HR Question Re: Compassionate Leave

[MrsFruitcake]

Quick question for anyone who specialises in HR.

I am an office manager for a small company, we grant compassionate leave for funerals for members of close family and I deal with all the HR so need the rules to be seen to apply to me as well as everyone else.

My Grandmother passed away earlier this week and I'm struggling (but that's another matter I guess). I took the day after she passed away off and nothing was said about using holiday - should I place it on my record as holiday? I'll also need another day off for the funeral in a few weeks time but it's on a day I'd booked as annual leave months ago. What should I do? Cancel the day's leave and take it as compassionate or leave it as holiday?

I guess I should ask my boss what he wants me to do, but he has no idea about HR in general and is happy to leave it to me.

Any views/suggestions please?

Do you not have an actual policy to cover this? What does your company consider to be close family?

Googling produced quite a few articles, from ACAS and others, like [www.workingrights.co.uk/rights-time-off-for-funerals.html this one]]

It should be in your terms of employment/contract. I would say you should get paid leave for the funeral.

Nothing in law so company policy/discretion. For a grandparent one day leave would be typical but you sound very close to your grandma and this has hit you hard I suggest going for two or three days compassionate including the funeral and holiday leave for anything else. Sorry for your loss.

Everywhere I've worked it's been discretionary. It's very hard to apply a hard and fast rule. One person could be devastated by the loss of a great uncle who was virtually a father to them, another might barely have known their great uncle.

Personally, I treat is as compassionate leave for almost all funerals, until someone stars taking the mickey.

When people need extended leave to deal with grief, they usually get signed off by the doctor.

Your boss needs to not abdicate responsibility for this decision to you. You need to advise him what the company normally does for staff (ie compassionate leave for "close family"), explain your circumstances and ask for his/her decision.

It sounds as though your boss will trust your judgment and that you won't take advantage. Two days compassionate leave sounds reasonable to me in your case. Bear in mind that a bit of discretion about whether it's compassionate leave or annual holiday might be a good thing - you don't want less principled employees citing your case as a precedent!!!