Bereavement Leave Circular published
The Department of Education has published Circular Letter 78/2022 Bereavement Leave Scheme for Registered Teachers employed in Recognised Primary and Post Primary Schools. Click here to view.
This comes in response to demands from the ASTI in recent years that teachers should have access to bereavement leave on a similar basis to workers in other sectors of the public and civil service.
Key features are as follows:
- Bereavement leave is increased to 20 working days from 5 consecutive days in the event of the death of a teacher’s child or spouse.
- A teacher may avail of a maximum of 5 working days in the event of the death of an immediate relative.
- Up to 20 days of bereavement leave may be availed following the death of someone with whom the teacher was in a “relationship of domestic dependency” – this refers to someone who lived with, and was cared for, by the teacher.
- Periods of bereavement leave exclude weekends and public holidays.
- There is flexibility to allow bereavement leave to be deferred in exceptional circumstances.
- Ten days of bereavement leave are available for the father, or the partner of the mother, following stillbirth or prenatal death after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
