Contacting bereaved employees – how do I handle it?
Firstly, an employer is not obligated to grant compassionate leave in the event of a bereavement, except in the limited circumstances outlined in the statutory right to time off for dependents under Article 85A of the Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996.
Nevertheless, many employers will provide a period of paid leave in the event that a close relative of an employee dies or becomes critically ill. It is prudent to set out details of any such leave in a bereavement policy to ensure that a clear and consistent procedure is followed.
You should ensure that there is communication with the employee throughout the post-bereavement period to enable you to gauge how the employee is coping. Discussions around when the employee anticipates returning to work may not be appropriate in the first days of bereavement. However, an open dialogue will allow the employer to discuss when the employee might be ready to return to work. This is likely to depend on the particular circumstances of:
- the employee’s relationship with the person who has died; and
- the death
In this instance, the fact that it was the employee’s mother who has died i.e. a very close family member, along with the sudden nature of her death will have to be taken into account.
However, as two weeks have lapsed, and assuming that dialogue has already been opened, it would seem reasonable for you to have a conversation with the employee as to when she anticipates returning to work. This should be done sensitively to ensure that the employee does not feel pressured to return to the workplace before she is ready. It would also be useful to consider what support might be made available for the employee when she does return to work, for example phased return or working from home on certain days.
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