You have recently been hired as the new Human Resources Manager for Acme Retail. Your boss informed you during your interview that they recently have been bought out by another company, and the leaders of the new companys management team want to see far more structure to the day-to-day operations, including defined policies in a number of areas.

A recent issue involving funeral (bereavement) leave developed, one in which the employee was denied funeral leave. The employee in question went on social media to complain about the unfair practices of Acme Retail, resulting in a very embarrassing story in the local news, as well as making national headlines on social media.

Your boss has stated your first assignment is to write a funeral (bereavement) leave policy for bargaining unit employees. The final accepted version will then be used to manage non-union funeral leave requests as well. Your boss also stated that during the past year or so funeral leaves have gotten somewhat out of hand, with employees being excused for distant family members, and even for ex-family members, i.e., due to a divorce. Your manager stated that we need a funeral leave policy that is fair, with clear limits defined to minimize excessive cost.

Company Details

The employer operates a large retail store in a popular shopping mall that serves a surrounding three-county area. There are 100 employees in the bargaining unit who currently earn an average hourly wage rate of $10 per hour. There is no current language in the parties labor agreement that addresses the issue of funeral leave. The company was recently purchased by another owner, and employees are very concerned that informal policies which may have been used in the past are likely to undergo significant change with the change in ownership. The union has requested that management bargain over creating a formal funeral leave policy, and the company has agreed to do so.

The past company practice on an employees request for funeral leave has been to handle each request on a case-by-case basis with the employees department head having the authority to authorize varying amounts of unpaid time off from work depending upon the circumstances.

During the previous 12-month period there have been 20 requests for funeral leaves, of which 16 were granted. Three of the four funeral leave requests that were denied did not have any reason given by the individual department head involved for denying the employees request. The average length of time off from work for the 16 funeral leave requests that were granted was 2.8 days, ranging from 2 days to 5 days in duration.

Each full-time employees regular work schedule consists of 8 hours a day, five days per seven-day work period. The geographic area served by the store has seen tremendous growth in the past 8 years, and unemployment rates in the area are among the states lowest, averaging 1.5 percent per month. The stores regular hours of operation are seven days a week from 10 A.M. until 10 P.M.

Deliverables for the Assignment

1. Define how many days (or hours) of funeral leave time will be provided.
2. Define whether or not the time off will be paid, unpaid, or both depending on the circumstances.
3. Whose death will qualify as a covered occurrence, permitting the employee to take paid funeral leave, or unpaid funeral leave? Be sure to be specific when defining terms such as immediate family member or relative.
4. Must an employee actually attend the funeral in order to receive funeral leave?
5. Must the employee provide proof to verify a death has occurred in order to receive funeral leave
6. What is the procedure an employee must follow to request funeral leave?
7. Who has authority to grant or deny an employees request for funeral leave?
8. Other criteria may be added per your discretion.

The funeral leave policy should be no more than three (3) pages in length, written in accordance with APA formatting guidelines. The paper should be double-spaced.

For additional guidance a guide on how a funeral leave policy can be created is provided for your review. You are encouraged to seek out other supporting sites or documents as desired. You may also utilize a funeral (bereavement) leave policy from your place of work. If you do use it ensure you do not merely copy and paste it as your own, as doing so is plagiarism.

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