The issue of Parental Bereavement Leave & Pay has resurfaced once again with the government announcing plans for a consultation period on the proposed Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill. Your clients should pay close attention to any developments and can consider contributing to the consultation itself in order to help shape the legislation.
The Parental Bereavement Bill was initially published in Parliament in October 2017 and seeks to provide greater protection to employed parents who lose a child under the age of 18. As part of this protection, employees are set to be granted a 2-week period of statutory bereavement leave. Whilst the period of leave is considered a day one right, parents will need to have 26 weeks’ continuous service to be eligible for statutory parental bereavement pay during this time.
The new consultation is open until 8th June 2018 for the views of working parents and employers, as well as interested parties. The government intends to use the responses to better define various aspects of the bill as well as formulate a clear strategy on eligibility and notice periods. By encouraging various parties to take part in the consultation the government aims to strike a balance between allowing bereaved parents the flexibility to grieve sufficiently, whilst also providing employers with a degree of certainty surrounding their responsibilities.
As the bill has not yet been approved your clients can still follow current laws where an employee suffers the loss of a child. The Employment Rights Act 1999 grants employees a day one right to a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off to deal with the death of a dependant. This is usually a period of 2-3 working days which allow the employee to address the immediate circumstances surrounding their loss. There is currently no legislation surrounding a prolonged period of compassionate leave, which the Parental Bereavement Bill attempts to address. Whilst your client could choose to allow compassionate leave for grieving employees, they are under no obligation to do so and this leave is often unpaid.
The attention surrounding the bill emphasises the importance of compassionate leave in supporting employees during a time of crisis. Where your client is looking to create a compassionate workplace culture for their employees they can consider implementing paid compassionate leave to ensure their workforce is supported during periods of grieving.
