The Absence And Improvement Of The Legislation Of The Bereavement Leave System In China

The bereavement leave system,which was established at the national level in 1959 and has not been updated since,is an important institutional guarantee for employees to fulfill their familial obligations and attend to their family’s burial.With the increase of social concern for human rights,the current bereavement leave system in China has increasingly failed to fulfill the needs of modern workers,and it is not rare to hear about labor disputes stemming from bereavement leave,despite the fact that local regulations are not universal.This study finds that the current legislation of China’s bereavement leave system has the following deficiencies:first,the scope of bereavement leave is limited;for instance,the scope of bereavement leave obligations(employers)is not fully covered,and the subjects eligible for bereavement leave are too rigidly constrained.Secondly,bereavement leave is too short in duration.The legislative standard for bereavement leave is 1-3 days,although current grieving practices typically run for three days or more.This is insufficient to address the needs of workers to cope with funeral and soothe their emotions,and is not conducive to the regeneration of workers’ workforce.Thirdly,it is uncertain what factors constitute the occurrence of bereavement leave.The whole procedure for requesting a leave of absence includes the application,acceptance,approval,execution,cancellation,and reinstatement steps.The primary area of controversy is whether the employee’s request and the employers’permission are required for the occurrence of bereavement leave.Fourthly,it is unclear how salaries should be paid during mourning leave.In China,there are regional differences in the standard of payment of wages during bereavement leave,and the payment of non-basic wages such as bonuses and allowances is more arbitrary,resulting in different employment costs in different regions,which is not conducive to the formation of a level playing field.By analyzing the aforementioned real-life conundrum,this thesis offers four recommendations:First,the scope of bereavement leave should be broadened.From the perspective of fair competition and humane concern for market participants,the labor law should expand the applicability of bereavement leave to all workers in order to promote societal peace and stability.According to the Civil Code,the scope of those entitled to bereavement leave can be expanded to include close relatives and the parents of spouses.Second,the duration of bereavement leave should be increased to meet modern funeral practices and to provide workers with more time to deal with the death and alter their mood.Thirdly,the criteria required for bereavement leave must be specified.In order to strike a balance between the interests of employers and employees,the exercise of the right to bereavement leave should be interpreted as a factual notice,is the application of the worker is necessary for bereavement leave to occur,but the approval of the employer is not,so as to avoid the situation in which the employer does not approve the leave and thus infringes on the worker’s right to bereavement leave.Fourthly,to improve the wage payment standards during bereavement leave,interpret the scope of wages during bereavement leave in a broad sense,and unify local payment standards,so as to maintain the stable living standards of workers during bereavement leave.