Bereavement leave is a type of leave of absence for employees that have suffered a loss, such as the death of an aging parent, extended family member, or even a pregnancy loss. Today, the standard for many organizations — and the few states that offer bereavement leave — is to provide a few days off to attend a funeral.
However, more comprehensive bereavement leave policies are starting to be offered by employers. Providing more generous, flexible bereavement leave helps ease the burden of loss by giving employees much-needed time and space to recover and heal. When employers provide time off work, grieving employees can begin to process the passing of their loved one and start carrying out the many tasks ahead of them.
This blog post explores the basics of bereavement leave, examines current trends shaping its implementation, and provides actionable tips for employers creating their own policies.
What is Bereavement Leave?
Bereavement leave policies are gaining popularity alongside other situationally specific leave policies. Like parental leave, NICU leave, and voting leave, bereavement policies are offered by employers and provide one central benefit: time off.
Bereavement leave is time off work provided by an employer to employees who have lost a loved one. Policies typically cover time away to attend a funeral, but most do not include the other activities involved in a major loss.
Some bereavement policies are shaped by state law, but many others take shape based on the values of the organization creating them. Bereavement leave can be paid or unpaid. It can offer time off ranging from a few days to a few weeks. These policies can cover employees who lost a spouse, domestic partner, or another immediate family member, a more distant relative, or a beloved friend.
Why Offer Bereavement Leave?
When an employee loses someone, they’re not just confronted with grief. They also must create funeral arrangements, navigate familial duties, and accomplish estate-related tasks. This workload, on top of severe emotional distress, is a significant burden.
But the average amount of leave employers offer bereaved employees falls between three and five days, often too little time to manage estates, plan funerals, and emotionally recover from a significant loss.
By offering bereavement policies that provide sufficient time off, organizations can show their support to employees dealing with grief. While a few states require employers to offer bereavement leave, most organizations provide bereavement leave voluntarily.
This means employers have the freedom to create benefits that support grieving employees and uphold business operations. When an employee is suffering from a loss, they’re more at risk to quit. According to a Bereave poll, 51% of employees who experienced this kind of loss leave their job within 12 months.
Bereaved employees may also be less productive, and understandably so. Nearly 95% of people reported suffering from mental or physical distress after a loss, and 84% said these symptoms disrupted their daily life.
Bereavement policies work to soften the impact of grief by giving employees time off following the death of a loved one. Bereavement leave not only supports employees, it can also create stability for employers.
What Are Some Examples of Supportive Bereavement Policies?
Like parental leave policies, bereavement leave policies can take many different forms. Here’s how a few well-known employers have designed their policies:
- Adobe: Employees can take up to 20 working days of bereavement time each year.
- Google: The Silicon Valley giant offers up to 20 days of paid bereavement leave for the death of an immediate family member and up to 10 days for extended family. It also provides counseling services and support groups for the bereaved.
- Johnson & Johnson: J&J employees can take up to 30 business days of leave following the loss of an immediate family member. The company extends five business days to employees who have lost an extended family member.
Other companies like Airbnb, General Mills, Lyft, and SurveyMonkey have been recognized for offering policies that feature at least two weeks of bereavement leave.
Tips for Creating a Bereavement Leave Policy
Bereavement policies are often centered on leave. But a good bereavement policy offers employees support in addition to time off. The following strategies will help you create or enhance your organization’s bereavement policy.
- Offer Flexible Leave Options: Grief is not a linear experience. Allow employees to take bereavement leave at any time throughout the first year of a loss.
- Non-Consecutive Leave: Allow employees to take the allotted days non-consecutively to fit culture, religion, family preferences, and grief.
- Include a Phase-Back Program: Some employers may require a phase-back program that defines adjusted schedules, workloads, and evaluation criteria.
- Increase the Time Available for Leave: Funeral or other service arrangements alone generally take seven to 10 days to complete. Provide employees with up to 20 days of paid bereavement leave, if needed.
- Ensure Your Policy is Inclusive: Don’t distinguish between bloodline family and others. Depth of the relationship should be for each employee to decide. Be sure to include pregnancy loss.
- Offer Consistent Benefits: The policy should stand for anyone in the company: the COO should get the same amount of time as an entry-level employee.
- Consider Additional Supports: Some employers offer counseling, support groups, employee assistance program support, and other forms of support in addition to leave.
How Bereavement Leave May Interact with Other Leaves of Absence
With the exception of employers in states with bereavement leave laws, most employers offer bereavement leave voluntarily. That doesn’t mean, however, that an employee taking bereavement leave isn’t covered by other leave laws. Employers without bereavement policies should also be aware of the possible connections between grieving employees, federal laws, state statutes, and other company policies, like sick leave.
Before an employee needs to take bereavement leave, for example, they may be caring for a sick family member, which could qualify them for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA provides eligible employees with unpaid, job protected leave when they need to care for a seriously ill family member, among other reasons. Employees may take some or all of their FMLA leave before needing to take bereavement leave.
It’s also worth noting that bereavement leave policies often encompass pregnancy loss, including miscarriages, stillbirths, or infant deaths. In some cases, employers may allow grieving parents to use parental or medical leave instead of or in addition to bereavement leave. The FMLA and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (in addition to state leave laws) may apply in these situations, too.
Finally, it’s worth noting that mental health was a top driver of leave requests last year, according to AbsenceSoft data. Grief may create or contribute to an employee’s mental health condition, which could qualify them to take leave under the FMLA, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), or both. If they’re covered by the ADA, they may be entitled to for other accommodations, too.
Technology helps leave managers untangle the complicated web of company policies, federal laws, and state statutes. The AbsenceSoft Compliance Engine™ (ACE) supports over 200 federal and state leave and accommodations laws, including the FMLA, ADA, and PWFA.
Manage Your Bereavement Leave with AbsenceSoft
Bereavement policies provide important benefits to employees facing the death of a family member, but they can be challenging to administer, especially as they contribute to the ever-increasing complexity to leave management.
With a platform like AbsenceSoft, you can add your organization’s unique company policies, including bereavement leave, into our system, alongside state and federal laws. With a system like this, you can manage everything in one, centralized place.
To learn how AbsenceSoft can streamline and optimize your approach to leave management, schedule a demo today.
FAQ on Bereavement Leave
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Bereavement leave is paid or unpaid time off that employers provide to employees who have experienced the death of a loved one. It’s designed to give employees space to grieve, make funeral arrangements, handle estate-related tasks, and begin recovering from their loss without the added stress of worrying about work. While a handful of states now require employers to offer bereavement leave, most organizations offer it voluntarily as part of their overall leave and benefits program.
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There is no federal law that requires employers to offer bereavement leave. However, several states, including California, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, and Washington, have enacted bereavement leave laws, and more states are moving in that direction each year.
Even where it’s not legally required, many employers offer bereavement leave as a standard policy. If your organization operates across multiple states, you’ll want to ensure your policy meets each applicable state’s requirements. A leave management platform like AbsenceSoft tracks 200+ federal and state leave laws, including state-specific bereavement requirements, so your team isn’t scrambling to stay current.
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The most common baseline is three to five days, but grief researchers and employee advocates consistently note that this is rarely enough. Funeral arrangements alone can take seven to ten days to complete, and that doesn’t account for the emotional recovery employees need. Forward-thinking employers offer anywhere from 10 to 30 days of paid bereavement leave depending on the relationship. If you’re reviewing your policy, consider starting with at least five to seven days for immediate family, with additional flexibility built in.
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This depends entirely on how your organization defines your policy. Many traditional policies limit bereavement leave to immediate family, typically a spouse, child, parent, or sibling. But more inclusive policies are extending coverage to domestic partners, extended family members, close friends or chosen family, and pregnancy loss, including miscarriage and stillbirth. A best practice is to let the employee define the depth of the relationship, rather than drawing rigid bloodline distinctions. Grief is not limited to legal or biological ties.
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Yes. An employee who recently cared for a dying family member may have already used FMLA before their bereavement leave begins. Grief can also trigger or worsen a mental health condition, potentially qualifying the employee for additional leave under the FMLA or ADA. Pregnancy loss is another area where multiple laws may overlap, including the FMLA, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), and applicable state laws. HR teams managing these situations manually are at real risk of missing an intersection that creates compliance exposure. AbsenceSoft’s Compliance Engine (ACE) helps leave managers untangle overlapping federal and state laws in a single system so nothing falls through the cracks.
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It can, if your policy allows it, and many HR leaders recommend building this flexibility in. Grief is not linear. An employee may return to work quickly after a loss, only to struggle weeks later around a birthday or holiday. Allowing non-consecutive use of bereavement leave gives employees the flexibility they actually need. Some organizations also offer a phase-back program, with adjusted schedules or workloads during the employee’s return period.
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Bereavement leave is specifically designated for grief-related time off, whereas sick leave covers the employee’s own illness and PTO is general discretionary time off. Having a dedicated bereavement policy signals to employees that the company takes their personal loss seriously, rather than asking them to draw down vacation days during one of the hardest moments of their life.
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Requirements vary by employer and by state. Some organizations ask for an obituary, a funeral program, or a death certificate. However, many HR leaders are moving away from burdensome documentation requirements for bereavement, recognizing the additional stress it places on grieving employees. Check your state law first, as some have specific provisions about what documentation can and cannot be required.
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Bereavement leave, especially when it intersects with FMLA, ADA accommodations, or state leave laws, adds to an already complex caseload. HR teams managing multiple leave types across multiple states need a centralized system that can handle custom company policies alongside federal and state law. AbsenceSoft allows HR teams to add and track bereavement policies within the same platform they use for FMLA, ADA accommodations, and state leave, with automated workflows, eligibility calculations, and built-in compliance guidance. To see how it works, schedule a demo with a CLMS-certified specialist.