What Is Compassionate Leave and Is It Mandatory? An HR Guide to the Basics

What is compassionate leave, and how does it differ from other leave benefits in the workplace? Being empathetic to the lived realities of the workforce is a true sign of a good employer, and a compassionate leave policy is a simple way to showcase this quality.

Any employee, no matter how dedicated they are to the job, still maintains a life outside of the workplace. This means that their lives are affected by things that happen in their personal sphere, whether that’s an accident or the death of a loved one. Compassionate leave is an HR policy that acknowledges the unpredictabilities of life and creates space for employees to take time away to deal with such unplanned occurrences, allowing employees to handle these incidents and return to work after a brief break. Offering employees compassionate leave is a humanitarian practice, and it ensures that workers coping with a death, illness, or other serious issues in the family have some time to process it.

What is Compassionate Leave? Adding New Policies to Your HR Portfolio

Starting from the basics, what is compassionate leave? It refers to a workplace policy where employees are allowed to take leave from work to attend to personal matters that are serious in nature. It typically applies when there is a death, injury, accident, or serious illness in the family, and allows employees to attend to it without the additional burdens of work weighing on them. Most often, compassionate leave is provided when the affected member is a direct blood relative of the family, but employers are free to expand their policy to more situations when employees can apply for this leave.

Having the option of compassionate leave at work allows employees to either make arrangements for the incident that has occurred or just step away from work to grieve. Employees who are affected by such emergencies are rarely in a position to work to the best of their abilities. This means that there is little benefit to making their presence mandatory in the workplace during such periods.

Unlike a vacation policy, where employees can plan ahead and make arrangements for their absence well in advance, death or illness in the family requires immediate action. Thus, having an HR policy for compassionate leave in place can help the organization fast-track a leave request in a planned manner, making the experience easier on an employee who is in the midst of an emotional time in their lives.

Is Compassionate Leave Different from Bereavement Leave?

The terms compassionate leave and bereavement leave are often used interchangeably, but there can be a difference in application. Bereavement leave is typically exclusively offered on the death of a close relative. Compassionate leave can be extended further according to the preference of the employer, applying in more cases, such as the breakdown of the mental or physical health of a loved one, or situations such as a miscarriage.

The scope of application can also be extended to aspects like the loss of a close friend or associate of the employee, allowing them time away for situations that might be equally trying for them. Offering compassionate leave at work is not regulated, which means employers are free to determine the range of its application and the amount of time employees are allowed away from work.

Is Compassionate Leave Mandatory?

There are no federal mandates regarding compassionate leave or bereavement leave in the U.S., which leaves the decision to offer such policies up to employers. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does have some provisions for eligible employees to take time off to care for a spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition, and this can be used to care for an ill family member. States like California, Colorado, Oregon, Maryland, and Minnesota have some mandatory, job-protected bereavement leave support available, which employers are expected to adhere to.

Some countries also have provisions for compassionate leave in their systems, such as Australia, where the Fair Work Act regulates how and when such leave is provided. In the UK, while broader compassionate leave isn’t legally mandated, time off for dependants and parental bereavement leave following a death is available to workers.

Compassionate Leave Best Practices: How To Structure Such a Leave Policy

Employers and HR teams are not obligated to devise a compassionate leave policy for the workforce, but those that do offer such policies have a better chance at earning the respect of their employees. When employees encounter such situations, they will have no choice but to take time off from work or come into work on unsteady feet, and it is in everyone’s best interest to allow them to spend a few days away from work.

When designing a compassionate leave policy for the workforce, there are a few best practices to consider:

• Identify who will be eligible for such leave policies, as there are often different rules that cover some divisions, such as part-time workers
• Define the situations where employees can utilize the policy, so they are aware of when and how to use it
• Determine whether the leave will be paid and whether the employer is willing to provide additional monetary support to help with aspects like funeral arrangements
• Establish how many days employees will have away from work and whether a different metric will be used, for example, for the loss of a parent compared to that of an extended relation
• Clarify whether a yearly limit will be set on how many times employees can take compassionate leave
• Create a policy for extended leave options, for example, unpaid leave if an employee requires additional days off
• Set a clear system for how the employee should apply for compassionate leave without facing challenges and delays in the process
• Leave room for some flexibility, as every employee has a different background and situation, and may require some adjustments and empathy
• Communicate the policy to employees and make the details easily accessible, such as laying out the terms in the employee handbook
• Update the policy regularly so it accurately reflects the organizational ethos
• Set protocols in place for the employee to leave as well as return to work, to eliminate any chances of them returning to a doubled workload in the aftermath of such a loss
• Pay attention to local regulations, as businesses that operate across borders may be subject to different laws and policies

Should You Offer Compassionate Leave To Your Workforce?

It is always in a company’s best interest to provide compassionate leave for its workforce as it showcases genuine care for the workers and their lived experiences. Fairness and consideration are essential for any organization to operate with stability at the heart of its business, and compassionate leave is merely one of the pathways to such an end goal. Some have even made a case for heartbreak leave in the workplace, and while that might be an optional consideration, compassionate leave or bereavement leave shouldn’t be.

Employees are human, and while some employers are trying to change that, for now, the workforce remains made up of workers with personal lives that are often the sole reason for employees remaining motivated in their professional ones. Ensuring that the workforce can pay their respects during such turbulent times isn’t generous; instead, it is a basic consideration that should be normalized in the workplace.

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