To be annoyed that no compassionate leave?

[crunchymint]

I am going to a funeral of a close friend and have to take annual leave.

Sorry for your loss.

Annual leave in this situation is fairly standard.

?

Compassionate leave is only for close family where I work so then its annual leave or time off unpaid for anyone else. It's fairly standard I think.

That’s completely normal I’m afraid. Sorry for your loss but if we were all given compassionate leave when a friend (no matter how close) does that would be a lot of time off

Standard? Okay, but my friends matter much more to me than family.

And some people have large families, I would only go to the funeral of 2 people in my family. But if it is standard, then I guess I have to accept it.

I can understand that it annoys you but you would struggle to find anywhere that gives compassionate leave for a non family members funeral

Sorry for your loss but agree with PPs, only close family where I work, annual or unpaid leave for anyone else

Sorry for your loss. It's standard though, compassionate leave is generally define just as immediate family, although some bosses might be flexible (for example maybe allowing for wider family).

The reason is if friends were included then people would be off so much more often as we tend to have more friends than family, and maybe the company can't take the hit financially.

I'm like you, my friends are so much more important than my family, and if a close friend died it'd be as bad as losing a sibling to me. But workplaces don't recognise that for the above reasons.

I would be grateful you can attend using annual leave as many places wouldn't facilitate that at short notice to be honest.

I've already told my work if anything happened to my closest friends I would need more time than for some of my family members.
Luckily(?) compassionate leave is at the discretion of our immediate management.

It would be good if you could elect people rather than a blanket “family only” rule, I guess. Some people have an awful lot of immediate family; others may have none, but many friends. It’s a bit unfair and a sort of old-fashioned judgement. Like men with families getting paid more in the old days, that sort of thing.

I agree that this is standard.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Just say it was aunt/uncle etc

So this us a good friend but not good enough for you to use a day of annual leave to attend her funeral?

Thats shit. Im in the public sector and for non family members we get 2 hours credit for non family funerals and up to 5 days for immediate relatives. I'm so sorry for your loss.

It's only for immediate family usually Parents, Spouse or children. Why would you think it would apply to a friend?

Our handbook says immediate family but every occasion is done on a case by case basis.

I agree with Barbarian can you not look upon it as a very worthwhile way of spending an day of you annual leave - saying goodbye to a friend?

Yep it’s pretty standard, my employer wouldn’t even allow compassionate leave for the funeral of a grandparent he was an arsehole though.

Great idea flouncy - lie about a funeral. Pretty distasteful. And I’m not sure uncle/aunt would count for compassionate leave, would it?

Agree it should be annual leave, but then I am someone who works more than full-time and gets no holiday/maternity/compassionate/sick leave. We make our choices I guess.

I hope the funeral goes well.

Think of it from the other side of the coin - does using one day's leave make much difference to you? It's not worth adding to the upset.

Companies can't decide these things on a case by case basis. They have to set arbitrary rules that suit the majority. I had to take unpaid leave for my cousin's funeral before Christmas as I had no annual leave left.

I agree that compassionate leave is standard only for the funerals of partner/parent/sibling or own child. But that does not mean that you can't be frustrated with the situation.

I'm really sorry for your loss.