Bereavement Policy

catherinetnc · January 2005

Does anyone require documentation for days taken for Bereavement? Some of our employees take advantage of this policy to the extent that they count bereavement days as vacation days and manufacture deaths when necessary. (Yes, we should fire for that offense). Its really bad karma, too.
any info is always appreciated.
Thanks-
Catherine

mushroomHR · January 2005

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-06-05 AT 09:48AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Yes, we ask for proof of relationship and attendance at the funeral. I know it sounds cold-hearted but with 200 people we have to be a little picky with this. There have been employees who have tried to attend three funerals for their father, and another tried to attend the funeral of her mother who passed away five years ago.

Depending on your workforce, if you don't require proof it could get out of hand.

Edit: Our 3 days end on the day of the funeral. We do not extend to benefit to days after the burial.

catherinetnc · January 2005

Thanks-
Glad its not just our folks who do that.
Catherine

SMace · January 2005

We tone it down a notch from Mushroom. We don't require attendance at the funeral. People grieve in different ways. We require an obituary and info from the funeral home (not sure what you call those things). We pay up to three days (must be scheduled) for the period of time from death to the day after the funeral. No attendance charges occur during this time regardless of whether they are paid or not.

safety · January 2005

Ditto to SMace

Whatever · January 2005

Almost ditto with SMace. We require either info from the funeral parlor or a copy of the death certificate. Depending on the relationship we pay either 3 (basically in-laws)or 5 days (spouse, parent, child)from the time of death. Because of differing religious practices, the benefit is not limited to the day after the funeral.

SMace · January 2005

Whatever, I don't understand what you mean by not limiting the benefit to the day after the funeral. I think you have addressed something we have not had to yet. I assume you pay them 3 or 5 days (if they are not working) and give flexibility on how much time they get off depending on their request. Is that correct?

Whatever · January 2005

Yes, we are as flexible as possible. We have to be. In your posting, you stated that you pay "from death to the day after the funeral." However, we have ees who practice many different religions. In some, the wake is before the funeral and lasts one to three days. In others, the funeral is the day of or the day after the death with a prescribed period of mourning following the funeral. It is extremely, extremely rare for an ee not to get full bereavement pay.

System · January 2005

5 days for mother, father, spouse, sister, brother, son, daughter, step-son, step-daughter.

1 day (day of funeral) for grandmother, grandfather, grandchild, mother-in-law, father-in-law, aunt, uncle.

Leave for other than those listed may be approved by the Director of Human Resources.

Our policy makes no comment about documentation or proof of death. I would ask for it in cases where I suspect abuse.

dlail · January 2005

>Does anyone require documentation for days taken
>for Bereavement? Some of our employees take
>advantage of this policy to the extent that they
>count bereavement days as vacation days and
>manufacture deaths when necessary. (Yes, we
>should fire for that offense). Its really bad
>karma, too.
>any info is always appreciated.
>Thanks-
>Catherine

Ours is up to 3 days incl day of funeral. If longer is req'd ee can use vacation day or unpaid leave day. If interested, email me for a copy of policy @ [email]dlail@steelerubber.com[/email]. We define "immediate family" in the policy & other provisions. We look up obit online or request copy of service card.

ritamcguire · January 2005

When I first arrived at this company, we granted uo to three days of bereavement pay only if scheduled to work and only on the day before & after the funeral and the funeral day. With all the variables such as preparing for the funeral, taking care of other family members, attending to post funeral details, etc we finally rewrote the policy so that we pay up to three days of bereavement pay (max of 24 hours)to be used at the employee's discretion. An employee may need two days off before the funeral to attend to funeral arrangements, whereas the employee's family may not need his/her help after the funeral. We consider two over riding factors: (1) The employee's personal loss (both emotionally and financially) and (2) The fact that we don't really want an emotionally distraught employee in our facility. By giving the employee three days off to use at his/her discretion, we hope to reduce the emotional aspect of having to come to work with your mind elsewhere.

Down_the_Middle · January 2005

Until some years ago, I always felt handcuffed by the typical bereavement policy. Balancing the issue of sympathy and employee accommodation vs. an automatic "X" days off w/pay. Following the successes with labor union contracts on this issue, the verbiage "for purposes of attending the funeral and attending to the funeral arrangements" helped clarify the employer's intent to provide this benefit. It helped distinguish between mourning pay and the necessity to be away from work to handle the arrangements and attend the funeral. None of my employers have ever denied the time off to someone. The issue was always how will I be paid......... I've had success with the above verbiage. It's not perfect, but helped clarify the employer's intent when those tragic situations arise.

HRinGA · January 2005

oh, I like your verbage " for purposes of attending the funeral and attending to arrangements..." Think I'll start using that!

We had an employee ask for his bereavement day for an aunt that passed away 2 weeks ago!! He was treating it like a vacation day...thought he got the day just because.... Go figure!
We are a newspaper so we already have the obit info. Or we look online if it's out of town.

mwild31 · January 2005

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-07-05 AT 05:30PM (CST)[/font][br][br]We use a policy similar to Rita McGuire - same logic as well. We have a lot of ESL folks & tying in the bereavement to the funeral is not always possible as many times the funeral occurs overseas. I track requests in their personnel file & the leave must be used or asked for within 48 hours of the notice.

Bereavement Policy

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