Bereavement leave in New Zealand, explained

Bereavement leave is the part of the Act where getting it wrong does the most human damage for the least money. It is a few days' pay. Nobody is going to save the business by arguing about whether a step-parent counts, or by asking a grieving employee for a funeral notice before releasing their pay. The law here is short, and the best practice is mostly "read the section, then be kind".

This guide is the bereavement chapter of our plain-English series on NZ employment leave. It sets out exactly what the Act requires, what it leaves to the employer, and where we think the line should sit.

Quick answers

Who qualifies (s 63)

Bereavement leave uses the same gateway as sick leave: 6 months' current continuous employment, or, for people without that, 6 months in which they averaged at least 10 hours a week and worked at least 1 hour every week or 40 hours every month (s 63(1)). Casuals who meet the hours test are covered. An employer may agree to bereavement leave in advance of the 6 months (s 63(3)), and in our experience almost every employer does, because the alternative is telling a four-month employee they have to take unpaid leave to bury a parent.

Three days: who counts as close family (ss 69(2)(a), 70)

An employee suffers a bereavement, and is entitled to 3 days' bereavement leave, on the death of their:

• spouse or partner (which includes civil union and de facto partners, s 5);
• parent;
• child;
• brother or sister;
• grandparent;
• grandchild;
• spouse's or partner's parent.

The list is the list. It does not mention step-relations, whāngai, in-laws other than parents-in-law, aunts, uncles or cousins. The Act does not define "parent" or "child", and it would be a brave employer who argued that a step-parent who raised the employee, or a whāngai child, is not a parent or child for this purpose. Where a relationship doesn't fit the list on a literal reading, the one-day category below is the fallback, and nothing stops you granting three.

The entitlement is for each death. If two family members die at the same time, the employee is entitled to 3 days for each (s 70(2)).

Three days: miscarriage and stillbirth (ss 69(2)(c)–(d), 69(4))

Since 31 March 2021, the end of a pregnancy by miscarriage or stillbirth is a bereavement carrying 3 days' leave. It covers:

• the employee whose own pregnancy ends;
• the employee's spouse or partner;
• a former spouse or partner who would have been a biological parent of the child;
• a person who had undertaken to be the primary carer of the child, for example through a surrogacy or adoption arrangement, and that person's spouse or partner.

"Miscarriage" means the end of a pregnancy in the first 20 weeks; "still-birth" has its meaning from the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021. Both exclude the ending of a pregnancy through abortion services (s 69(4)). No proof provision applies and none should be asked for.

One day: anyone else (ss 69(2)(b), 69(3), 70(1)(b))

For the death of any other person, the employee is entitled to 1 day if the employer accepts, having regard to relevant factors, that the employee has suffered a bereavement. The Act lists the factors (s 69(3)):

1. the closeness of the association between the employee and the person who died;
2. whether the employee has to take significant responsibility for the arrangements for ceremonies relating to the death;
3. any cultural responsibilities of the employee in relation to the death.

The word "accepts" gives the employer a decision, but it is a decision to be made in good faith (s 73) and with regard to those factors, not a free veto. A best friend of thirty years, a former foster parent, a kaumātua of the employee's marae, an aunt who was effectively a mother: all readily meet the closeness test. The third factor is there precisely so that tikanga obligations, such as an employee's role at a tangihanga, are recognised even where Western family categories don't map.

When it can be taken, and for what

The Act sets no time limit on bereavement leave and does not say the days must be consecutive. Employment New Zealand's guidance, which we follow, is that it can be taken at any time and for any purpose genuinely relating to the bereavement. That includes:

• the funeral, tangihanga or other ceremony, and travel to it;
• time with family in the days around the death;
• an unveiling, memorial or anniversary some months later;
• dealing with the estate, the house, or the person's affairs.

An employee who takes one day for the funeral and asks for the other two for the unveiling a year later is within the entitlement. The 3 days attach to the death, not to a calendar year.

The employee must notify the employer as early as possible before the day, or if that isn't practicable, as early as possible afterwards (s 64). Realistically, that often means the morning of.

Proof

Unlike sick leave (s 68), the Act has no provision allowing the employer to require proof for bereavement leave. The employer can ask, in good faith, and the employee is obliged to deal with the employer in good faith too (s 73), so a bare-faced fabrication is a disciplinary matter. But payment cannot be made conditional on a death certificate, a funeral notice or a link to a memorial page. Do not ask for these. If a manager genuinely suspects abuse, that is an investigation under the employment agreement's disciplinary process, not a payroll hold.

How bereavement leave is paid (ss 71–72)

For each day of bereavement leave that would otherwise be a working day, pay relevant daily pay, or average daily pay where s 9A allows it (s 71(1)), in the pay for the period in which the leave is taken (s 72(1)).

• Relevant daily pay is what the employee would have earned had they worked that day, including overtime, commission or incentive payments they'd have received (s 9). This is the default.
• Average daily pay (52 weeks' gross earnings ÷ days worked or on paid leave) may be used only if RDP can't be determined or the employee's daily pay varies within the pay period (s 9A).

Only otherwise working days are paid, and only otherwise working days are deducted. If a Monday-to-Wednesday employee's parent dies on a Thursday and the funeral is Saturday, they may need no bereavement leave at all that week and can hold all 3 days for later. If a casual with no fixed pattern is bereaved, use the otherwise working day calculator to decide which days count. No ACC interaction applies here except that, as with sick leave, days on ACC weekly compensation need not be paid (s 71(2)).

Bereavement on a public holiday or during annual leave

• Public holiday. If the employee was going to work a public holiday and doesn't because of a bereavement, the day remains a public holiday: paid at RDP or ADP if it was an otherwise working day, no bereavement leave deducted, no time and a half, no alternative holiday (s 61A).
• Annual leave. If a bereavement happens during annual holidays, the employer must allow the affected days to be taken as bereavement leave instead of annual leave (s 37). This is not discretionary, unlike sickness during annual leave.

No accumulation, no payout

Bereavement leave is not a balance. It doesn't accrue, doesn't carry over and is not paid out when employment ends. Each bereavement generates its own 3 or 1 days when it happens. Payroll systems that show "bereavement leave: 3 days remaining" as a standing balance are modelling it wrongly; the correct model is a fresh entitlement per event.

The records you must keep (s 81)

The dates on which bereavement leave was taken and the amount paid for it (s 81(2)(g)–(h)), for 6 years. Recording which bereavement each day relates to is not required but is the only way to show, a year later, that the unveiling day was the third day for that death and not a fourth.

The mistakes we see most

1. Treating it as 3 days a year. It is 3 days per death, with no annual cap.
2. Requiring proof before paying. There is no such power in the Act.
3. Refusing the one-day category without considering the s 69(3) factors, especially cultural responsibilities.
4. Insisting the days be consecutive or taken within a week of the death.
5. Deducting non-working days. Only otherwise working days count.
6. Deducting annual leave when the bereavement fell during a holiday (s 37).
7. Missing the miscarriage and stillbirth entitlement, or limiting it to the pregnant employee when partners and intended primary carers are also covered.

What changes on 6 August 2028

The Employment Leave Act 2026 keeps bereavement leave in days, with the same 3-day and 1-day categories and the same list of relationships, miscarriage and stillbirth included (ELA ss 89, 92). What changes:

• Available from the first day of employment. No 6-month qualifying period (ELA s 90). Employees working only casual hours are covered too.
• Part days. Bereavement leave may be taken in whole days or part days, with a part day counted as a proportion of a day based on the hours not worked (ELA s 93).
• Overnight shifts that start on one calendar day and run into the next are treated as one day (ELA s 92(3)).
• Paid at the single hourly leave payment rate plus fixed allowances, for the hours the employee would have worked, replacing relevant and average daily pay (ELA ss 121–123).

Frequently asked questions

Sources