Currently, the minimum length of leave for employees in the event of the death of a close relative is three days. Stéphane Le Rudulier, senator LR from Bouches-du-Rhône, defends a bill aimed at bringing this minimum leave to five days. “If there is no collective agreement, the law only grants the employee three days, which is very little when you look at the wall of administrative procedures” to be carried out after a death, he justified Tuesday, April 25 with AFP. As a result, “some people are forced to take leave, which seems totally mind-blowing.”
Stressing that elsewhere in Europe the legislation provides for “up to four, five or even ten days” of leave “notably in Germany or Sweden”, Mr. Le Rudulier tabled this text in mid-April which concerns the death “of a spouse, a partner bound by a civil pact of solidarity, a cohabitant, a parent, a parent-in-law, a brother or a sister”.
The bill also wants to grant an additional day off “specifically for the day of the funeral”. “We think a lot about the end of life but there is nothing for those who remain,” noted Mr. Le Rudulier. The senator is hopeful with this “totally cross-partisan” approach to gather a majority, his text having already collected nearly 70 signatures “from different groups”.
“This type of PPL (proposed law) brings an improvement to daily life at a time when society is fractured and when additional efforts are required from the French,” he added, convinced that the measure that he proposes meeting “a broad consensus among the population”.