Bereavement leave

The Department of Health has issued guidelines on the amount of bereavement leave an employee may take on the death of a relative. These guidelines state that: 

Bereavement leave with pay may be granted under the following conditions: 

• A maximum of 20 working days may be granted on the death of a spouse (including a cohabiting partner), child (including adopted children and children being cared for on the basis of ‘in loco parentis’) or any person in a relationship of domestic dependency, including same sex partners.
• Leave under this provision will be granted within a time span of 28 calendar days. The number of bereavement leave days granted to the employee will depend on the number of rostered working days they are due to work within the 28 calendar day period, subject to a maximum of twenty days.
• A maximum of five working days may be granted on the death of an immediate relative, i.e. father, mother, brother, sister, mother-in-law or father-in-law.
• Leave under this provision will be granted within a time span of 7 calendar days. The number of bereavement leave days granted to the employee will depend on the number of rostered working days they are due to work within the 7 calendar day period, subject to a maximum of five working days.
• In exceptional circumstances, a maximum of three days may be granted on the death of a more distant relative, if for example, an employee has to take charge, of funeral arrangements or has lived in the same house as the deceased.
• Extra days may be allowed where an immediate relative dies abroad and you have to go abroad to take charge of funeral arrangements.

Bereavement leave may not be deferred and should be taken straight away when a bereavement occurs. It is not possible to postpone bereavement leave until an employee has returned from sick leave, maternity leave, etc.  However, all applications for bereavement leave are assessed on an individual basis.