Last week was National Grief Awareness Week, an annual occasion to bring awareness to grief, loss, and bereavement and its effects on our mental health. National Grief Awareness Week highlights the importance of having bereavement support in the workplace and knowing how to deal with employee bereavement appropriately. Clearly, dealing with a staff member who has suffered a bereavement must be handled very sensitively.
This blog will cover what bereavement leave is, how to deal with employee bereavement, which types of staff are entitled to bereavement leave, the typical length of bereavement leave, and payment considerations associated with bereavement leave.
Employee bereavement leave: the basics
An employee is entitled to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off (bereavement leave) to put arrangements in place following the death of a dependant, including their child, spouse or civil partner, partner living in the same household or parent. This might include arranging and attending the funeral, registering the death, or applying for probate.
Many employers will choose to offer some level of compassionate leave over and above the minimum legal requirement, such as a certain number of paid days off work in the event of the death of a close relative. Additionally, some employees have the right to take statutory parental bereavement leave following the loss of a child under 18, or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. We cover this type of leave further below.
How to deal with employee bereavement leave requests
It’s important to handle bereavement leave requests sensitively. Even if you have a specific policy, aim to be flexible in your approach, since grief is a process personal to each staff member. You should also be careful to ensure that you treat all staff equally in your approach to allowing compassionate leave to avoid any potential discrimination claims. Note that some religious faiths may require a period of mourning at home after a family member has died; these requests should be accommodated where possible.
While a staff member is on compassionate leave, you should keep in contact with them to show your continued support and to allow you to best assess when it is suitable to return to work, while balancing this with giving them the space they need. You should also continue to support your staff when they return to work, being mindful of their physical and emotional wellbeing. Note that if grief turns into anxiety or depression, your staff may be entitled to take sick leave. For more information, see Dealing with sickness absence.
It’s best practice to set out your policy for dealing with bereavement and compassionate leave in your staff handbook. This should include when leave will be available, how much leave is offered and whether it is paid or unpaid. For a template policy, see Staff handbook and HR policies (you can choose to generate the policy either on its own or as part of a full staff handbook).
Statutory parental bereavement leave
Statutory parental bereavement leave is a period of leave from work available to employees following the loss of a child under 18, or a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Casual workers and freelancers are not entitled to statutory parental bereavement leave. Agency workers may be entitled to statutory parental bereavement leave, but these workers will be the responsibility of the agency that employs them.
Length of statutory parental bereavement leave
Eligible employees can choose to take either one or two weeks’ parental bereavement leave. If they choose to take two weeks’ leave, this can be taken consecutively or as two separate weeks of leave.
Your employee must let you know when the bereavement occurred, when they would like their period of leave to start, and whether they’ll be taking one or two weeks’ leave. The notice can be given informally (eg by text message or email).
Payments
The rate of statutory parental bereavement pay is £156.66 per week or 90% of the employee’s normal weekly earnings, whichever is the lower amount. You should pay statutory parental bereavement leave pay in the same way as you would normally pay your employee, such as through the payroll at the end of the month.
You may also choose to pay enhanced parental bereavement leave to your employees. For further guidance on the rules around statutory bereavement pay and how to recover it from the Government, see our Q&A.
For more detailed guidance on bereavement leave, see our Q&A on bereavement.
The content in this article is up to date at the date of publishing. The information provided is intended only for information purposes, and is not for the purpose of providing legal advice. Sparqa Legal’s Terms of Use apply.
Marion joined Sparqa Legal as a Senior Legal Editor in 2018. She previously worked as a corporate/commercial lawyer for five years at one of New Zealand’s leading law firms, Kensington Swan (now Dentons Kensington Swan), and as an in-house legal consultant for a UK tech company. Marion regularly writes for Sparqa’s blog, contributing across its commercial, IP and health and safety law content.