Personal Leave for a Funeral

Cotta

Hi All,

I was wondering if taking a day off work on paid personal leave to attend a funeral of either a close relative is allowed in workplaces now or are employees expected to take it from their holiday allowance?

Nick_C

It will depend entirely on your employer, and how close the relative was.

ohreally

Is a days compassionate leave an option?

ssparks2003

It's annual leave unless your company has a specific policy offering this

TELLIT01

The situation does vary between companies, but generally compassionate leave would only be granted for a close family member. Some companies may have a more relaxed attitude to making up time if somebody is out for a couple of hours to attend a funeral. Any more time than that would, more often than not, have to be taken from annual leave.

sangie595

Cotta wrote: »

Hi All,

I was wondering if taking a day off work on paid personal leave to attend a funeral of either a close relative is allowed in workplaces now or are employees expected to take it from their holiday allowance?

in law, there is no such thing as paid personal leave. There's actually no such thing as unpaid personal leave either! So there is no right to time off for a funeral. If the employer allows it, then that use their choice.

TBagpuss

As others say, there's no general rule or automatic entitlment.

Where I work, someone would typically be given a couple of days of (paid) compassionate leave in the event of the death of a close family member - normally this is taken around the time of the death, when someone is dealing with the first shock of grief, and perhaps with making arrangements.

Time off for a funeral would usually be taken as part of normal holiday entitlement.

Compassionate leave is normally discretionary so how long is given and when will depend on the company, and may also depend on the specific circumstances - a company might chose to give more leave if the death were unexpected or in particularly distressing circumstances, or if an inquest or police investigation were needed, than in other cases, for instance.

TELLIT01

TBagpuss wrote: »

As others say, there's no general rule or automatic entitlment.

That is so true. The father of a work colleague of mine died whilst he and his father were out together. At that time we were working for a financial services company. He was told to take as much time as he needed and was off for nearly a month.
Move on several years and I was working for DWP. I had given my brother a lift down to the hospital for blood tests, where he collapsed and died within a few hours. I was told that I could have 1 week compassionate leave then had the option of returning to work, taking leave or getting signed off sick.
Different organisations, very different attitudes.

Takeaway_Addict

TELLIT01 wrote: »

That is so true. The father of a work colleague of mine died whilst he and his father were out together. At that time we were working for a financial services company. He was told to take as much time as he needed and was off for nearly a month.
Move on several years and I was working for DWP. I had given my brother a lift down to the hospital for blood tests, where he collapsed and died within a few hours. I was told that I could have 1 week compassionate leave then had the option of returning to work, taking leave or getting signed off sick.
Different organisations, very different attitudes.

What would you expect the DWP to do different then because their response seems reasonable to me.

DCFC79

Just speak to your employer (or check your employee handbook), they will tell you what the score is.

Faith177

When my mum died I was given just over a month off but that was because it was just me and my brother to sort out everything and she lived in Inverness I live in essex and we only had 2 weeks to clear her house out as she rented and we couldn't afford the rent to hold it any longer. Also I dislocated my knee whilst clearing her house so was in a splint for 10 days.

When my first Grandad passed last Nov I was allowed 2 days compassionate and had to take the rest as holiday that was with the same company and within 18 months of my mum

I moved companies and my second Grandad recently passed they allowed me to leave early when we got the call to get to the hospital and then the following monday off and a day for the funeral all paid. I get the impression they would have allowed more but I didn't need it

On all these occasions my brother was only allowed 1 day for the funeral nothing more