Bereavement Leave: How Many Days Are Legally Allowed for Family Loss?

Hi Everyone, Happy Tuesday! Could you please let me know how many days employees can take for bereavement leave due to the deaths of their direct family members? Is there any law specifying particular days that can be taken? Thank you in advance.

Dear Pandarinath,

Indian culture is highly family-oriented. Though the nuclearization of families is happening, the family orientation has not diminished. Against this backdrop, a few companies, as a welfare measure, have started granting bereavement leave to their employees. However, bereavement leave is purely a welfare measure, and there is no statutory obligation to grant such leave. Therefore, determining the quota of bereavement leave is a decision the company administration has to make. The number of days for this leave would depend on factors such as the number of employees on the company's payroll, estimated productivity loss, etc.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Thank you for the clarification, sir. There is no specific law for bereavement leave in India.

Most companies offer 2, 3, or 5 days. According to Hindu rituals, what would be the best number of days off?

Once again, thank you, sir.

Hi, it depends on the employer, and there is no statutory requirement. It can be a 3 to 7-day range. Any leave availed over and above, if approved by the employer, can be adjusted against the leave balance of the employee.

Hi, there is no statutory obligation for the company to grant any paid leave. However, on humanitarian grounds, the management can make a decision. If there is a signed agreement between the workers and the management that includes bereavement leave, then the management must adhere to it as promised.

Dear Pandarinath,

There is no such obligation for leave due to the death of family members under the current law. In general, an employee takes the necessary leave days from their allotted balance; in the absence of available leave, it results in Loss of Pay (LOP).

Traditionally, it is customary for the elder son to take up to 11 days to complete the final rituals for the deceased father. However, it may not be practical for a company to provide such welfare benefits without affecting statutory leave entitlements.

While it is acceptable to initiate this practice, continuation without a well-defined policy and clarification of family and direct family members could lead to complications. In summary, a company could introduce a policy allowing for 1-3 paid leaves under special circumstances during the calendar year.

If you are looking for the Hindu rituals, the person is not supposed to go back to work for 13 days. However, the option of how many days to give is basically with the employer. There is no law on this.

Bereavement Leave in India

No act or rule in India provides bereavement leave. An employer is not duty-bound to give any leave.

In our organization, employees are misusing the bereavement leave policy because we cannot ask for any proof of the demise of immediate family members. We do have a dropdown menu with relationships in the application. However, people are still applying for leave due to the demise of any family members by selecting the immediate relationship from the dropdown. We are interested in learning about the best practices that other organizations are implementing in this regard.