolina employees — subject to adoption of equivalent policies by the appropriate governing entities.
  • Employers will need to revise leave policies, HR systems, and tracking to accommodate the new benefit and documentation requirements.

Implementation / Timeline

  • Effective date: July 1, 2025.
  • Applies to bereavement requests for deaths occurring on or after July 1, 2025.
  • The State Human Resources Commission must promulgate implementing rules before agencies begin administering the benefit.

Practical effects / considerations

  • Expands paid leave protections for State workers and standardizes bereavement coverage across many State employers.
  • Requires administrative actions (rulemaking, payroll/leave tracking, documentation procedures) and has an initial General Fund appropriation to cover estimated costs.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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