On 1 April 2021, New Zealand extended its bereavement
leave provisions to include miscarriage and still
births.
The Government has made this change to acknowledge that, losing
a baby is, unfortunately, quite common, and to give people time to
deal with such loss away from work. This change also removes the
previous ambiguity around this area under the Holidays Act
2003.
The changes entitle employees to three days' bereavement
leave if they, their spouse or partner, or any other relevant
person (such as a surrogate, a person carrying an employee's
biological child or a person carrying a child an employee intends
to adopt) has a pregnancy end by way of a miscarriage or still
birth.
