Bereavement leave in Australia
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Employees in Australia are entitled to up to two days of paid compassionate leave per bereavement event under the National Employment Standards. The rules apply to most employees regardless of employment type, though some details vary.
Who is covered and when leave applies
Compassionate leave — the formal term under the Fair Work Act — applies when a member of an employee's immediate family or household dies, or when a life-threatening illness or injury is sustained. Most employees covered by the national workplace relations system are entitled to this, including full-time, part-time and casual employees. Casual employees receive the same two days per occasion but their leave is unpaid.
The entitlement is per occasion, not per year. Each bereavement event triggers a fresh two-day entitlement.
How much leave employees get under the NES
The National Employment Standards provide two days of paid compassionate leave per occasion for permanent employees. There is no waiting period — an employee can take this leave even if they started the role recently.
The leave can be taken as a single two-day block or as two separate single days. Whether an employee takes it consecutively or splits it depends on their circumstances and, practically, on reasonable agreement with the employer.
Casual employees are entitled to two days per occasion as well, but because casuals are paid only for shifts they work, the leave is unpaid.
What counts as immediate family or household
The Fair Work Act defines immediate family broadly. It includes:
- a spouse or former spouse
- a de facto partner or former de facto partner
- a child, including an adopted child, stepchild or ex-nuptial child
- a parent
- a grandparent
- a grandchild
- a sibling
It also includes the equivalent relationships of the employee's spouse or de facto partner — so a spouse's parent (an in-law) qualifies.
A member of the employee's household also qualifies, even if they fall outside the family list above. This can matter for employees whose close relationships do not fit the traditional family structure.
Evidence and notice requirements
Employers can ask for evidence that the leave is taken for a genuine reason. What counts as reasonable evidence is not tightly prescribed — it could be a death certificate, a funeral notice or a statutory declaration. Employers are generally expected to be reasonable about what they request and how quickly.
Employees are also expected to notify their employer as soon as it is practicable, though the Fair Work Act recognises that grief is not always predictable or orderly. An employee does not need to give advance notice if circumstances make that impossible.
What awards, enterprise agreements and contracts may add
The NES sets the floor. Many modern awards and enterprise agreements provide more generous entitlements — for example, additional days of paid leave, or coverage for a broader circle of relationships such as close friends, cousins or culturally significant kin.
Some employers also choose to offer extended bereavement leave as a matter of policy, above the legal minimum. Where an award, enterprise agreement or employment contract provides a better entitlement than the NES, the better entitlement applies.
It is worth checking the relevant modern award for your industry, because entitlements can differ meaningfully. A construction worker, a retail employee and a nurse may all have different leave conditions beyond the base NES entitlement.
Payroll and record-keeping considerations
For payroll purposes, paid compassionate leave is treated as ordinary paid leave. It is paid at the employee's base rate of pay for the hours they would have worked during the period.
Compassionate leave does not affect accrual of other entitlements like annual leave or personal/carer's leave — it sits alongside them. Under Single Touch Payroll, leave payments must be reported correctly at each pay event using the appropriate leave category.
Employers should keep a record of compassionate leave taken, including the dates and the nature of the event (without requiring unnecessary personal detail). Accurate records matter if a question about entitlement arises later, and they are part of your broader obligations under the Fair Work Act to maintain employment records for seven years.
If your workforce spans multiple countries, the rules diverge significantly — how Mellow runs payroll across six countries on one platform covers how those differences are managed in practice.
A note on grief beyond the minimum
Two days is a legal minimum, not a recommended standard for how long grief takes. Many employers find that treating the two-day entitlement as a strict ceiling creates goodwill problems and can affect retention. Offering additional unpaid leave, or drawing on personal/carer's leave balances, is a practical way to support employees through a genuinely difficult time without creating an open-ended obligation.
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