MORTL for Employers
The bereavement policy worth copying.
Most policies are three days and a death certificate demand. Adopt a better one in an afternoon: day-one eligibility, real day counts, reproductive loss covered, and no proof demands for a short leave. Free to adapt and download as Word or PDF.
What’s inside
Three pages as a PDF, or an editable Word file. The numbers you choose, like how many days are paid, are in brackets so you set your own before you adopt it.
Eight sections: who’s eligible, leave amounts by relationship, pregnancy and reproductive loss, how to take it, pay, coming back, what state law requires, and a short section for managers. Eligibility starts on day one and covers full-time, part-time, and temporary employees. Every death gets up to 10 working days of job-protected leave, and you set how many of them are paid for each relationship. Reproductive loss gets the same protection, for either partner.
Most policies skip the details, so this one spells them out. Leave is counted in working days and doesn’t draw down PTO or sick leave. The days can be split and used any time in the 12 months after the death. No proof is required for leave of five days or fewer, and what the employee shares stays confidential. A phased return is available for the first weeks back, and one named point of contact means the employee never has to retell the news.
Who it’s for
HR managers, people leads, and founders who don’t have an HR team yet. Adopting it takes an afternoon: fill in the bracketed numbers, have counsel review it, publish it.
Five states set bereavement leave minimums (California, Illinois, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington for the death of a child). As of October 2026, the template’s 10 protected days, 12-month window, and family definition meet all five, including California’s SB 1149, which adds a designated person from January 1, 2027. Each state has its own note in the policy, so a multi-state employer can run one policy across every location. Illinois also requires a separate, longer leave for some parents after a child’s death, and the Illinois note covers it. Have counsel check your final version against the current statutes.
The template is general information, not legal advice. The current law in all 50 states plus DC, with statutes cited, is at bereavement leave laws by state, and the words managers need are on the manager card.