Compassionate & Bereavement Leave: Your Rights When Someone Dies

Under the National Employment Standards (NES) in the Fair Work Act 2009, all permanent employees — full-time and part-time — are entitled to 2 days of paid compassionate leave per occasion. There is no annual cap on this entitlement. If you experience multiple qualifying events in the same year, you receive 2 days for each separate occasion.

The leave is paid at your base rate of pay for the ordinary hours you would have worked during those 2 days. Loadings, penalty rates, overtime, and allowances are not included — only the base rate applies.

The 2 days can be taken as a single continuous period, as two separate days, or in any configuration agreed between you and your employer. Compassionate leave does not come out of your personal or sick leave balance. It's a completely separate entitlement. Some modern awards and enterprise agreements provide more generous compassionate leave — for example, 3 or 5 days per occasion — so always check your applicable award or agreement.

If you need more time than 2 days, you can combine compassionate leave with annual leave, personal leave, or unpaid leave by arrangement with your employer.

Compassionate leave applies when a member of your immediate family or household dies, or contracts or develops a life-threatening illness or injury. The Fair Work Act defines immediate family broadly. It includes your spouse or de facto partner (including same-sex partners), children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings.

It also extends to the same relatives of your spouse or de facto partner — so your partner's parents, grandparents, siblings, grandchildren, and children are all covered. Beyond blood relatives and in-laws, any member of your household qualifies, even if they aren't related to you.

This could include a long-term housemate, a close family friend living with you, or anyone else who shares your home. Some enterprise agreements and workplace policies use an even broader definition that may include aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews. If you're unsure whether a particular person qualifies, check the wording of your award or agreement, or contact the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94 for guidance.

Compassionate leave is triggered by two types of qualifying events. The first is the death of an immediate family or household member. The second is when an immediate family or household member contracts or develops a life-threatening illness or injury.

The illness or injury doesn't need to result in death — it must be life-threatening at the time the leave is taken. This could include situations such as a parent being diagnosed with a serious cancer, a child being hospitalised after a major accident, or a spouse suffering a heart attack.

The key test is whether the illness or injury poses a genuine threat to the person's life. Chronic conditions that are serious but not immediately life-threatening would generally not qualify for compassionate leave, although they may qualify for carer's leave under a different provision.

If you are unsure whether your situation qualifies, it is better to notify your employer and take the leave — the Fair Work Act protects employees who access their entitlements in good faith.

Disputes about whether a condition is life-threatening can be resolved with medical evidence.

Your employer is entitled to request evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person that the leave is genuine. For a death, acceptable evidence includes a death certificate, funeral notice, published obituary, or a statutory declaration. For a life-threatening illness or injury, a medical certificate or letter from the treating doctor confirming the serious nature of the condition is sufficient.

Employers should be sensitive about evidence requests during times of grief and crisis. In practice, many employers accept a verbal explanation at the time of the request and ask for documentation after the employee returns to work.

It would be considered unreasonable for an employer to refuse the leave until evidence is produced, particularly if doing so would cause additional distress or prevent the employee from attending a funeral. The evidence does not need to be provided before the leave begins — it can be provided during or after the leave period. If your employer makes unreasonable evidence demands, contact the Fair Work Ombudsman for guidance on what constitutes reasonable evidence in your circumstances.

Casual employees are entitled to 2 days of unpaid compassionate leave per occasion. While casual employees don't receive payment during this period, they've the legal right to be absent from work without their employment being adversely affected. This means an employer can't terminate a casual employee, reduce their shifts, issue a warning, or take any other adverse action because the casual took compassionate leave.

If an employer does take adverse action, the casual employee can make a general protections claim with the Fair Work Commission. Some enterprise agreements and workplace policies extend paid compassionate leave to casual employees, but this isn't required by the NES.

If you're a casual employee and need time off for bereavement or a family member's life-threatening illness, notify your employer as soon as practicable, take the leave, and provide evidence if requested. Use our Leave Entitlements Calculator to understand all of your leave rights, and our Take Home Pay Calculator to see how unpaid days affect your overall pay.