Dispute Resolution


Small Employer Family Leave Mediation Program

CRD enforces the Fair Employment and Housing Act, which protects employees and job applicants from discrimination and harassment based on a protected characteristic. The Fair Employment and Housing Act also guarantees eligible employees certain types of job-protected leave.

Through CRD’s “small employer family leave mediation program,” small employers having between five and 19 employees and their employees have the right to mediate with CRD – free of charge – disputes involving the following types of leave before the employee may go to court:

  • Leave to care for the employee’s own serious health condition or a family member’s serious health condition, or to bond with a new child (California Family Rights Act or CFRA)
  • Bereavement leave after the death of a family member
  • Reproductive loss leave (death or loss of a child during assisted reproduction, pregnancy, birth, adoption, or surrogacy)

For more information about this mediation program, please review the FAQs.


651 Bannon Street, Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95811
Regional Offices
800-884-1684 (voice), 800-700-2320 (TTY) or
California's Relay Service at 711
contact.center@calcivilrights.ca.gov