Compassionate leave

A compassionate leave is a benefit that allows employees to take time off to address personal and family needs, including illness and bereavement. It's a way to provide employees with the flexibility to address their personal and family needs while still maintaining productivity at work.

Employers may offer compassionate care leave from work to accommodate the needs of employees who have a family member with a serious illness or injury, or who are dealing with their own medical condition. 

A family member includes:

• parents (including adoptive and foster parents);
• grandparents;
• siblings; 
• children and grandchildren under age 23; 
• domestic partners; 
• in-laws; 
• stepchildren;
• legal ward; 
• foster child; 
• grandchild under age 18 (including legally adopted); stepparents/stepgrandparents/stepparents-in-law/stepgrandparents-in-law.

How many days compassionate leave can an employee get? The amount of time your employee can take off depends on the situation. In some cases, it may be a few days or weeks; in others, it could be months or years.

If your company's policy allows for paid compassionate leave and if they are willing to grant it (which is not always the case), then they may have guidelines regarding how long they will allow employees to stay home in order to care for their loved ones. If there are no set guidelines from your employer about how long an absence should be allowed for compassionate reasons, then state laws will apply.