Do Federal Employees Get Paid Bereavement Leave? Parental and Sick Leave

Federal employee bereavement leave is not one single benefit. It is a set of options that depend on who died and how you are classified. The clearest entitlement is parental bereavement leave: up to two workweeks (80 hours for full-time staff) of paid leave, separate from any other balance, when a qualifying child dies. For any other family death, you use sick leave, capped at 104 hours per leave year for family care and bereavement combined. A narrow three-day funeral leave exists when an immediate relative dies from wounds, disease, or injury sustained in a combat zone. Annual leave and leave without pay cover whatever those options don’t.

Parental Bereavement Leave: Two Paid Workweeks

Under 5 U.S.C. § 6329d, eligible federal employees get two full workweeks of paid leave after the death of a qualifying child. It does not come out of your sick or annual leave balance. Full-time employees receive 80 hours. Part-time employees receive a prorated amount equal to their scheduled hours in a biweekly pay period, so an employee on a 40-hour biweekly schedule gets 40 hours.¹

If more than one qualifying child dies, the two-workweek entitlement applies separately to each death.

Who Qualifies

At the time of the child’s death you must:

Be covered under the Title 5 annual and sick leave program.
Hold a permanent or term appointment. Temporary appointments of one year or less do not qualify.
Have an established full-time or part-time schedule. Intermittent employees are excluded.
Have completed at least 12 months of federal service, which can include time with the Postal Service and nonappropriated fund agencies.

These conditions mirror the definition of “employee” in the federal FMLA provisions at 5 U.S.C. § 6381.¹

Which Children Count

A qualifying child is a biological, adopted, or foster child; a stepchild; a legal ward; or a child for whom you stood in the role of a parent. The child must have been either under 18, or 18 or older and unable to care for themselves because of a physical or mental disability.²

Timing

All 80 hours must be used within 12 months of the date of death. That is the date of death, not the date paperwork gets filed. By default the leave is taken in a continuous block; intermittent use or a reduced schedule requires your agency’s agreement.¹

Sick Leave for Other Family Deaths

There is no separate bereavement entitlement when someone other than a qualifying child dies. Instead, you use sick leave. Federal employees can use up to 104 hours (13 days) of sick leave per leave year for family care and bereavement, which explicitly covers making funeral arrangements and attending services.³

That 104-hour cap is a total for the whole leave year, across every family care and bereavement use combined. It is not 104 hours per death.

The definition of “family member” here is broad. It includes a spouse, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and the spouses or domestic partners of those relatives. It also reaches anyone related by blood or close personal bond whose relationship with you is equivalent to a family relationship.⁴ That last category gives agencies some room to recognize nontraditional family structures, but your agency sets the policy for how that recognition works in practice.

If Your Sick Leave Balance Is Too Low

Your agency can advance up to 104 hours of sick leave for bereavement purposes, specifically for arrangements or attending a funeral. The maximum advanced sick leave you can carry at any point is 240 hours. Part-time employees get prorated amounts based on their scheduled workweek.⁵

Advanced sick leave is effectively a loan. You repay it by earning sick leave in later pay periods. If you leave federal service before the balance is earned back, the agency deducts what you owe from your final paycheck.⁶ Employees with thin balances early in their careers should weigh that before requesting large advances.

Funeral Leave for a Combat-Zone Death

A narrower benefit applies when an immediate relative dies as a result of wounds, disease, or injury sustained while serving in the Armed Forces in a combat zone. In that case you are entitled to up to three workdays of paid funeral leave to make arrangements or attend services. The three days do not have to be consecutive if you give a satisfactory reason.⁷

The definition of “immediate relative” for this purpose is narrower than the “family member” definition used for sick leave, and agencies may ask you to document your relationship to the deceased.⁸

Annual Leave and Leave Without Pay

Annual leave can be used for any reason, including bereavement, with only supervisor approval. Accrual runs from four hours per pay period for employees with fewer than three years of service, to six hours for those with three to fifteen years, to eight hours for those with fifteen or more.⁹

If every paid option is exhausted, your agency can grant leave without pay at its discretion. LWOP holds your position and benefits, but extended LWOP can affect your service computation date for retirement and leave accrual once it passes certain limits.

A Note on FMLA

Federal FMLA leave does not cover bereavement on its own. Parental bereavement leave and FMLA are separate programs; you cannot substitute one for the other.² One narrow overlap: if a child dies during the birth parent’s post-birth recovery period, that parent may be able to use FMLA for their own medical recovery while separately using parental bereavement leave for the death.

Requesting the Leave

Tell your supervisor as soon as you can. The parental bereavement statute asks for notice that is “reasonable and practicable” when the need is foreseeable, but most deaths are not foreseeable and agencies handle notification flexibly.¹ Your HR office or supervisor will point you to the right forms, which vary by agency.

Agencies can ask you to document your relationship to the deceased and can request more if they suspect misuse, but documentation requirements have to be applied consistently across employees and relationship types.⁸ No federal regulation lists exactly what to submit. An obituary, death certificate, or funeral program is commonly accepted; the specific ask depends on your agency’s policy.

Retroactive Adjustments for Post-2021 Losses

If you took leave without pay or used annual leave right after a qualifying child’s death before your agency processed parental bereavement leave, you can submit corrected timesheets retroactively. This applies to deaths on or after December 27, 2021, when the statute took effect.¹⁰ Employees whose loss came before their agency had procedures in place can still claim what they were entitled to.

1
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Guidance on Parental Bereavement Leave (5 U.S.C. 6329d)
2
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Parental Bereavement Leave Frequently Asked Questions
3
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Sick Leave for Family Care or Bereavement Purposes
4
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Definitions Related to Family Member and Immediate Relative for Certain Leave Purposes
5
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Advanced Sick Leave
6
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Leave Upon Transfer or Separation
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 6326 – Absence in Connection With Funerals of Immediate Relatives in the Armed Forces
8
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Leave for Funerals and Bereavement
9
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Annual Leave
10
U.S. Department of the Interior. Parental Bereavement Leave Personnel Bulletin