An employee is entitled to take time off work if they have a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy or if their child dies before turning 18. Under the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, an employee is entitled to two weeks’ parental bereavement leave regardless of their length of service; the minimum period of leave being one week.

The leave can be taken at any time within a period of 56 weeks from the date that the child died or stillbirth occurred; this allows an employee flexibility to manage their grief in the year following their child’s death for example, taking the leave over the anniversary of the child’s death.

During a period of parental bereavement leave, an employee’s terms and conditions will remain unchanged and they are protected from detriment or unfair dismissal by reason of taking or seeking to take the leave or because it is believed they are likely to take the leave.

As well as entitlement to leave, employees also have a right to Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay provided they meet the eligibility criteria:

• the employee is a parent or intended parent of a child that has died – this includes biological, adoptive or parents of a child born to a surrogate.
• the employee is the partner of the parent of the child or baby that has died.
• the employee is a ‘parent in fact’ – this is someone who had day-to-day responsibility for the child’s care and in whose home the child for a continuous period of at least four weeks up to the day of death e.g. foster parents.

It is important that employers ensure that the new parental bereavement leave legislation is weaved into their existing bereavement policy to ensure that the rights of their employees are accurately reflected if faced with such difficult circumstances and grief.