Bereavement leave Whakamatuatanga tangihanga

After an employee has been working for you for six months, they're entitled to:  

• three days of bereavement leave following the death of their child, grandchild, grandparent, parent, partner, partner’s parent or sibling
• one day of bereavement leave on the death of a person outside the immediate family – use your discretion to decide this on a case-by-case basis
• three days of bereavement leave if the employee has a miscarriage or a stillbirth
• three days of bereavement leave if someone else has a miscarriage or stillbirth.

In this last case, the employee must:

• be the person’s partner
• be the person’s former partner and would have been a biological parent
• had agreed to be the primary carer – for example through a formal adoption or whangai arrangement
• be the partner of a person who had agreed to be the primary carer.  

The employee is allowed to take their bereavement leave at any time and for any reason that relates to the death or loss. 

This also applies to casual workers if, after six months, they have worked:

• an average of at least 10 hours a week
• at least one hour a week or 40 hours a month.

You could also:

• offer more bereavement leave in your employees’ agreements
• offer bereavement leave to employees before they’ve been working for you for six months
• let employees take a longer period of leave – for example, as paid special leave, or as unpaid leave or annual leave (with the employee’s agreement).