Compassionate leave for Miscarriages

I don't think you have any recourse to anything other than sick leave, but I would fully welcome miscarriage leave being brought it. I'm glad so many people on this thread felt fine after losing a pregnancy; I had a termination for medical reasons at 14 weeks after a disastrous first scan and went back to work as a teacher a few days later and honestly I was not in a fit state mental health wise. I was teaching some particularly nasty kids at the time, and I just couldn't deal with it in a professional way, I felt like a walking open wound.

Hope you are able to start to process and heal soon.

I ‘miscarried’ at 23 weeks. I was induced, went through a 12 hour labour and my son died during the delivery.

Whilst all miscarriages can be so hard emotionally and physically, the word covers a very very wide range of experiences and work policies should allow for that.

You can test so early these days that some people will “miscarry” even before their next period is even due. Theresa highlight a lot of early miscarriages that previously women wouldn’t have even known about. I don’t think blanket compassionate leave is logistically possible for employers and I don’t think such early testing is helpful for women when they are TTC.

Sorry op, it’d be classed as sick leave in most places, be never heard bereavement leave being used for this. As pp said miscarriages are unfortunately very common and bereavement leave is usually reserved for death of a spouse or living child. As much as it is devastating (I’ve been through miscarriage myself), sick leave is the most appropriate for this situation. The main issue is your work not paying sick leave.

’Miscarriage in early pregnancy is fairly common’.

I do agree. But said with kindness, so is a cold/ flu. Men regularly take time off for the common cold (paid) and it hasn’t impacted their job prospects.

It’s a big societal shift, but we do need to get to paid compassionate leave for miscarriage. Realistically, women are only of child bearing age for a portion of their career. Most women aren’t actively trying for their entire career.

And there are probably plenty of men who suffer emotionally when their partners miscarry, and having the ability to take compassionate leave would no doubt help all genders.

Your employer is being unreasonable. I automatically got "however much i needed". But then my boss trusts me and i do good work

Sorry OP, this would come under sick leave at my large company.

Compassionate is for funerals/terminally ill family members, similar to bereavement.

OP I am so sorry for your loss. Of course you should get paid leave. @ThejoyofNC that is one hell of a reach.

You're not going to get any decent work out someone who is thinking is something else. So i don't think it costs the company anymore.

I don’t think it should be compassionate leave, but the issue is that you don’t get paid sick leave. I think SSP starts on day 4, which isn’t great.

I don't think SSP kicks in for two days. Lots of employers don't give more than SSP.

I think that’s more of an issue than refusal of compassionate leave.

So sorry OP. I personally think it should come under bereavement leave.

They won't do that because they'd be admitting that a life was lost, which would upset abortion activists.

Weirdly we live in a different country with notoriously bad womens rights and healthcare costs, and we are required by law to give 5 days off for pregnancy losses outside of PTO/sick leave. Guess that is progress. It just came in last year. Hopefully the UK does similar.

My workplace has a baby loss policy where I’d be able to take 2 weeks. But in the absence of that, compassionate leave usually comes with manager discretion and I would absolutely grant it in this case.

The fact it’s “common” and “early” do not take away the fact you’ve lost a child or physical or mental challenges that come with such an awful experience.

I think it's 1 in 4 pregnancies, so far more than 1 in 4 women given most women will have more than one pregnancy. It's a pretty normal part of the journey of starting a family unfortunately.

I'd think it's normal practise as 1 in 4 people miscarry so very common unfortunately. It would cost company's an awful lot to give paid compassion leave to everyone it happened to

Hate some of these responses belittling miscarriage whether the posters mean to or not.

So sorry you’re going through this OP and your workplace isn’t more understanding. My workplace (corporate environment) says any time up to 2 weeks. Mine wasn’t even recorded.

Make the most of that sick note and take care of yourself. Furious for you that you’re not being paid for that. I would seriously consider working elsewhere.

I'm very sorry for your loss. I've suffered recurrent miscarriage and it's incredibly hard.

Ignore me, I've just re-read your post.

If your company don't offer sick pay then I'm (sadly) not surprised you weren't able to take it as compassionate leave.

How come you don’t get sick leave?

I'm sorry for your loss and the way you have been treated at work (although legally). As an employer we have given compassionate leave for this in the past, because yes eight weeks is early in a pregnancy but a child has still died and in my book that definitely warrants compensation leave.

No I don't think it should be given as compassionate leave as a blanket rule. Early miscarriages are common and in my opinion aren't comparable to the compassionate leave given for the death of a spouse, parent, child etc. You'd have the right to take sick leave, and it would be protected under pregnancy rights.

If the miscarriage is later, I think from 6 months, it would trigger maternity leave entitlement.

This. I fear that if this thing is specifically protected that it will be harder for women of child bearing age to gain decent employment.

That said, as an employer myself, I would 100% without question grant you a few days compassionate leave in these circumstances.

I’m sorry for your loss!

I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s heartbreaking.

My employer has a baby loss HR procedure, I had 2 weeks off, no questions asked - which I was extremely gracious for considering I required surgical management. In any instances I really hope this becomes the norm.

Sick leave. I had a horrible experience and needed 2 weeks off as sick leave.