Time to grieve: Proposal would require 2-weeks unpaid leave
»Play Video
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The daughter of a woman who died in the December shooting spree at Clackamas Town Center spoke to a House committee on Friday in favor of a bill that would require employers to give their workers two weeks of unpaid time off to grieve the loss of a relative.
"There was no way I could have gone back to work the next day," said Jenna Passalacqua, daughter of Cindy Yuille. Yuille was one of two people fatally shot by a 22-year-old who then killed himself.
Passalacqua told the House Business and Labor Committee she was lucky to have an employer who gave her six weeks of paid leave to grieve. She said all workers should have at least two weeks to mourn the loss of a relative.
But business groups said the bill would place unnecessary hardships on employers, and that employers are usually understanding about giving time off for mourning.
"It should be an employee-employer issue," said Jan Meekcoms, state director for the Oregon National Federation for Independent Business.
The bill seemed to strike a chord with everyone in the hearing room, including some committee members.
Rep. Shemia Fagan, D-Clackamas, said she was working a high-pressure sales job when her father died seven years ago. Fagan, who supports the bill, said she took time off to attend his funeral and then went right back to work because she feared losing her job.
But, she said, the quick return helped cost her the job.
"Obviously, I had not a great month in sales," said Fagan, crying as she told her story. "And then I was terminated."
Rep. Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon City, said he understands the pain of losing a loved one. The committee vice-chair choked back tears as he talked about his first wife, who died of breast cancer, and the pain he feels years later. Still, Kennemer said he didn't think requiring two weeks of time off would do much to help alleviate someone's grief.
"I don't know how we work the grief situation out because people need different times, it hits at different times, and, frankly, in certain ways, it never goes away," he said.
House Bill 2950 would add "death of a family member" to the 1995 Oregon Family Leave Act, which requires employers of businesses with 25 or more employees to give their workers job-protected time off to care for themselves or family members in cases of illness, injury, child birth or adoption. The bereavement time would have to be taken within three months.
Under the law, employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during the year to deal with personal or family-related issues, but time off for bereavement is not included.
The two-week bereavement period would be counted toward the total amount of time employees are allowed to take for family leave.
The Senate endorsed a similar bill in 2011. It died in the House Business and Labor Committee.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
This comment has been deleted
@feral Not yet.
Look at what an employer will spend in time and money on safety in the workplace. Benefits. bonuses, banners, training, etc. They would not invest so much if there was not a return on that investment. What would the cost be if an employee returns basically as a zombie to protect their employment and has an accident.Â
Bereavement leave is usually granted by most decent employers. Â The amount depends on the employer or union contract. Â Two weeks may be a little overkill as far as getting over the death, but sometimes it takes that long to take care of matters after the death such as paying bills, handling of the estate, etc. Â Sometimes a number of travel days are also needed. Â At least this proposal is asking for unpaid leave, otherwise there are those who would just use it as if it were paid vacation.
@ShadowÂ
With something like this, most employers would require some form of proof so that they could be certain that you weren't just trying to get some last minute time off.
It seems like more and more it is taking longer between a death and the funeral and services. It used to be that three days off would be enough, but now it's more like a week, and that is if you're not the one who has to deal with all the details.
I agree that most decent employers have this already, but unfortunately there are a lot of employers anymore that don't fall into that category. If they weren't required to do certain things - like pay overtime and such - they wouldn't.
@Jenni S. @Shadow I have a perfect example of timeline.  My husband is back in Pennsylvania right now dealing with his grandmother's death.  She died on Saturday.  They met with the funeral director today.  They need to  apply for a permit to cremate her body (which can't be applied for until Monday but can take multiple days to approve) then they have to have the space for her in the crematorium, the funeral parlor needs to be available for the service, and the cemetery has to be available for her encryption.
So, while he flew back on Saturday, the ABSOLUTE earliest they will be able to hold a service won't be until Friday (and they still haven't gotten information from the cemetery - a 9-5, M-F place - nor do they know if they'll be able to cremate her or when because it depends on the other bodies that need to be disposed of ahead of hers).
So, there you have it. Â He left on Saturday. Â He's returning on Thursday (due to critical work issues that he has to be here to address) and will, essentially, miss his grandmother's funeral. Â Even given five days, it wouldn't be enough in this situation. Â
His intent was to see her before she passed away otherwise it could have been that he fly out next Friday and they have the service next Saturday or sometime the week after but why should everyone else have to bend to accomodate HIS schedule? Â And you can only keep a body around so long... Â They have laws about that, too.
I went to high school with Jenna! (much older than her) but I had no idea this was her mom. I feel so sorry for her!
@Sarbar shcibth
(send her cash i bet that helps)
@Sarbar t's & p's
This comment has been deleted
@wondering LOL
CHIA PET
(can hispanicks invade america..........patrol everything together)
Life goes on when a family member dies. If you like your job and want to remain employed there, you need to work within the confines of their policies for time off. Put on your hat that says you ARE an ADULT and remain a productive member of society. Â
Do you really think your dead loved one would want you sitting around and crying over them for 2+ weeks?
@Oh My Life may go on but some jobs require critical thinking skills, deductive reasoning, etc. that are impaired by someone distracted by grief.  No matter what, you'll NOT be giving your employer 100%. Especially in these jobs.  It depends on the person and the job.
I wouldn't want to be in a building designed by an engineer who is sleepy, using drugs and/or alcohol excessively, emotional -- even a divorce or birth of a child -- or have a surgeon in a similar situation perform my surgery (ok, maybe if there are other competent surgeons in the room willing and able to remove the surgeon before s/he does any permanent damage).
So it really does depend. Â My husband's job as a computer analyst, well, he doesn't deal with death well and his job, while critical to the company, doesn't require some of the skills I mentioned above. Â He went to work the day my mom died and only took off for the day of the funeral and only because it happened in the middle of the day. Â I was ok with it. Â It was what he needed at the time and it helped him emotionally. Â I wouldn't have been able to do my job. Â I was too distracted by the arrangements, paperwork, having to deal with matters that could only be settled in a 9-5 M-F situation that death causes us to work around... Â It just depends. Â
@Oh My sgeoacblcsprtlgab)
(some good examples of adults are clinton bush lohan cheney sam pat robertson tiger lance gimma a break)
By the way... my mother died when I was 16 and my father when I was 36.. so YES I have dealt with death and grieving and moving forward .
@Oh My lol
ddbuc
(death doesnt bother us christshums)
There should be a limit of 6 grandmas
@tally lol
Give them two weeks unpaid leave to help the state budget and them something to really cry about.
ILWU
tgkb ywc
(the govt knows best..you will comply)
All i have to say, is if a loved one of mine past away. and my employer told me i couldn't take the time off.   I would walk.  instead of living with out me for a couple of week they will have to replace me.  So I don't need a law I make my own.  But then I'm a lucky few who can afford to do that. Â
@brautigan lol
Nice idea. A good employer would do this. It is not the government's job, though, to tell an employer how to run his business.
@thesixthmoon If that's the case.. why have equal opportunity laws in place?
Oh boy, that noise you hear right now is small business preparing to move out of the state. Yes, employers that have 25 to 100 employee's are small business. This isn't why I moved but I'm glad I did. Two weeks for bereavement? Why not a month?
@Billy Batts What wrong with giving someone two weeks of UNPAID time off?
@hokeywolf @Billy Batts You mean other than either their work not getting done or their work getting dumped on other co-workers?
@B Smizzle lol
@hokeywolf lol
@hokeywolf @Billy Batts Where I work it would mean a larger payroll. Most businesses want to meet their demands with the least amount of people.If it takes "X" number of people to produce a given amount of product, then you really need your staff as much as possible. When an employer has to bring in temporary help, There is a cost.
@Jenni S. How about this idea, the city of Portland adopt this plan for a period of two years, and then we decide if it is workable or not. Just an idea.
@danoseknows @hokeywolf @Billy BattsÂ
The cost of the temporary help is rarely going to be more than the regular employee would have made if they'd been there. Since the regular employee is not getting paid, those funds are available for the temporary help.
It's been my experience that the work either backs up and is there for when the person gets back or co-worker cover it (often times for no extra pay).
Not to mention that a person isn't likely to be very productive if they've just lost someone and have to be at work instead of having some time to deal with the grief.
@hokeywolf All businesses pretty much are running too lean, because of too many costs associated with employment. If I'm not there, the work simply backs up. there's nobody there to do my job.Some employers can shift people around, but many simply cannot. Leave arrangements have to be determined by each employer, not by the government.
@danoseknows Like I've said before, everybody can be replaced. If needed the work load can be shifted to others for two weeks. What if an employee had to go to a customers work site to fix an unexpected problem? Will your business fold? If it will then you're running too lean in the first place.
Work loads can be shifted. People will gladly work some overtime to help out a coworker. It's the right thing to do.
@hokeywolf @Billy Batts There's nothing wrong with it at all. There is something wrong with using the force of the State to compel a private citizen to do it.
@thesixthmoon @hokeywolf So if I only wanted to rent a house out.. or hire pretty White girls and discriminate against everyone else... your all for the Gov. ignoring that and letting me run my business how I want. Regardless of its sexist, racist, discriminatory, etc? RIGHT?!?!?!
@hokeywolf @thesixthmoon Like I said, it's a really nice idea. A good businessman will do it. But it is not the government's job to tell people how to run their business.Â
@thesixthmoon The State is only requiring an employer to allow an employee time to heal with out pay. Not all employers will do this.Â
@hokeywolf @Billy Batts It's just the gubmint getting into the business of business that I hate. I've had employees take bereavment before. One person took two days the other three weeks then I had a guy that took the afternoon off. I paid eveyone that has taken time off for bereavment their base salary. I just don't think the state needs to make it a law. If you don't like where you work, get a new job. You can look while your employeed.
@Robin Jon Zimmerman @B Smizzle @hokeywolfÂ
So sorry to hear that. It's situations like that which are the reason why it needs to specifically be listed out in the FMLA rules.
@B Smizzle @hokeywolf  unfortunately I used up my vacation days helping my wife with her cancer treatments and caring for my daughter when she was in the hospital. But when she dies I had 12 weeks sick pay on the books, and I couldn't use them because death is not covered under FMLA.
@B Smizzle @hokeywolf Many employers don't even give vacation days.. or sick days. Hence.. why the city council of Portland is passing the sick day leave policy.
@B Smizzle @hokeywolfÂ
Of course that is assuming you have vacation days. Those who are most likely to have an employer who wouldn't be understanding about needing time off for a death are also likely to not have vacation time.
@hokeywolf "To just get another job is not that easy when you can't take unpaid time off to go to an interview"
Take a vacation day.....
@Billy Batts @hokeywolf To just get another job is not that easy when you can't take unpaid time off to go to an interview. You can't let your employer know that you're looking or you will be terminated.Â
Oh and don't even think of doing a phone interview while at work. That will get you terminated too.
@hokeywolf @Billy Batts well that just shows how selfish some employers can be.   But i bet if it was one of there loved ones who passed away they would take the two weeks if not more off.Â
Honestly I think it is a good idea, when my sister died the company I worked for was not exactly 'employee' friendly and it was difficult to get time off right after her sudden death and for her services... (they were short staffed, blah, blah, blah...) so not only was I upset about the sudden loss of my sister I was stressed about my potential job loss because of me calling out on work.
I had a totally different experience when my mother passed away, I took time off after her death (was expected because of cancer) and for her services, my employer at the time was very understanding and without knowing about it they had a paid bereavement policy.  I didn't even know about it until my manager had me sign LOA paperwork when I returned.  It was nice not having the added stress of worrying about my job during an already stressful time.
@dandalion awopwtwhfarf
(anyone who opens post with the word honestly flies a red flag)
Wonder who decided to use this young lady to further their own agenda?.....What a bunch of lazy bums we have in Oregin...NANNY STATE....gees.
I have great sympathy for Jenna and sincerely wish her peace...I can't imaginre an employer not giving time off to greave and bury a loved-one....
@KHEBÂ Actually she saw the bill and found them.Â
@Robin Jon Zimmerman @KHEBÂ
That's usually how it happens. It's not that often you have to go looking for people to testify on a bill.
@KHEBÂ
Typically what happens with these bills is that people hear that a certain issue is coming up and they go to testify. She was testifying because she had been through the experience and could show how having time off helped her. Others would have testified about how difficult things were when they could not have the time off. It was showing the contrast between how much it helps an employee to have time off and how much it hurts them when they don't.
@KHEBÂ Sadly, there are some employers who expect that the "show must go on, no matter what". Selfish and greedy? Yes. Compassionate? No.Â
@KHEBÂ
That's what I thought, she was given 6 weeks PAID leave.
@GladiOla lol
@the rover @GladiOla I don't even get 6 weeks paid vacation / floater days... even if I do max out my vaca at 20+ years of service. Her employer ROCKS! Where can I get an application? I have a Union job and we don't even get sick days... and get in trouble if we miss over 3 days in a year.