Bereavement policy

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Our policy book says you can have time off for the loss of an immediate family member. What is the definition of an immediate family member? A nurse where I work wasn't allowed time off for her grandfather.

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

brother sister mother father child

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

And spouse.

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

oops, I forgot spouse! ack!

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Unless you're administration. Guess their family bonds are closer. I missed the funerals of my aunt, uncles, grandfather, and one of my grandmothers. Wouldn't do it again; I would call in whatever. There was one nurse on my floor many years ago whose mother died and because they were so short-staffed they made her come in right after the funeral, just gave her a few hours off to attend. Unbelievable.

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Our policy was immediate family also yet a day or so off was usually allowed for close relatives such as grandparents non-pay. The policy just covered off with pay.

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Specializes in Peds Cardiology,Peds Neuro,Pedi ER,PICU, IV Jedi.

It varies from facility to facility. Ours used to exclude grandparents, but now they are included along with mother, father, son, daughter. And ours is 3 days, and they usually work with your schedule in case you find you need more time off.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, Oncology, Rehab, LTAC.

It depends if the hospital is paying for the time off or you are using vacation time. When my father died the policy was three days bereavement. Well, I happened to be scheduled for 3 12 hour shifts in a row right after he died. I was then told that the policy was 24 hours in bereavement time so I had to take vacation time for the third day. If you are willing to take your own vacation time, you can call off for any death. I've worked with nurses who called off because their pet died. Although I love my dog, it's probably not covered for bereavement pay.:paw:

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Specializes in Operating Room.

Ours includes grandparents...

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

I recently lost my father and I was not scheduled to work, so wound up taking off six days to be with my family out of state but had to call off at the hospital only one. What I found was that I needed every bit of that six days before I felt at all like I was ready to face nursing sick people again. At least that was my experience. I wonder what other countries do.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Our policy book says you can have time off for the loss of an immediate family member. What is the definition of an immediate family member? A nurse where I work wasn't allowed time off for her grandfather.

At my job, immediate family means child, spouse, parents, in laws. What it doesn't recognise is the diversity of family dynamics, I believe. Many are raised by aunts, uncles, grandparents, older siblings and cousins, which are not normally included in the facility's definition of immediate family. We get 5 paid days that are non-chargable to our accurals.

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It's so easy to get caught up in taking care of other people that we allow management to dictate our personal lives. Thanks for all your replies.

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