The new legislation on Bereavement Leave is designed to help inform decision making in three areas. It is designed to help with how the leave and pay can be taken, what is classed as a reasonable period of notice for your employee to give and to define who is a ‘bereaved parent’.
Firstly, a ‘bereaved parent’ could be restricted to legal parents and guardians or it could be extended to include others who have a relationship with a child that is parental in nature, such as a primary carer. The Parental Bereavement Act 2018 will apply to those who have lost a child under the age of 18 or those who have experienced a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Secondly, bereaved parents can now take a minimum of 2 weeks of Parental Bereavement Leave within a period of 8 weeks beginning with the date of the death of the child under 18, regardless of how long the employee has worked for you.
Thirdly, those employees with 26 weeks of continuous service will be entitled to receive paid leave at the statutory rate and other staff will be entitled to unpaid leave.
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