What you need to know about compassionate leave in Australia

What is compassionate leave?

Compassionate leave is when you are granted time off work to cope with the death of someone close to you. In Australia it is part of your work entitlements depending on the contractual agreement you have with your employer. You can apply for compassionate leave to deal with:

• The death of an immediate family member;

• The death of a household member;

• A miscarriage or stillbirth of a child;

• To provide support when someone in your immediate family or household is suffering from a life-threatening illness or injury.

In some cases employers will also grant compassionate leave to allow you to deal with the death of non-immediate relatives and friends.

Is compassionate leave paid in Australia?

It is a legal requirement to give employees compassionate leave under the Fair Work Act of Australia (2009). However, only full-time and part-time employees are entitled to paid compassionate leave. Casual employees may take compassionate leave but will not be paid for their time off.

How does compassionate leave work? What do you need to consider?

Employees can take up to two days off work if they are eligible for compassionate leave, but it is up to the employee to decide how they intend to use the time off. Some people may opt to use the leave to visit a counsellor and try and process the grief. While others may need the time to organise logistics surrounding the death including arranging or attending funeral and burial arrangements. Likewise, employees of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent may use this time off to attend cultural obligations. The leave days do not have to be taken consecutively, but can be chosen to suit the person who is grieving. The policy is the same for all full-time, part-time, and casual employees in all Australian states and territories.

Employers must provide compassionate leave in those circumstances. They may also use discretion to decide if they would like to extend their policies to cover the death of other loved ones, or even grant workers additional time off. For example, in some cases where an employee has suffered the death of a child, they may allow the worker to take weeks or months off work to process the loss.

Once an employee returns from compassionate leave, they may not go back to work full time. Since there is no set timeline for overcoming grief it may take weeks or months before they have processed the loss of their loved ones. An employer may offer a phased return to work or flexible hours to help their staff manage their grief in the workplace.

How do you qualify for compassionate leave?

Employees who have had a loss of someone in their immediate family are entitled to compassionate leave. The Fair Work Act defines an immediate family member (birth and adoptive) as:

• Current or former spouse;
• Partner or former partner;
• Child or step-child;
• Parent or step-parent;
• Grandparent or step-grandparent;
• Grandchild or step-grandchild;
• Sibling or step-sibling;
• Child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the employees’ spouse or partner (or former spouse or partner); or
• Other relatives including aunts, uncles, or cousins who are members of the employees’ household.

Each individual requesting compassionate leave must provide reasonable evidence to their employer to support their request. Examples of reasonable evidence may include:

• Death certificate;
• Death notice or obituary; or
• Proof that the member of the employees’ immediate family or household has contracted or developed a life-threatening illness or injury – such as medical certificates.

The following evidence can be supplied after the compassionate leave has started. Employers can refuse to grant leave if the evidence is not produced. This information should be kept confidential unless the employer believes their employees’ leave will be a danger to their life, health, or safety to themselves or other people.

Final Considerations

If you have lost a loved one unexpectedly, it’s understandable you may need at least a few days to cope with the initial shock and the aftermath. You may need this time to seek out grief support, deal with funeral and burial arrangements or begin the process of administering the deceased estate. The same can be said for someone who is suddenly thrown into a position where they may need to care for a family member or household member with a life-threatening illness or injury. Big life events are hard to cope with when you’re juggling work or daily responsibilities.

Compassionate leave is a small way employers can reduce the burden on someone who is struggling with an unexpected emergency. However, two days off work simply may not be enough for someone to fully process what they are going through. Employers across Australia are legally obliged to grant you two days paid compassionate leave if you are on a full time or part time contract. But they may allow you to take more time off to deal with your personal crisis if you communicate you are struggling.