Time off work when your dog passes

[Arabiannights01]

I just think that I love my dog more than most humans and when it is her time to leave, I will be a distraught- mess for a while, I don’t think work will want a sobbing mess in front of customers. There should be a system where you get some kind of compassionate leave imo.

Perhaps try to put something in place now, if she got ill, for example? Have you got a friend or relative who could help out?

Annual Leave or if you dont have any left take it unpaid. I understand people are attached to their pets but for gods sake, people will be trying to get days off for the passing of their goldfish next.

I’m sorry this is going to sound harsh but it is when not if.

I know it is hard to think about but she will die before you, it is part of life.

My very loved cat died last week, she went missing for a few days which was very unlike her and then found by a neighbour at the back of their garden curled up under a bush. She is now in a new pot and bush on our patio. Yes it is very upsetting but it is part of being a responsible pet owner.

Yeah my boyfriend would be there for her, I’d just be devastated!!

Oh gosh yeah I’m not in any way deluded thinking she’ll live forever (as much as I’d love her to!!), fully aware she will die one day. Just wrong choice of wishing I guess when I wrote “if” not “when”… I’m certainly under no illusion thinking she’s immortal!
Sorry to hear about your cat, sending love 💐

i didn't have any time off when my nan passed away, or my friend, but had a week off when my horse was PTS, i was distraught. 3 years later and i cry most weeks about him.

Nobody can decide what someone else feels.

I agree with this. But how do you legislate for that? How can you write into legal policy about who is allowed time off for what and for how long and also manage to stop people taking the piss? Really it needs to stay as it is and it’s at each employers discretion. Yes that might mean some people get none and they need to use annual leave/sick leave/unpaid leave etc. But there really is no other way. You can’t give unlimited compassionate leave for every relative, friend and pet and leave it up to the employees choice as to how much they take for what or who.

That may be what worked for you but it's not for everyone.

It certainly wasn't for me

I think her point is that she is a teacher. It was the same for me and all my colleagues. There is no flexibility and minimal leave. We all understand that.

https://www.rcgp.org.uk/News/research-statement-conference-2024

In fact, parts of London may have access issues:

'GPs in deprived areas are now responsible for caring for a staggering 2,450 patients per head – over 300 more patients per GP than in more affluent areas of the country.
New research published today by the Royal College of GPs ahead of its annual conference in Liverpool reveals that the number of patients per fully qualified, full time GP working in areas with the highest level of income deprivation has increased by an average of 260 in the past six years – a rise of 12% and nearly twice the rate of those in the least deprived areas.
The RCGP analysis found significant variation in the number of patients per GP across the regions in England, with London having the greatest number of registered patients per fully qualified GP at 2,560, whereas the South West has the lowest at 2,020'
...
'Professor Hawthorne will say: “Our latest research reveals that GP practices with the highest levels of income deprivation have far greater numbers of patients to care for than in most affluent areas. More worrying, where the need is greatest, we have uncovered evidence of how much worse that GP to patient ratio has become.
“When I became a GP, it was normal to have a list size between 1,600-1,800 patients. The role was busy and challenging, but it was manageable. Our latest figures reveal that the average is now 2,300.
"All GPs work extremely hard, and we would argue that almost all areas are under-doctored, but it can’t be right that a GP in Kingston upon Thames looks after 1,800 patients while a GP in Kingston upon Hull, one of the most deprived places in England, is expected to cover twice that number.'

Argh, wrong thread entirely. Sorry.

I managed it. I cried to my friend when she picked me up. Told my classes I was upset and got on with the day. I wouldn’t have dreamt of taking a day off.

It's very difficult at times. In the classroom you just have to get on with it though

Some places will allow emergency use of annual leave if a reliable and valued employee is otherwise going to be a sniveling wreck. Otherwise phone in sick if genuinely not capable of working (rather than just wanting to wallow at home).

It would possibly be appropriate if companies allowed unpaid leave. That would be a better balance, allowing those time off who genuinely needed it vs those who use it as an excuse for a day off.

I went back to work three days after burying my mum, because I'd used the 2wk bereavement leave being with her as she died, then it was a week until the funeral.

I think it's unlikely a company would extend the paid bereavement leave to animals, for the fear of it being taken to an extreme. It doesn't usually cover things like in laws for example, aunties, nieces, and so forth. But I would welcome offering unpaid bereavement leave for loved ones that aren't immediate family. I can absolutely understand after losing a cat or dog, or any animal, being in no fit state to work due to distress. I think people often don't realise that the pain of losing a beloved cat can be very similar to a human family member.

Dogs can die suddenly and with no warning. Just like humans can. My job is operational. I can't just suddenly take AL if there is no coverage. We book our AL in December for the following year.

seriously, and how many (non pet owners) people would be creating a whole bunch of AI pets that ,not surprisingly, keep dying with regular frequency 🙄

If your workforce is inventing tons of reasons to get time off work, you have an issue with the work environment, the work load, the hiring process...

There are bigger issues going on.

Not one single person where I work, would fake reasons to get off work. We adore our job, we've stuck with it from start up where things were scrappy, pay was low, hours weird.

We love our work - we have a boss who listens, we are a team that trust one another, supports one another, there is no need, it does not happen!

Thats not just the case with us sub contractors either - our salaried team are the same. One of our IT team was answering questions and fixing shit on their wedding day! My immediate boss will absolutely check in and answer questions whilst on holiday. The sub contractors regularly cover each others shifts, and frequently refuse to claim the hours worked, insisting the person whose shift it is has the hours, so it isn't even about the money.

I wouldn't even have to ask for time off when a pet dies, I'd BE asked if I wanted it.

I think employers should just allow 5 or 10 days of bereavement leave per year. Whether it's used for papa or a parakeet is the employee's business. When it's used up, it's used up. Any further leave for personal emergencies is unpaid.

I know what she meant
I'm a teacher
I could not function

I've given people discretionary time off for stuff like this, and for all sorts of other stuff as well, such as relationship breakdowns, caring responsibilities etc. A little bit of good will goes a long way imo.

I definitely don't think pet bereavement leave should be a requirement on employers, though. Some people would just take the piss.

Well not generally, but if there was something sudden like a beloved dog dying you could - or if someone who wasn’t your DC was very unwell etc. Presuming you didn’t have any very urgent meetings.

I’m totally in favour of being allowed to take late notice annual leave for unexpected events if that’s the change OP had in mind, just not that people should be able to get extra leave for more and more things.

And I’d be in favour of people in general getting more annual leave.

Glad you got on okay!

When I was a manager I always erred on the side of discreet forgiveness if people were experiencing personal problems. And I tried to be generous. If everything was relatively caught up, I would give each staff member (admin, mostly, some accounts) a "free" day off in December to do their Christmas shopping. This was pre-Internet when bricks and mortar retail was the only way to get gift shopping done.

It was on the down low but they really appreciated it, and when I needed to ask for extra effort from the team it was always given freely.

This. ^ It's not always possible to give 3-4 weeks notice for holiday leave. Sometimes you need a day off in 2-3 days, or a couple of days next week. If a workplace has a strict policy of not allowing leave without a month's notice, all they're doing is encouraging people to ring in sick.