Saturday 27 December 2014

Bereavement leave

When we lost Charlie the last thing on any of our minds was returning to work. 
We were trying to get through each day as well as we could and i'm not sure if any of us could have functioned properly in work. 
We were lucky in the fact that it was over the Christmas and New Year period so there were some public holidays in there.

The current UK Law currently has no statutory bereavement leave entitlement.
Most employers set their own, and can vary from paid to unpaid leave. 
Most employers seem to offer 3 days paid leave but there are some that will only offer this if the person who died was a close family member. 
This also applies to leave for the funeral, if the person was not a close family member you would have to take the time off unpaid or use your holiday entitlement.
They document what constitutes a close family member but for some people these are not appropriate. 
People who have been bought up by someone other than their natural parents might find it difficult to get paid leave to attend their funeral. 
How ridiculous a rule is this.
No one can say which members of your family you are closest to and no one knows how close your family is. 
How can they then dictate what leave you can take.

Following Charlies death I took 4 weeks off work. 
This would have probably been longer if I hadn't been contacted by work to be told that if i didn't return my pay would be reduced.
Most families cannot afford for their wages to reduce and so return to work before they are up to it.
It seems cruel that families have to think about returning to work as they are unable to afford to be off work when they are going through one of the hardest times of their lives.
I was allowed to have a graduated return spread over a 2 week period which did help but I still found it very had returning to an environment filled with children.
I was lucky that my employer offered paid leave, although it wasn't bereavement leave. I had had to be signed off on the sick by my GP.
I was only entitled to 3 days paid bereavement leave.

My husband returned to work as his company did not offer any paid leave except for the funeral. He carried on going to work whilst trying to grieve for his grandson and support his daughter. 

In other countries the law seems to be very similar to ours 

Bereavement Leave entitlements

New Zealand
Bereavement leave of 3 paid days on the death of 7 family members (listed in the Act) after you’ve
worked for 6 months continuous employment. An employee may also be eligible for 1 day paid leave
where the employer recognises the employee has suffered a bereavement or has funeral responsibilities.
Paid at relevant daily pay. An employer can ask for proof of the bereavement.

UK
Employees have the right to take unpaid time off to deal with a death of a dependent (e.g. a husband,
wife, partner, child, parent, or anyone living in your household as a member of the family). There is no
timeframe on this – it is as agreed with the employer and has to be ‘reasonable’.

Australia
Employees can take 2 days paid compassionate leave if a family member sustains a life-threatening
illness or death. This can be taken non-consecutively. For casuals this is unpaid.
An employer is entitled to request evidence that would substantiate the reason for leave.

South Africa
Employees who have worked for an employer for longer than 4 months (of at least 4 days a week) can
take 3 days paid family responsibility leave when the employees child is born, or sick, or on the death of
an employee’s spouse/life partner or parent, grandparent, child, grandchild or sibling.
This can be taken in whole or part days. Before paying an employer can require reasonable proof of why
the leave is required. Any unused entitlement lapses at the end of 12 months.

USA
No entitlement by law, however employers can agree to provide paid or unpaid bereavement leave.

Key differences The UK bereavement leave is unpaid. In Australia it’s called compassionate leave & applies for

different situations to NZ law. In South Africa you only have to have worked for 4 months


It seems strange that when you have a baby you are entitled, by law, to paid maternity and paternity leave, but if you then lose that child you are only entitled to up to 3 paid days leave. 
This is also dependent on how sympathetic and understanding your employer is.

Surely the law is wrong and needs reviewing and changing.

Grief is not something that has a time limit and to suggest that people should be able to return to work after such a short period of leave is ridiculous. 
The families going through grief have enough things to worry about such as arranging funerals, dealing with paperwork as well as getting their head around life without their loved one let alone then having to think about having to return to work or lose their pay.

What experiences have you had regarding bereavement leave or having time off to attend a funeral. We would like to hear from you.




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