Bereavement leave for pet loss - your thoughts

I think employers already have the capacity to do this in the same way they get to pick and choose when you can have compassionate leave. My previous employer only gave compassionate leave for immediate family but my current employer has granted it for wider family too. I'm not sure whether my employer would grant it for pets or not though. I think it would be useful if more employers did as most people love their pets more than they love some of their family members :))
 
When I had to ring work to say I would be late, as I needed to take Archie to be put to sleep, I was told that was fine and they would see me later. I arrived at work, rather tearful, to be asked by one of the Managers, if Archie was a cat or a guinea pig. When I replied guinea pig, she told me to go and play with the children (I was working in a nursery at the time) and I would soon forget about 'it'. Would I have been treated differently if I had replied cat?
 
In my opinion. And i think this is true, if a cat or a dog. You would get sympathy, if a rabbit guinea or other small pet, most people think you have mental problems
 
As with many situations in life I think one size does not fit all. I wouldn't expect an employer to pay me for compasionate leave for a pet, I would expect to be allowed a few days off my annual leave at short notice though if needed. I have had some wonderful employers over the years who have helped me out as I have helped them. Sadly these days most businesses have gone down the corporate route where the rules are the rules and we need legislation for everything, this takes the joy out of working life and people become numbers not humans. I worked with someone once who took advantage, he semed to have a lot grandparents funerals, I can see with pets the leave situation being abused.
 
I was fortunate to have managers who were also pet owners, on the occasions when I've needed to make an emergency trip to the vets.
But I wouldn't expect to get bereavement leave for this. I have often found it helpful to be at work, and my mind kept elsewhere, rather than being at home with the gaping hole that the loss of a pet causes.
 
Yes I think they should, of course it would need to be regulated to stop people taking the mick but I think it should be allowed.

I see my animals like my children, as many people do. I wouldn’t expect an employer to make a mother work who had just lost a child and I see it as the same thing. All my love, money, care and attention goes to my animals in the exact same way as a mother would a human child. The same worries when they’re sick and the same work into their welfare.

Some people are unable to have children so have dogs or other pets as their furbabies. I know a couple who have 2 retrievers that are their children as they were never able to have any. The insensitivity from people is astounding as they don’t care or understand what it must be like for them. Anyone who has met them would know that they are their children, so why should they be treated any differently just because they’re a different species? I wish more people could at least try to understand the needs from those who have lost a precious family member, regardless of species.
 
My main worry is not for bereavement time off, but for time off when i need to get to the vets asap. I find working takes my mind off of things
 
Bereavement leave for pets would be amazing but employment laws are very much in favour of the employer. I wasn't able to get time off for my partners grandfathers funeral as he wasn't my family so they definitely won't consider a pet as family.

They expect you to use your holidays for times when you need time to grieve.

Time of for vet appointments like @SkyPipDotBernie mentions would be much more valuable to me as times like that are when you must do something. After a death things aren't a necessity (if you get what I mean).

Thankfully I work somewhere that goes beyond the minimum and offers flexi time so I can get a vet usually. But I wouldn't have been able to get any time off after Jon Snow or Ted died. It was a very sad time for me (I had to have a few mins time out in the toilets a few times) but there was no need for me to be at home, they weren't there anymore.

Thinking about it more, time off to care for an ill pet would be way more helpful but even so employment laws say that's what your holidays are for, or sick leave.
 
Where I work compassionate leave is at the discretion of your line manager. I am lucky that I can almost certainly say he would be very understanding.
I take time off for vet appointments and as long as i don't miss my work deadlines it isn't a problem.
This flexibility works both ways as I worked the whole Easter weekend to help another team within our company.
I work for a large American company who say the 'people are our greatest asset' and they actually mean it.
 
It would be lovely if they would... that said, I think the closest we will come anytime soon is work that gives personal or float days. It can be hard enough to get bereavement leave for human beings (my husband's work is first-degree relative leave only- so no bereavement day for your aunt or uncle, best friend, niece or nephew, etc. if they pass. Just parents, grandparents, spouses, children.) They do give three 'personal days' a year that can be used for those kinds of issues.
 
I think the original intention compassionate leave was about giving people time to arrange and attend a funeral. If someone is upset or distressed to the point that they are not fit to work, that should be sick leave, therefore in the case of the death of a beloved pet, compassionate leave would not be appropriate, but sick leave may be.
 
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