Employees
Taking bereavement leave
Bereavement leave gives you time to grieve and to take care of matters if someone close to you dies.
What you're entitled to
You can use bereavement leave if:
- you have 6 months’ current continuous employment with the same employer, or
- you have worked for the employer for a total of 6 months at any time for:
- an average of 10 hours per week, and
- at least 1 hour in every week or 40 hours in every month.
You are entitled to bereavement leave every 12 months, after meeting the above criteria.
If you do not meet the criteria due to changes in work, you’re not entitled to bereavement leave. However, you may re-qualify when you do meet the 6-month requirement.
Bereavement leave can be taken at any time and for any purpose relating to the bereavement. It does not have to be taken straight away or on consecutive days.
Your employer may agree to give you additional bereavement leave above the minimum entitlement, depending on the circumstances. For example, if a funeral is being held a long distance away.
You should tell your employer as soon as possible when you have a bereavement, and you want to take leave.
Chart for employees to work out if they qualify for sick leave and bereavement leave [PDF, 600 KB]
Minimum entitlement
You are entitled to bereavement leave for a minimum of 3 days per bereavement in the following circumstances:
- Your immediate family member dies (for example, parent, child, partner or spouse, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, parent-in-law).
- You have a miscarriage or stillbirth.
- Another person has a miscarriage or stillbirth and you:
- are the person’s partner
- are the person’s former partner and would have been a biological parent of a child born as a result of the pregnancy
- had agreed to be the primary carer of a child born as a result of the pregnancy (for example, through a formal adoption or a whangai arrangement)
- are the partner of a person who had agreed to be the primary carer of a child born as a result of the pregnancy.
You get bereavement leave for a minimum of 1 day per bereavement if another person dies and your employer accepts you’ve had a bereavement. This is based on:
- how close you were with the deceased person
- whether you’ve got to take a lot of responsibility for all or any of the arrangements for the ceremonies relating to the death
- if you have any cultural responsibilities in relation to the death.
Cara is entitled to three days’ paid bereavement leave when her brother Jake is killed in an accident. The funeral is in Sydney. Cara uses two days of paid bereavement leave to attend the funeral. Cara takes another day of bereavement leave 6 months later to go to a local memorial service.
Tane is entitled to 3 days’ paid bereavement leave when his grandmother dies. He takes 2 days straight away to attend her tangi. A year later, he takes a day’s paid leave to attend the unveiling of his grandmother’s headstone.
Ngaire takes 2 days’ paid bereavement leave when her sister dies after a long illness. Over the next few weeks, she takes 2 more half days of paid leave to talk to the lawyer about settling the details of her sister’s will.
If you do not qualify or want extra bereavement leave
If you have not met the 6-month requirement, so, do not qualify for bereavement leave, or want to take extra bereavement leave (for example, you want to take 5 days for the death of your grandparent) then your employer can agree that you can take:
- leave in advance, or
- the leave as
annual holidays ; your employer cannot make you take bereavement leave as annual holidays, orEvery employee is entitled to at least four weeks paid annual holidays (annual leave) each year when they have worked for their employer for 12 months. In some situations, an employee can be paid 8% of their gross earnings with their regular pay instead of getting paid time off (also see Pay-as-you-go)
- paid or unpaid leave.
Proof of bereavement
The law is silent about proof of bereavement. This means that requesting proof cannot be a condition for you taking bereavement leave.
Your employer is not prohibited from requesting proof, either. So, the concept of good faith would apply. This requires both you and your employer to be responsive and communicate, and not mislead or deceive each other.
Payment for bereavement leave
Payment for bereavement leave is only made if you would have An otherwise working day is a day that an employee would have worked had the day not been a public holiday, sick leave, bereavement leave, family violence leave or alternative holiday for that employee. Relevant daily pay means the pay an employee would have been paid if they had been working on the day concerned. It is used to calculate payment for public holidays, alternative holidays, sick leave, family violence leave and bereavement leave. Average daily pay is a way of determining what an employee should be paid on a day that they would have otherwise worked but didn’t. It is used to calculate payment for public holidays, alternative holidays, sick leave, family violence leave and bereavement leave.
Payment for bereavement leave is made in the normal pay cycle.
Bereavement and public holidays
If you would have worked on a Employees are entitled to 12 paid public holidays every year if they fall on days that the employee would otherwise be working. If a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday and this is not an otherwise working day for the employee, the public holiday is moved to the following Monday (or Tuesday if 25 or 26 December or 1 or 2 January fall on a Sunday) for that employee.
- you would be paid their relevant daily pay or average daily pay (where applicable); but you would not be entitled to time and a half or an alternative holiday, and
- no bereavement leave would be deducted.
Taking bereavement leave during holidays
If you’re:
- about to take annual holidays, but have a bereavement before you go, your employer must let you take bereavement leave for the relevant period.
- already on annual holidays and have a bereavement, your employer must let you take bereavement leave instead of annual holidays for the relevant period.
Learning module: Leave - employee rights and responsibilities(external link)