Bereavement and Work: Leave Laws, Sickness Absence and Jobs After a Death

Bereavement reaches every workplace, yet almost no country counts how many working people are bereaved. Where the law gives time off at all, it is often a few days for the funeral. Register studies show the effects on work can be much longer: in Sweden, parents whose teenage or young adult child died suddenly had over ten times the risk of long psychiatric sickness absence.

When someone dies, the people closest to them often still have a job to go back to, alongside a funeral to arrange and family to look after. How much room they get depends on national law, employer policy and, often, one manager's judgement. This study sets out what is known worldwide about bereaved working people: how many there are, what time off the law allows, what happens to sickness absence and employment afterwards, and what workers say helps.

Nobody counts how many working people are bereaved

No country we could find publishes a regular count of how many employed people are bereaved each year. National labour force surveys do not ask the question. The UK government says so directly in its 2024 impact assessment for a new right to bereavement leave: "Using the Annual Population Survey or Labour Force Survey, it is not possible to estimate the proportion of employees that will face bereavement by businesses size"^[1].

Instead, the government built a model. Starting from registered deaths and making assumptions about the ages of close relatives and their employment rates, it estimated that about 942,000 employees would be bereaved of a close family member (adult children, partners, siblings and parents) in a year, rising to 1,939,000 under a broader definition that adds grandparents, grandchildren and step- and half-relatives^[1]. These are illustrative, modelled figures, and the assessment calls its estimates "highly sensitive to the assumptions on family composition and take-up rates"^[1].

A figure often repeated by employers, that 1 in 10 employees is affected by bereavement at any one time, should be treated with care. The same impact assessment cites it, but its footnote describes it as a "Widely reported (hypothetical) estimate based a study in Ireland in 2002"^[1].

In Germany, 63.1% of a representative sample of working people said serious illness, dying, death or grief had affected them at work in the past five years^[2]. In Denmark, the Aarhus Bereavement Study follows a register cohort of 68,960 people; at bereavement the cohort was "on average 51 years old" and "most were employed"^[4].

Where the law gives time off, it is mostly days, not weeks

Statutory bereavement leave varies widely, and in many places it is short and tied to the funeral rather than to grief. A study of Canadian labour standards found that, across the policies it examined, "Commonly, leave is three days, unpaid, and meant to enable ceremonial obligations"^[5]. Its authors note that for bereaved parents “healing and recovery can take years”^[5].

This table covers only the countries whose official guidance we could read at source. Rules change: New Zealand's Employment Leave Act is due to replace the Holidays Act in August 2028^[6]. Pages for Australia, Canada's federal standards and the United States could not be fetched during this study and are left out rather than reported from memory.

Pregnancy loss is a fast-moving area. New Zealand introduced miscarriage bereavement leave in early 2021, and a comparative analysis identified four countries with some form of specific leave for pregnancy loss: New Zealand, the UK, India and the Philippines. The same authors note "limited evidence on whether leave improves mental or physical health outcomes"^[8]. In the UK, the government has published a further impact assessment on extending the new right to unpaid bereavement leave to include pregnancy loss^[1]. For parents after a stillbirth, see our study of parents after stillbirth and neonatal death.

Where no dedicated leave exists, people fall back on other routes. The UK's existing right to time off for dependants covers practical emergencies but, in the government's words, "does not permit a person to take time off to grieve or recover from the mental impact of their bereavement"^[1]. In Norway, interviews with parents after a stillbirth found that grief "is not a legitimate basis for sick leave in the acute phase", and that common alternatives have been referrals to “psychic instability or depression”^[9].

Most bereaved partners miss work, and some deaths show up in long sickness absence

Most bereaved partners need some time away. In a population-based survey of bereaved partners in England and Wales, 85% of those in paid employment missed some work in the three months before or after their partner's death. Many had also been caring intensively beforehand, providing a mean of 122 hours of unpaid care a week^[3]. Our study of carers after caring covers that period in more detail.

The strongest evidence on longer absence comes from Sweden's national registers. A study of all 1,051,515 mothers and fathers of young people aged 16 to 24 in Sweden at the end of 2004 followed them for sickness absence lasting more than 30 days, adjusting for earlier sickness absence, disability pension, healthcare use and demographic characteristics. Parents whose child died by suicide or in an accident had "over tenfold higher risk for psychiatric sickness absence exceeding 30 days" compared with parents whose children were alive, and fathers whose child died by suicide had a 40% higher risk of sickness absence for physical illness^[10]. The finding shows how heavy a sudden death can weigh on a working parent; it does not mean these parents cannot return to work, and it is a strong case for flexible, longer support. Our studies of bereaved parents and adults bereaved by suicide look at health more widely.

Going back to work is not automatically a relief. In a US study of 183 widowed people about three months after their spouse died, those who were employed had higher levels of several inflammatory markers and of perceived stress than those who were retired^[11]. It is one small study, but a reminder that being at work and being able to work are not the same thing.

Some people leave work after a death, and some return to it

In Norway, a study of residents aged 25 to 49 between 2000 and 2014 compared adults whose parent died by suicide with those whose parent died of other causes and with the general population^[12]. Those bereaved by a parent's suicide already had higher odds of not being in work at the time of the death (odds ratio 1.14), a difference seen in women (1.20) but not in men (1.00). Among those who were working when bereaved, the odds of being out of work were 1.13 after two years, a result that could be chance, and 1.20 after five years^[12]. Part of the gap existed before the death, and the rest is modest; but it lasts.

Sweden's registers point the same way for parents whose child died: economists studying the link between a child's death and parents' labour market outcomes describe "one of the largest losses that an individual can face" and report that effects on employment persist over the long run^[13]. The UK impact assessment, citing a 2021 Marie Curie report, states that of nearly two million people in employment experiencing intense grief, "around 5% will leave their jobs after six months and not work for the remainder of the year"^[1]. That is a modelled figure, cited second-hand, and should be read as an order of magnitude.

For some people, a death pushes them into paid work rather than out of it. In India, a national panel survey followed 3,217 women whose husband died between survey waves; for women widowed before age 52, widowhood was linked to "a large increase in the number of days they worked", while older widows worked less^[14]. Across Europe, a 2026 preprint using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (ages 55 to 75) found that labour supply after a spouse's death "rises gradually, beginning approximately one year after bereavement", mainly through people re-entering work^[15]. It has not been peer reviewed. For widowed people raising children, see our study of widowed parents.

Workers say the gap is in support and clarity, not only leave

In Germany's representative survey, 42.7% said they seldom or never received support from their manager; informal support from colleagues and managers was more common than formal provision and often preferred, and employees in smaller companies voiced stronger support needs^[2].

In the UK, the government's impact assessment cites a Marie Curie survey of more than 400 HR professionals and 1,000 employees bereaved in the previous 12 months. Only 1 in 3 employers had a bereavement policy; one in four employees could not access one; 54% worried that taking time off would affect their job security; and 43% felt pressured to return to work before they were ready^[1]. A CIPD survey of 1,006 HR professionals, cited in the same document, found 80% of employers already provided paid bereavement leave, commonly up to 5 days^[1]. These are employer and employee surveys, not representative samples of all workers, and they are reported here as the government summarised them.

In Ontario, Canada, interviews with bereaved workers in precarious jobs found they "were uninformed and unprepared for grief and practical bereavement labor", and described stress, exhaustion, isolation and stigma^[16]. Qualifying periods, such as New Zealand's six months of employment for bereavement leave and the UK's 26 weeks of service for statutory parental bereavement pay, can leave out people in short or broken spells of work^[6][7].

Training is one response. A UK hospice delivered bereavement training to 343 employers and employees from 105 workplaces; in follow-up interviews with 16 of them, the training was seen as beneficial, and the authors' policy recommendations include "in-house and external support and paid leave as standard"^[17].

What the evidence asks of us

The research points to a few clear priorities for employers, workplace wellbeing organisations and governments:

• Count it. No country we found measures how many workers are bereaved each year. Adding a bereavement question to labour force or workplace surveys would replace modelled and hypothetical figures with real ones. The UK government's own assessment notes that current surveys cannot provide this^[1].
• Treat a few days as a floor, not the whole answer. Statutory leave, where it exists, is mostly sized for the funeral^[5][6]. Register evidence of long sickness absence after a child's sudden death^[10] argues for flexible leave that can be taken over months, as the UK's parental scheme (within 56 weeks) already allows and New Zealand's rule that leave need not be taken straight away points towards^[6][7].
• Make policies visible and plain. Workers report not knowing what they are entitled to and fearing for their jobs^[1]. A written, easy-to-find policy costs little.
• Equip managers. Managerial support is often missing, and informal support from colleagues and managers is more common than formal provision, and often preferred^[2]. In one UK evaluation, staff training was seen as beneficial^[17].
• Close the qualifying gaps. Service and earnings thresholds can exclude people in insecure work, who describe particular strain^[16].
• Keep grief out of the sick note where possible. In Norway, parents described normal grief being relabelled as illness to secure time off where no bereavement leave applied^[9]. Dedicated leave avoids that.
• Evaluate. There is little evidence yet on whether bereavement leave improves health or job retention^[8]. New laws in the UK and New Zealand are a chance to find out.

Language: this piece uses plain words such as “died” rather than euphemisms, because they are clearer. Where it discusses suicide, it follows the Samaritans’ media guidelines.

Why we're publishing this

Bereavement is part of working life. What happens next for a bereaved worker is shaped less by the person than by the law, the policy and the manager they happen to have. We have gathered what can be checked at source, from registers, national surveys and official documents, so that the case for better support rests on firm ground.

How to read this data

The evidence here is of four kinds. Population registers (Sweden, Norway, Denmark) follow whole populations and are the strongest evidence on sickness absence and employment; they adjust for some earlier circumstances, such as past sickness absence, but not all, so they show associations rather than proof of cause. Representative surveys (Germany; England and Wales; India) give a snapshot of experience. Employer and charity surveys, which we report only as cited by the UK government, are not representative of all workers. Official guidance and impact assessments describe the law and the UK government's modelled estimates; the UK's 0.9 to 1.9 million figure is modelled from registered deaths, not counted.

Odds ratios (Norway) compare odds, not risks. The Swedish study reports relative risks of sickness absence over follow-up, adjusted for earlier sickness absence and healthcare use. Figures from different countries and years are not directly comparable. Evidence from low- and middle-income countries is very thin; the Indian panel is the main exception. We could not check Australian, Canadian federal or US leave rules at source for this study, so they are not included.

Use this data

Free to cite with attribution to Understanding Bereavement. Charities, schools, services and journalists are welcome to reuse these figures and charts. For the underlying figures as a spreadsheet, get in touch.

Important: This study summarises published research about groups of people for general information. It is not medical, legal or employment advice or bereavement support, and it cannot describe or predict anything about an individual person or workplace. Leave rules change; check current official guidance in your country. If you are worried about yourself or someone else, please speak to a GP or another qualified professional.

Sources

1. Department for Business and Trade. Final stage impact assessment: New right to unpaid bereavement leave (DBT-043-24-CMRR). GOV.UK, 2024. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/…/Impact_assessment_new_right_to_unpaid_bereavement_leave.pdf
2. Kukla H, Lang T, Joshi M, et al. Toward compassionate workplaces: Employers' and employees' perspectives on serious illness, dying, death, and grief: Findings from a nationwide online survey in Germany. PLoS One, 2026. europepmc.org/article/MED/41996448
3. Bristowe K, May P, Pitman A, et al. Unpaid care, time taken off work and healthcare costs before and after partner bereavement among same-gender and different-gender partners: A national population-based study. Palliative Medicine, 2025. europepmc.org/article/MED/40818047
4. Marello Havn MM, Möller S, Denckla C, et al. The Aarhus bereavement study (TABstudy). European Journal of Epidemiology, 2026. europepmc.org/article/MED/42217120
5. Macdonald ME, Kennedy K, Moll S, et al. Excluding parental grief: A critical discourse analysis of bereavement accommodation in Canadian labour standards. Work, 2015. europepmc.org/article/MED/25248540
6. Employment New Zealand. Taking bereavement leave. Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, accessed 2026. employment.govt.nz/leave-and-holidays/bereavement-leave/taking-bereavement-leave
7. GOV.UK. Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay and Leave. GOV.UK, accessed 2026. gov.uk/parental-bereavement-pay-leave
8. Hodson DN, Jerram R. Introduction of miscarriage bereavement leave in New Zealand in 2021: A comparison with international experiences. Health Policy, 2023. europepmc.org/article/MED/36990022
9. Kristvik E. The Precarious Space for Mourning: Sick Leave as an Ambiguous Topic in Bereaved Parents' Accounts of the Return to Everyday Life After Reproductive Loss. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 2022. europepmc.org/article/MED/34136988
10. Wilcox HC, Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Kjeldgård L, Alexanderson K, Runeson B. Functional impairment due to bereavement after the death of adolescent or young adult offspring in a national population study of 1,051,515 parents. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2015. europepmc.org/article/MED/25552253
11. Paoletti J, Chen MA, Wu-Chung EL, et al. Employment and family income in psychological and immune outcomes during bereavement. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2023. europepmc.org/article/MED/36702040
12. Bélanger SM, Stene-Larsen K, Magnus P, et al. Employment status and bereavement after parental suicide: a population representative cohort study. BMJ Open, 2022. europepmc.org/article/MED/36167366
13. van den Berg GJ, Lundborg P, Vikström J. The Economics of Grief. IZA Discussion Paper No. 7010, 2012 (later Economic Journal, 2017). iza.org/publications/dp/7010
14. Reed MN. The labor force participation of Indian women before and after widowhood. Demographic Research, 2020. europepmc.org/article/MED/34335081
15. Song J. Decomposing the Labour Supply Response to Spousal Death: Evidence from a Dynamic Event-Study Design. Preprints.org (not peer reviewed), 2026. doi.org/10.20944/preprints202602.0949.v1
16. Joy K, Cadell S, Peter E, Kontos P. "The living need care": Experiences of bereaved workers in precarious employment. Death Studies, 2026. europepmc.org/article/MED/39841579
17. Dewhurst F, Turner R, Barrett L, et al. Bereavement Training in the Workplace, Can it Help Bridge the Grief Support Gap? A Qualitative Evaluation of Employers' and Employees' Views. Omega, 2025. europepmc.org/article/MED/40437809