Bereavement Leave 10-30-13
CITY OF SCHERTZ
EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
Bereavement Leave
PREPARED BY: Human Resources
APPROVED BY: City Council
DATE APPROVED: 10/29/2013
EFFECTIVE DATE: 10/30/2013
REPLACES VERSION: July 9, 2009 Bereavement Policy
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to identify the rules and procedures in regard to the use of
bereavement leave.
Applicability
All regular full-time and regular part-time employees are eligible for paid bereavement leave
from the first day of employment.
Definitions
Immediate Family Member - For the purposes of this policy, an immediate family member is
defined as an employee’s spouse (including common-law), child (including foster and step),
parents (including current stepparents and current in-laws), siblings (including half, current step,
and current in-laws), grandparents, grandchildren, or any other person living in the employee’s
household.
Policy
Employees will receive bereavement leave in accordance with the time they would have
normally worked per their individual schedules. For example, if a City employee requests
bereavement leave on a day where he/she is scheduled to work ten (10) hours, the employee
would receive ten (10) hours of bereavement leave. Bereavement leave is stand-alone paid leave
and shall not be charged to any other forms of leave.
It shall be the policy of the City that, in the event of the death of an employee’s immediate
family member, the employee shall be entitled to bereavement leave in accordance with the
following schedule:
Employees on 4-hour, 8-hour or 10-hour work days/shifts = 3 work days/shifts of
bereavement leave
Employees on 12-hour work days/shifts = 2 work days/shifts of bereavement leave
Employees on 24-hour work days/shifts = 1 work day/shift of bereavement leave
CITY OF SCHERTZ
EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
The schedule below lists a maximum number of days/shifts that may be approved by the City
Manager in the event the funeral of the immediate family member is out of state:
Employees on 4-hour, 8-hour or 10-hour work days/shifts = 5 work days/shifts of
bereavement leave
Employees on 12-hour work days/shifts = 4 work days/shifts of bereavement leave
Employees on 24-hour work days/shifts = 2 work day/shifts of bereavement leave
If an employee has two (2) or more immediate family members who pass away due to a single
event, the employee may be granted additional bereavement leave on a case-by-case basis upon
review and approval by the City Manager.
Memorial Trees
The City will honor deceased active duty and retired employees who have served the City for ten
(10) or more years and their deceased spouses by planting a tree in the City. These trees will be
placed in areas of the City in need of trees and will honor those deceased individuals.
Appropriate Use of Bereavement Leave
Bereavement leave may be used by an employee in the case of the death of an immediate family
member. Bereavement leave should be used within four (4) weeks of an immediate family
member’s death but may be extended by the employee’s Executive Director in unique
circumstances. Bereavement leave must be used in full work day/shift increments but does not
have to be used on consecutive work days/shifts. Bereavement leave shall not be accrued or
saved like other types of employee leave.
Payment of Bereavement Leave
Payment for bereavement leave is at the employee’s regular rate of pay. Paid time off for
bereavement leave is not considered time worked within any given workweek or work cycle.
Time off may also be granted to attend the funerals of friends or other close relatives who are not
immediate family members upon the approval of the employee’s supervisor, but the employee
shall utilize his/her available sick leave, comp time, or vacation leave in these instances.
Procedures for Notification
Although providing advanced notice for taking bereavement leave is often not possible, the City
requests that employees provide as much notice as possible to their supervisors when requesting
bereavement leave.
Documentation
The City reserves the right to request pertinent information when bereavement leave is taken by
City employees, including deceased relative’s name, the name and address of the funeral home,
and the date of the funeral.
CITY OF SCHERTZ
EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
In the event an employee wishes to provide information about his/her deceased family
member(s) to his/her work colleagues, he/she may communicate the information as he/she
wishes. However, if an employee wishes to communicate information about his/her deceased
family member(s) to all City employees, he/she must provide a written request to Human
Resources, stating that he/she wishes to publish information about the deceased family member
on a City employee forum or board.
Abuses
Any employee abusing the employee bereavement policy through falsification may be subject to
disciplinary action up to and including termination.
Related Policies
Comp Time
Sick Leave
Vacation