by Metropol | June 10, 2026 8:33 am
As Parliament rewrites the country’s bereavement leave law for the first time in a generation, a petition has been launched by Christchurch mother and businesswoman Sheena Hemens, who lost her daughter Lauren in a car accident in 2023. Sheena is asking Parliament to increase the minimum bereavement entitlement from three days to ten and has presented a petition to Parliament as part of a campaign that she is calling Beyond Three Days.
“Our family lost a child; our children lost a sibling. Any family in that situation needs more than just a long weekend to deal with the shock, organise the funeral and come to terms with their loss,” says Sheena.
Believed to be the first petition of its kind in New Zealand, the Beyond Three Days campaign was founded in memory of Lauren. Currently, under the Holidays Act 2003, the death of an immediate family member entitles a worker to just three days’ leave, whether the person who died was a grandparent in their 90s or their own child.
“Three days is nowhere near long enough to take into account what grief costs a person, medically, financially or emotionally, or how long it takes before they can function safely at work again,” Sheena says.
The petition lands at a pivotal moment as Parliament rewrites the country’s leave framework through the Employment Leave Bill, introduced in March 2026, which would replace the Holidays Act 2003. “It modernises how leave is earned, paid and taken, yet leaves the three-day bereavement entitlement sitting exactly where it has been for more than 40 years,” says Sheena.
As a businesswoman and former employer, she understands that some businesses may be resistant to her petition. “However, many businesses already recognise that three days simply isn’t enough, and they support their staff for longer than the bare minimum because it’s the right thing to do,” she says.
”The risks to staff morale and loyalty, culture, staff retention and risk management can be much higher if they don’t support them.” Sheena believes the current overhaul of existing leave laws creates an opportunity for the government to match those overseas, such as the UK, where parents who lose a child aged under 18 receive ten days’ leave. Portugal offers 20 days,
France 14, and many others are between seven and 10 days.
Sheena’s petition is entitled Increase the minimum bereavement leave entitlement to ten days, it is open for signatures on the New Zealand Parliament website until 10 August 2026. It can be found at petitions.parliament.nz or through a link on the homepage of Sheena’s website at www.sheenahemens.com.
Source URL: https://metropol.co.nz/bereavement-leave-petition/
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