Guide to bereavement leave

The death of a loved one is a difficult time for anyone. As an employer, giving your employees time to grieve if someone they care about passes away is essential. That’s why bereavement leave exists—to provide your employees with time away from work to mourn.

Adding bereavement time to your benefits package is important and meaningful for your employees and their families. But before you draft a formal policy, you should know what bereavement leave is, what it includes, and how to structure it.

Below, we’ll go over everything you need to know about bereavement leave and how you can create a policy that will give your employees the time they need to heal from their loss.

Takeaways from this blog post:

• While federal law doesn’t require employers to provide bereavement leave, most offer it to support their employees' mental and emotional well-being and work-life balance.
• Bereavement leave length varies from company to company, with most employers providing three to five days per loss of a loved one.
• A bereavement policy should have clear guidelines on what defines bereavement leave, who qualifies for the leave, how much time employees can take off, and how they can request additional time off if needed.

Bereavement leave is time an employee can take off to deal with the death of a family member—immediate or extended—or loved one. Employees use this time off for mourning and healing from the loss. They may also use it to prepare for and attend a funeral program, memorial service, and burial service, as well as completing other post-death activities, such as handling financial and legal matters.

While it varies between companies, most businesses classify immediate family as:

• Spouses or domestic partners
• Parents and in-laws, including adoptive, foster, or biological parents
• Siblings
• Children and legal guardians (including a step, adopted, or foster child)
• Grandparents and great-grandparents

The death of an extended family member, such as an aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, or cousin, can also qualify an employee for bereavement leave. Some companies even allow their employees time off to grieve the loss of a pet. Typically, more time off is given when an employee loses a spouse, parent, or child in comparison to other types of family members.

There are many advantages to providing bereavement leave at your company, including the following:

• Attract and retain your employees by showing them you care about their emotional well-being outside the workplace.
• Improve work-life balance by allowing employees to juggle work responsibilities with certain unfortunate life circumstances.
• Supporting your employees’ mental health during vulnerable times can increase job productivity and satisfaction.

“On the one hand, offering bereavement leave undoubtedly contributes to attracting and retaining top-tier employees,” says Jarir Mallah, Human Resources Manager at Ling¹. “It not only underscores empathy and understanding from the employer but also strengthens the company culture by upholding the value of work-life balance. Simultaneously, it plays a crucial role in employee mental health, giving them the needed space to cope with personal loss.”

Does the law require employers to offer bereavement leave?

There’s no federal requirement mandating employers to provide bereavement leave, either paid or unpaid. It’s usually up to the individual employer to offer it or not. While most states also don’t have requirements on bereavement time, some states do.

For example, the Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) requires employers with at least 25 employees to provide their staff with up to two weeks of bereavement leave based on specific qualifications².

Similarly, many unions outline a bereavement leave policy in their employees’ collective bargaining agreements or contract conditions. Many public sector employees, like state or federal government employees, are also offered a certain amount of bereavement leave.

Even though there’s no federal requirement, most business leaders provide their eligible employees with some kind of bereavement leave. In fact, 98% of employers in 2023 offered bereavement leave at their company³. So don’t let the fact that you don’t have to provide this employee benefit stop you from doing so.

How long is the typical bereavement leave?

Since the law doesn’t require bereavement leave, the length of leave can vary from company to company.

Generally, organizations offer three to five days of time off per loss of a loved one each year. Some companies may offer more for immediate relatives and fewer for extended relatives. However, employers can also allow employees to use their other paid time off (PTO), such as vacation time or sick days, as additional time for their bereavement leave.

But before determining your leave policy, you should also consider everything your employees may need to do during their time off.

The death of a loved one, especially a close family member, may leave your employees in the difficult position of making final arrangements for them. Managing wills, finances, legal matters, properties, and life insurance are all potential responsibilities. They may also need to make funeral arrangements requiring travel to a different city, state, or country for the memorial service.

Most importantly, your employees will need time and space to process their complicated grief and adjust to life without their loved ones. An Empathy report found that 31% of employees found it hard to focus after the death of a loved one, and 25% reported being constantly distracted⁴.

Because of this, you may want to provide employees with more days than you think they’ll need rather than too few. After all, there’s no set time limit for how long the grieving process will take.

Is bereavement leave paid or unpaid?

Because bereavement leave isn’t a federal mandate, you have some flexibility regarding employee compensation. You can offer bereavement to employees as fully paid, fully unpaid, or a combination of both.

Though less popular than fully paid time off, unpaid bereavement leave may be a way for smaller employers with a limited company budget to allow their employees time off to grieve.

“Extended periods of paid leave may impose a significant financial burden, especially for smaller businesses or startups,” Jarir Mallah said¹. “However, the long-term benefit of enhanced employee loyalty and productivity could offset this initial cost.”

You can also choose a hybrid method. For example, you could provide five business days of total leave with three days paid and the other two unpaid. This method allows employees to decide whether to take the three days of paid time or the entire time with some unpaid.

Remember that you can offer as many days as you want for bereavement leave, whether paid, unpaid, or both. But when making your decision, keep the needs of your employees in mind so they won’t be stuck deciding between losing wages or taking much-needed time off to mourn their loved ones.

What does a typical bereavement policy include?

Because bereavement leave varies by company, your policy can be whatever works best for you and your employees. But, like other HR policies, it’s essential to clearly define your policy’s guidelines so your managers and employees have consistent rules to refer to before taking leave.

Additionally, you should include a copy of your bereavement policy on your company’s internal website and your employee handbook and explain it during onboarding.

A typical bereavement policy should include the following information:

• How your organization defines bereavement leave, including what types of loved ones qualify for the policy (i.e., intermediate and extended family members, domestic partners, pets, etc.).
• What bereavement obligations qualify for leave (i.e., memorial and funeral services, receptions, legal and financial planning, life insurance appointments, personal grieving, etc.).
• How much time your employees can take off for leave.
  • If applicable, you should also outline the amount of leave employees can take based on their personal relationship with the deceased.
• Whether the leave is paid, unpaid, or a combination of the two.
• How your employees can submit a time off request for bereavement.
  • You may want to request reasonable documentation before approving bereavement leave, such as the employee supplying a death certificate.
  • You can request that employees notify their manager or HR as soon as possible so requests can be scheduled and coverage for the business is adequate.
• If and how your employees can request additional bereavement time.
  • For example, if you allow five days of bereavement leave but allow your employees to use unused vacation days or sick time or take a certain amount of unpaid time to extend their leave, your policy should include those details.
• Any additional perks you may have, such as offering flexible or alternative work schedules in the weeks following the loss.

How can employers provide additional support after their employee’s bereavement leave?

When your employee returns from bereavement leave, it will likely be tough for them to jump right back into work. According to the Empathy report, 52% of people said dealing with loss harmed their work performance. To support them in and outside your workplace, consider supplementing your bereavement leave policy with some added perks.

An unexpected death can be expensive and taxing on your employee’s mental health. Introducing a health or wellness stipend at your organization can help your employees with funeral costs, mental health counseling, and other expenses.

Stipends aren’t heavily regulated, so your employees will have the flexibility to use the extra money on whatever they choose as most important during the time when they need it most. This additional employee benefit can set you apart from competitors, as stipends can cover a wide range of expenses—not just bereavement.

Using a stipend to help your employees financially and allow them to access mental and emotional support resources will go a long way toward their healing process and take some extra weight off their shoulders.

Conclusion

Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you—grief is complicated to process. And your employees’ grief is no exception. While you can’t prevent a loss, having bereavement leave can help your employees understand what support they’ll have in case something happens to a loved one.

Drafting a formal bereavement policy can be a challenging process, but it’s worth the time and effort. Your employees will appreciate you going the extra mile during their mourning period. Better yet, your staff will see your company as inclusive, empathetic, and supportive of their employees’ mental health.

This blog article was originally published on April 20, 2022. It was last updated on June 17, 2024.

1. https://ling-app.com/ 

3. https://webfiles2.nfp.com/webfiles/public/Web/NFP/NFP-Helios-LeaveMgmtSurvey.pdf

3. https://assets.ctfassets.net/yuio4g5azqaw/2DccqyABKYHGjW8IETSjas/9b8557908b5a38dd8bd2be5a8dfb809a/Empathy-Cost-of-Dying-Report-030322.pdf