Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Sheena Hemens: Christchurch mother on her call to extend bereavement leave from three days to ten

Transcript

Sheena Hemens: Christchurch mother on her call to extend bereavement leave from three days to ten · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A Christ's mother is launching a petition to expand the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: number of bereavement days employees get. Sana Hemmons's daughter died
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three and she had to take months
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: off work to recover from the grief. Under the current
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Holidays Act, workers are entitled to three days leave for
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the death of an immediate family member. Sena wants that
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: raised to ten. Shanna Hemmons is the founder of Beyond
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: three Days, who are launching the petition. Good morning, Sheena,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: thanks so much for your time.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: No probably, good morning Francesca, thank you for having me.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Why does this need to change?
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Well, firstly, it has been in New Zealand law for
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: over forty years, forty five from nineteen eighty one. Nothing
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: has changed in that time, and yet since then all
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: the other statutory leave periods have increased. We have had
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: COVID times, we have had moss attacks, we have had
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: all kinds of things happen, and it's still three days.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: And yet out of everything, bereavement is the one guaranteed
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: thing that we cannot avoid. People are going to die,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: People in our close immediate families will at some point die,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: And that sounds so negative and it sounds so dark,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: but that's the truth, and so we need to actually
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: address this. And also the bereavement causes actual mental stress
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: and consequences that make it very difficult for people to
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: come back to work within three days. So there are
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: lots of reasons why it needs to change.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: So sheena, how are people getting by at the moment
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: on three days that's not even enough time for some
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: people to hold a funeral. Are they relying on holiday
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: leave or sick leave or just taking leave without pain.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a very good question, and it's probably a
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: combination of all three. And you know, my attitude is
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I'm a business owner. I have been a business owner
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: for twenty years. I've had small businesses. I owned a restaurant.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Hospitality is historically, you know, you have lots of lots
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: of employees, and it's I get the fact that it's
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: a big stress potentially on a business, particularly a small business,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: But to ask them to take holiday when someone close
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: to them has died when it's it's certainly not a
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: holiday in that period, but ask them to take sickly, which,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: to be honest, I thought was illegal. I didn't think
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: you could take sick leave unless you were sick, and
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: being in grief is not being sick. It's totally different.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: So the options, those are the two options at the moment,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: all unpaid leave, and for many that is not a
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: fiscal option. So it means that at the worst time
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: of their lives, when they've lost a child or lost
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: a partner or a parent, they are being asked to
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: be under financial pressure. And that seems just inhuman and
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I think they're recognizing that in other parts of the world,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: and the laws are changing or have changed, and I
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: believe that this is now a time when we should
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: look at how we manage it here.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So how does our provement leave currently differ from others
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: around the world.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Well, it is only three days and it is it's
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: a blank for everyone. Everybody has the same no matter
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: what the bereavement is. It's covered by immediate The wording
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: is immediate family members. But it doesn't matter whether that
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: is a grandparent or if it's a child now a grandparent.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: As much as it can be absolutely devastating for some people,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: it is the natural order of things. But losing a child,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: which is what happened to me, is devastating. It is
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: life changing and losing a partner, it can be very
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: much the same. So at the moment it's heart blanche.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: You just get three days. In a lot of other
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: countries they have a cheered system have they take into
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: account what the relationship is and they give more leave
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: for the loss of a child or a lot of
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: a partner. I believe in Canada, if you lose your
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: partner you get twenty days paid leave.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Ashene, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to us through this this morning. Thank you very much
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: for more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live
• 4:49
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• 4:52
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