An employee who has completed six months of continuous employment with an employer is entitled to a leave of absence from employment without pay for a period of up to 104 weeks if the employee is the parent of a child who has died and it is probable, considering the circumstances, that the child died as a result of a crime.

An employee who has completed six months of continuous employment with an employer is entitled to a leave of absence from employment without pay for a period of up to 52 weeks if the employee is the parent of a child who has disappeared and it is probable, considering the circumstances, that the child disappeared as a result of a crime.

• An employee is not entitled to a leave of absence if the employee is charged with the crime.

The period during which the employee may take a leave of absence

• begins on the day on which the death or disappearance, as the case may be, occurs; and

• ends,

  • 104 weeks after the day on which the death occurs, or

  • 52 weeks after the day on which the disappearance occurs.

This leave of absence may only be taken in periods of not less than one week’s duration.

The total amount of leave that may be taken by two or more employees in respect of the same death or disappearance of a child, or the same children who die or disappear as a result of the same crime, must not exceed 104 weeks in the case of death or 52 weeks in the case of disappearance.

YK ESA s.60.03