Peeters backs more bereavement leave

An extension of bereavement leave for Belgian employees is back on the table, according to employment minister Kris Peeters. The idea was put on hold three years ago on grounds of cost.

At present, someone who has experienced bereavement can take two or three days off work, depending on the closeness of his or her relationship with the deceased. This leave must be taken between the day of the death and the burial.

Various options for extending this leave period were discussed by the Federal Parliament in 2012, but eventually the government decided they would cost too much to introduce, given the ongoing financial crisis. Peeters indicated yesterday that a new analysis of the costs had been completed and he was ready to discuss its findings with social affairs minister Maggie De Block.

He also expressed his own support for a longer period of bereavement leave. "Being let off work for three days is very little when someone has lost a spouse or a child," he wrote in a Facebook post, widely reported in today's papers. "This does not represent proportionate compassion."

Opposition party SP.A presented its own proposal in De Standaard on Monday. It wants to increase leave to 5-10 days, to be taken in the year following the death. Similar proposals have been mooted by cdH, Groen and CD&V.