Funeral Leave

Purpose

An employee with a full-time equivalent (FTE) of 0.5 or greater shall be granted funeral leave, with pay, in accordance with this policy.

Policy

An employee shall be allowed funeral leave with pay for attendance to funeral matters.

1) An employee shall be allowed funeral leave up to five working days for the death of:

1. A mother/father,
2. A brother/sister,
   
   (Note: a. & b. includes steps or halves of the same relationship; in the case of a step-parent, s/he must have been directly responsible for the employee)
3. A spouse,
4. A child (step-child if the employee is directly responsible),
5. A person who resides in the employee’s household, or
6. Other persons with whom the employee has a “loco parentis” relationship.

Note: “In loco parentis” means the employee has the day-to-day responsibilities for the care and financial support of a child or persons who had such a responsibility for the employee when the employee was a child. A biological or legal relationship is not necessary.

In cases requiring extensive travel time, the employee may be granted an additional two days off with pay. The total funeral leave with pay shall not exceed seven working days.

Note: Extensive travel is defined as travel distance greater than 100 miles, one way.

2) An employee shall be allowed funeral leave up to two working days for the death of a:

1. Step-mother/Step-father;
2. Step-child;
   
   (Note: a. & b. employee/step-parent must have been directly responsible)
3. Grandparent;
4. Grandchild;
5. Aunt/Uncle;
6. Niece/Nephew;
   
   (Note: c. - f. includes direct descendant and of whatever degree)
7. Mother in-law/Father in-law;
8. Brother in-law/Sister in-law; or
9. Son-in-law/Daugher-in-law.

In cases requiring extensive travel time, the employee may be granted an additional two days off with pay. The total funeral leave with pay shall not exceed four working days.

3) An employee may be allowed funeral leave up to one-half a working day, at the discretion of the department head, for other relatives, associates or close friends.

Note:  A "day" for funeral leave purposes is defined as the number of hours an employee works in a regularly scheduled work-week, divided by five.

Process

The department head is responsible for receiving requests for funeral leave and scheduling time off, as appropriate. An employee shall notify the department as soon as possible of a request for funeral leave.

Note:  An employee, who is not entitled to funeral leave with pay or who needs additional time off for funeral related matters, may request accrued vacation leave.  After appropriate accrued leaves have been exhausted, an employee may request a special unpaid leave.

Form

Absence Record Form