Bereavement/Leave Policy

A few years ago a colleague of mine who I will refer to as Hajia lost her husband. They were a very close couple who had built a happy life together and she was devastated by the loss. Two weeks later I saw her at work…” Hajia, are you back?” I asked incredulously …” Yes my dear compassionate leave is 2 weeks”. A year or two later another colleague from the eastern part of the country lost her husband and just like Hajia she was back 2 weeks later. Her husband had not even been buried and she was back to work. Her supervisor empathized with her and ensured she was not assigned with any tasks for some weeks as she didn’t have the mental capacity to work.

In both cases I was shocked at the brevity of leave given to people who had lost people as close as spouses, having dealt with death of my parents some years prior I couldn’t imagine having the presence of mind to come to work two weeks later. Thankfully the places I worked in when I dealt with my bereavement had a fluid Bereavement Leave policy which allowed me to be away from work till both my parents were buried and I was ready to resume.

Before going any further lets us look at the definition of Bereavement Leave

Bereavement Leave is given to an employee upon demise of a close family member. Close family member usually includes a spouse, parent or child and the time given is usually to grieve the loss and also hold the funeral.

In some organisations Bereavement Leave is used interchangeably with Compassionate Leave. The distinction is that Bereavement Leave pertains to the death of a loved one, while Compassionate Leave is the time taken off to look after a sick relative or any similar scenario which will make going to work extremely difficult. However in many organisations bereavement leave is encapsulated with Compassionate Leave.

The Nigerian Labour Act (2004) does not explicitly provide for bereavement or compassionate leave warranting a much-needed review. However, despite this lacuna in the law, organisations around the country make provision for this form of leave and give employees time off when faced with the death of a loved one. In fact, some organization go a step further to offer some form of financial support formally and informally.

This leave is important as it is necessary for one to disconnect from work to deal with the grief and stress that comes with the death of a loved one. ?In fact studies have shown that when organisations show empathy and give time off when an employee is bereaved, they end up with a more productive work force and doing otherwise will lead to disenchantment and unproductivity on the part of affected employees.

However, one burning issue is how much bereavement leave is enough? Studies have shown that in Nigeria, public sector organisations grant Bereavement Leave for a period of 14 days. ?This is no doubt derived from the Public Sector Rules which state in clause 100230 that “An officer may be allowed special leave from duty on full pay on compassionate ground for a period up to two weeks for burial of spouse/child/parents/parents of spouse”.

Considering that in countries like Australia and Brazil, Bereavement Leave is typically 2 days and in countries like Canada, France , Spain and US it’s usually 3 days one may say the 14 days prescribed by Public Sector Rules is sufficient but when one looks at prevalent cultural and religious practices it seems inadequate.

Thus the following factors need to be considered when organisations are designing a Bereavement or Compassionate Leave;

·???????What is the Culture: It is always necessary an organization looks at the cultural context as the way people mourn is deeply rooted in culture.?In Eastern Nigeria for instance burials usually take place a few weeks or months (depending on the family) after the demise of the deceased and the mourning period for a widow in modern times is usually between 3 months (even though traditionally it is up to a year). In Islam while mourning is usually for 3 days a widow is usually expected to be in that state for up to four months.?During this period, one usually receives visitors for at least a month. Therefore, with our culture in view giving an employee 20 to 30days of Bereavement Leave for the death of a spouse may be reasonable

·???????Who has passed? An organization must define relational requirements for bereavement i.e. which family members has passed and will the durations be different? For example an organization may decide to give longer leave for the demise of a spouse, parents or children than siblings or parent in law. For example, ?Facebook offers 20 days of paid of leave if an immediate family member dies, 10 days for an extended family member, and up to six weeks paid leave to care for ill relatives. In Ireland and some other countries Bereavement Leave of up to 10 days is given when one loses a child after 24 weeks of pregnancy

·???????Paid or Unpaid: For bereavement leave the norm is to give one paid leave, but one may consider giving an option of unpaid leave for longer duration i.e 14 days paid and an extra 14 days unpaid , that way people who really need more time can take it without causing too much loss to the Organisation.

?Based on the foregoing it is advised that organization go back to the drawing board and create Bereavement/ Compassionate policies that would be more appropriate given socio-cultural considerations. ?So my question to the reader is; How long is Bereavement/ Compassionate Leave in your office and do you find it sufficient?

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?References:

Compassionate & Bereavement Leave,?https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/compassionate-and-bereavement-leave> accessed 6th February 2022

(https://www.safeguardglobal.com/resources/blog/paid-bereavement-leave)

( https://www.e-days.com/news/managing-compassionate-leave) .

https://medium.com/@amaafadameh/decent-working-time-a-review-of-hours-of-work-leave-holidays-and-rest-periods-under-nigerian-494f6e109929