Getting to know your AMEA - Bereavement Leave

Dear AMEA member,

In this “Getting to know your AMEA” newsletter, we want to talk to you about a sensitive topic. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one knows how difficult it is to keep up with the day-to-day commitments in the aftermath of a loved one’s death. We believe that having time to grieve and handle the administrative aspects of such a loss is necessary and essential to an employee’s mental and physical well-being. This belief is reflected in our full-time MOUs under Article 33, Bereavement Leave.

Full time employees have the ability to take up to three (3) consecutive days off with pay for the death of an immediate family member to attend a funeral, memorial service, or to make burial arrangements. Immediate family is defined in the MOU as:

• relative by blood or marriage who is a member of the employee’s household
• relative by blood or marriage who is under the same roof
• any parent
• foster parent
• step-parent
• spouse or registered domestic partner
• child (including stillbirths)
• grandchild
• brother
• sister
• or any parent, foster parent, or step-parent of the employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner.

For other family members, a full time employee may take up to one (1) work shift off with pay. “Other family member” is defined in the MOU as a:

• Grandparent
• Daughter-in-law
• Son-in-law
• Grandparent, grandchild, child, brother, or sister of the employee’s spouse or registered domestic partner

In addition to the above, you can take up to forty (40) hours of sick and vacation time. If you do not have any time on the books, you are guaranteed a total of forty (40) hours of unpaid leave.

It’s important to remember that provisions like Bereavement Leave don’t exist because employers decide to be generous. Unions have had to bargain and often fight for benefits that, at the end of the day, simply reflect common decency and mutual respect.

Publication Date: January 31, 2020