Bereavement leave, federal laws
Posted by Bereaved - 28/01/09 at 07:01 pmBereavement leave, federal laws
Bereavement is known to refer to a state of loss and grief in response to the loss. Loss can be associated to any form like employment loss, loss of possessions, safety or order. But oftentimes, bereavement refers to loss or death of loved ones.
When a family member passes away, it is very difficult for those who remained to move on and let go of the grief. Even if it is known that death is inevitable, this fact still doesn’t make the loss less painful. To those remaining loved ones, it is imperative for them to comfort one another and spare themselves some time to finalize arrangements.
A person in grief would want to worry about his job security the least. This is where bereavement leave comes into the picture. There are no federal laws that rule on bereavement leave for employees who have had loved ones passed away.
It should be a rule of thumb, because of ethics and family-oriented policies, that employees who have just had a death in the family cannot be fired for taking a little amount of time off from work to grieve for their dead loved ones. However, this unfortunately is not the case.
As been mentioned, there are no federal laws that back up bereavement leave for employees. Without legislation regarding an employee’s right to leave for the reason of bereavement, an employer may legally fire an employee for taking or even requesting for leave of absence to attend his loved one’s funeral.
