Funeral and Compassionate Leave Rules for Australian Employers

When someone in your team loses a loved one, the workplace can quickly become the last thing on their mind.

At the same time, as a small business owner, you still need to keep your roster running, manage pay correctly, and make sure you’re meeting your obligations under Australian workplace laws.

That’s where understanding attending funeral leave comes in. In Australia, this type of absence is usually managed through compassionate leave (and sometimes additional entitlements under an award, enterprise agreement, or your own workplace policies).

Below, we’ll walk through what attending funeral leave looks like for employers in practice, what the minimum legal rules are, and how to put a clear process in place that supports your staff while protecting your business.

What Is Attending Funeral Leave In Australia?

In Australia, “attending funeral leave” isn’t usually the formal legal term used in workplace legislation.

Instead, the Fair Work Act and the National Employment Standards (NES) provide an entitlement called compassionate leave. Compassionate leave is what most employees will rely on when they need time off due to:

• the death of a member of their immediate family or household, or
• a member of their immediate family or household contracting or developing a life-threatening illness or injury.

From an employer perspective, attending funeral leave typically means an employee is requesting compassionate leave to attend a funeral, help with arrangements, travel, or grieve.

It’s also worth noting that some workplaces (especially where there is a modern award or enterprise agreement) may provide additional leave, different rules for notice, or other entitlements. But the NES is the baseline you generally can’t go below.

If you’d like a plain-English overview of the types of leave that can apply when someone passes away, funeral leave is a helpful concept to be familiar with, because employees may use that term even when the legal entitlement is compassionate leave.

Who Is Entitled To Attending Funeral Leave (Compassionate Leave) And How Much?

As a starting point, most employees (including casual employees) are entitled to compassionate leave under the NES.

How Much Compassionate Leave Do Employees Get?

The NES entitlement is:

• 2 days of compassionate leave per occasion
• which can be taken as a single continuous period (e.g. 2 days in a row) or as separate periods (e.g. 1 day now and 1 day later), if you and the employee agree.

“Per occasion” matters. It’s not a once-a-year cap. It applies each time a qualifying event occurs.

Is Attending Funeral Leave Paid Or Unpaid?

This depends on the employee’s employment type:

• Full-time and part-time employees: compassionate leave is paid at the employee’s base rate of pay for the hours they would have worked.
• Casual employees: compassionate leave is unpaid under the NES (unless an award/enterprise agreement or your workplace policy provides something extra).

For small businesses, this is one of the most common payroll “gotchas”: paying a permanent employee correctly (including the right ordinary hours) while also understanding that casual compassionate leave is generally unpaid unless you’ve committed to paying it in your contracts or policies.

Who Counts As “Immediate Family” Or Household?

Eligibility depends on whether the person who passed away (or is seriously ill/injured) is part of the employee’s immediate family or household.

Under the Fair Work Act, “immediate family” is defined and generally includes an employee’s spouse or de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling, as well as the child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee’s spouse or de facto partner.

If you want to keep your HR processes consistent (and avoid awkward back-and-forth), it helps to understand how “immediate family” is treated under the Fair Work framework. This is also relevant across multiple leave types and entitlements. Here’s a useful reference point: immediate family.

“Household” generally captures people living with the employee (even if they’re not related), which can be particularly relevant where someone has a close relationship outside the traditional family structure.

What Are Your Legal Obligations When An Employee Requests Attending Funeral Leave?

When you receive a request for attending funeral leave, your obligations typically fall into a few buckets: allowing the leave (if entitled), paying correctly (if required), and managing the process fairly.

1) You Must Allow Compassionate Leave If The Employee Is Entitled

If the request falls within the NES compassionate leave rules, you generally can’t refuse it.

From a risk perspective, refusing compassionate leave (or pressuring someone not to take it) can quickly create:

• employee relations issues,
• underpayment disputes (if paid leave applies), and
• legal risk, including adverse action claims if the employee is treated poorly for exercising a workplace right.

There may be genuine edge cases (for example, disputes about whether the person qualifies as immediate family/household), but in most small business workplaces the best approach is to handle the request sensitively first, and ask for any required confirmation second.

2) You Can Request Notice And Evidence (Within Reason)

Employees should give notice “as soon as practicable” (which may be after the leave has started, depending on the circumstances).

You can also ask the employee to provide evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person. In a funeral context, common evidence includes:

• a funeral notice,
• an order of service,
• a letter from the funeral home, or
• other documentation confirming the death or the employee’s relationship to the person (where relevant).

Be careful not to overreach. The goal is to confirm the entitlement, not to interrogate the employee at a vulnerable time.

3) You Must Pay Correctly (Where The Leave Is Paid)

For full-time and part-time employees, compassionate leave is paid at the base rate for the hours they would have worked.

As an employer, it’s important to check:

• the employee’s rostered or ordinary hours on the day(s) taken,
• whether the relevant modern award or enterprise agreement changes how leave payments are calculated (for example, whether penalties, loadings, or allowances are included or excluded for compassionate leave), and
• how your payroll system codes the leave (so it’s recorded properly).

If you’re not sure which modern award applies or how it interacts with leave, getting clarity early can save you from underpayment issues later.

4) You Still Need To Manage Privacy And Confidentiality

Even in a supportive culture, employees may not want details shared broadly.

As a baseline:

• only collect and store evidence that you actually need,
• limit access to HR/payroll or the relevant manager, and
• avoid telling the team more than is necessary to manage operational changes.

In other words: you can let others know the employee is away, but you should be cautious about sharing “why” unless the employee is comfortable with that.

How Do You Handle Attending Funeral Leave Requests In Practice (Without Disrupting Your Business)?

When a request comes in, most small businesses want to do the right thing while still keeping shifts covered and customers looked after.

A practical process can help you avoid confusion and reduce the emotional load for everyone involved.

Step 1: Acknowledge The Request And Confirm The Basics

Keep your response human and simple. For example:

• confirm you’ve received the request,
• ask what days they need, and
• ask whether they’re likely to need any flexibility (travel, cultural obligations, etc.).

You don’t need to make them “prove” anything immediately. In many cases, you can sort evidence out later once they’re ready.

Step 2: Check The Entitlements That Apply To That Employee

Before you confirm pay or payroll coding, check:

• is the employee full-time, part-time, or casual?
• are they covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement with extra provisions?
• does your employment contract or policy provide additional paid funeral leave beyond the NES?

This is also where your documentation matters. If you have a clear Employment Contract and consistent leave policy, it’s much easier to manage these questions calmly and consistently.

Step 3: Plan Coverage (But Avoid Pressuring The Employee)

It’s reasonable to ask about timing so you can plan. It’s not reasonable to pressure the employee to come in, work reduced leave, or “make up” the time.

Depending on your workplace, coverage options might include:

• offering extra shifts to other team members,
• bringing in a casual, or
• temporarily reducing non-essential tasks or opening hours.

If the employee is a casual and you need to cancel or change shifts due to their absence, make sure you’re also thinking about rostering rules and any relevant award clauses. A clear internal approach to shift changes can reduce disputes later, particularly if you already use a formal shift cancellation policy.

Step 4: Record The Leave Properly

From a compliance and record-keeping standpoint, you should ensure:

• the dates and type of leave are recorded,
• pay (if applicable) is processed correctly, and
• any evidence is stored securely (if requested/provided).

This is especially important if the employee later requests additional leave (such as annual leave, unpaid leave, or a flexible working arrangement) connected to the same event.

Step 5: Think About What Happens If They Need More Than 2 Days

The NES provides 2 days per occasion, but real life isn’t always that neat.

If an employee needs more time than their compassionate leave provides, you can discuss other options, such as:

• Annual leave (by agreement),
• Unpaid leave (by agreement), or
• Flexible arrangements (temporary reduced hours, adjusted shifts, working from home where relevant).

The right approach will depend on operational needs and what is reasonable in the circumstances, but having a consistent policy framework makes these conversations much easier.

What Should Your Workplace Policy Cover For Attending Funeral Leave?

Even though compassionate leave is set out in the NES, a well-written internal policy can help you avoid uncertainty and ensure your managers handle requests consistently.

For small businesses especially, policies act like a “playbook” so you’re not reinventing the wheel during a difficult moment.

Key Items To Include In A Funeral/Compassionate Leave Policy

• Terminology: Explain that attending funeral leave requests will generally be managed as compassionate leave (and note any extra leave you provide).
• Eligibility: Confirm who can access it (full-time, part-time, casual), and what “immediate family or household” means in your workplace context.
• How to request leave: Who to notify, how (phone/text/email), and when (as soon as practicable).
• Evidence: What evidence you may request, and that you’ll treat it confidentially.
• Pay rules: A simple explanation of paid vs unpaid compassionate leave depending on employment type, and that awards/agreements may apply.
• Extra time off: A pathway for requesting annual leave or unpaid leave if more than 2 days is needed.
• Cultural and religious considerations: A statement that you’ll accommodate these where reasonable (particularly for timing and travel), so staff feel supported coming to you early.

Many small businesses include this as part of broader leave and conduct documentation, rather than a standalone policy. The important thing is that it’s written down and consistently followed.

Depending on your team size, this might sit within your Workplace Policy documents or a more comprehensive Staff Handbook.

Make Sure Your Contracts And Policies Match What You Actually Do

A common issue we see is a mismatch between:

• what the business “usually does” (for example, paying casuals for compassionate leave out of goodwill), and
• what the written contract or policy says.

Being generous is not a problem in itself. The risk is that inconsistent practice can create expectations, disputes, or confusion later (particularly if a manager changes and applies the rules differently).

If you want to offer extra paid attending funeral leave beyond the NES, it’s usually best to document it clearly so the entitlement is consistent and manageable.

Key Takeaways

• In Australia, “attending funeral leave” is typically handled as compassionate leave under the National Employment Standards (NES).
• Employees generally get 2 days per occasion; it’s paid for full-time and part-time employees and unpaid for casual employees (unless an award, enterprise agreement, contract, or policy provides more).
• You can request notice and evidence, but it should be reasonable and handled sensitively, with privacy in mind.
• A consistent internal process helps you manage coverage, record leave correctly, and reduce the risk of disputes or payroll errors.
• A clear policy (supported by well-drafted contracts) is one of the simplest ways to handle funeral-related absences fairly and confidently as a small business.

If you’d like help reviewing your leave settings, updating your workplace documents, or putting a clear approach in place for attending funeral leave, you can reach us at 1800 730 617 or team@sprintlaw.com.au for a free, no-obligations chat.