Your employees may take time off from their job with you for many reasons, such as sick leave, or they may wish to take annual leave. However, if your employee is unfortunate enough to suffer a bereavement whilst working for you, such as a family member, they are likely to want to take leave from work to deal with the death and may request bereavement leave. This can be called compassionate leave. You as an employer must understand your employee\u2019s legal rights and your legal responsibilities as an employer regarding this. Your employee may be entitled to paid leave, for example, or parental bereavement leave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This article will explain what you, as an employer, need to know about your employees taking time off for bereavement in England. It will explain what a dependant is and the length of time your employee may be entitled to off work due to the death of a loved one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A key point for you as an employer is understanding when your employees have a legal right to take time off for bereavement in England. Every person who works for you and is legally an employee has a legal right to take time off work for bereavement when either:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the legal right in these circumstances to take time off work for bereavement<\/a>, there is not always a legal obligation to pay them for the time they take off work. Nevertheless, you may decide to pay them for it if you wish. However, where the bereavement concerns a child under 18 or stillbirth, you must pay them statutory parental bereavement<\/a> pay, which is the lowest of either:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As your employees have a legal right to time off for the bereavement of a dependant, you must understand what a dependent is. The following, for example, are your employees’ dependants:<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. \u2018Dependant\u2019 in Terms of Bereavement Leave<\/h2>\n\n\n\n