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Committee advances bill standardizing bereavement leave for state employees; leave would draw from catastrophic leave bank
Summary
Senate Bill 241 would add a defined bereavement leave for state employees — 40 hours under the amendment presented — and allow that leave to be paid from the catastrophic leave bank. Committee members questioned fiscal impact and eligibility; sponsors said the leave would use donated hours already in the catastrophic bank.
Sen. Scott (District 12) presented Senate Bill 241 to the Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee, describing the measure as an amendment to the state's uniform attendance policy to ensure public employees receive defined bereavement leave following the death of an immediate family member or a child. "Losing a loved one, especially a child, is an unimaginable hardship, and no employee should have to choose between grieving or keeping their job," Scott said, describing her work with the governor's office to settle on a one-week (40-hour) standard in the amendment.
Committee members pressed repeatedly on fiscal effects and how the leave would be paid. Jennifer Elkins of the Office of Personnel Management explained the amendment would route paid bereavement leave through the catastrophic leave program — a bank of donated leave hours — so the leave would be paid from hours already donated, not from a new appropriation. "When someone is awarded leave under the catastrophic leave program, it's paid at whatever their hourly rate is," Elkins said. Senator Sullivan and others pressed whether a lack of tracking made cost estimates uncertain; Elkins acknowledged there is no comprehensive tracking of bereavement use and that the program relies on donated leave.
Senators asked about definitions and interactions with existing sick and annual leave. Elkins said the bill clarifies the definition of "immediate family" by referencing the same definition already used in Ark. Code §21-4-206 for sick leave and confirmed that the amendment allows bereaved employees not to exhaust accrued sick or annual leave while receiving catastrophic bereavement leave; if they need more than the 40 hours, they may request to use accrued sick leave after the bereavement hours expire.
Sen. Scott closed and the committee passed SB 241 on a motion to pass by Sen. Dawson with a second by Sen. Tucker; committee approval was recorded by voice vote. No public testimony in opposition or support was recorded during the committee hearing.
