title: Excluding parental grief: A critical discourse analysis of bereavement accommodation in Canadian labour standards.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Grief following child loss is profoundly destabilizing with serious long-term repercussions for bereaved parents. Employed parents may need time away from work to deal with this loss.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to reflect upon the ways labour policies and practices respond to parental bereavement.
  
  
  METHODS
  Critical discourse analysis was used to examine labour policies and practices related to employment leave for bereaved parents in Canada. Results were compared to international labour standards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Universally, employment policies provide only for the practical issues of bereavement. Commonly, leave is three days, unpaid, and meant to enable ceremonial obligations. Policies do not acknowledge the long-term suffering caused by grief or the variable intensity of different kinds of loss. Managerial, moral, normative and neoliberal values embedded in these policies efface the intensely personal experience of grief, thereby leaving employees at risk for serious health and workplace safety issues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bereavement leave currently understands grief as a generic, time-limited state with instrumental tasks and ceremonial obligations. In contrast, research characterizes responses to child loss as intense, highly personal experiences for which healing and recovery can take years. This disconnect is especially problematic when viewed through the lens of employee wellbeing, reintegration and workplace productivity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Health and Society, Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Mary Ellen
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Macdonald
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Renison University College, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.affiliation: School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moll
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Health and Society, Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pineda
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Stephenson
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Renison University College, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cadell
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001601:Bereavement; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D003643:Death; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D016134:Organizational Policy; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D013997:Time Factors; D017132:Workplace / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000458:organization & administration
keywords: Child death; bereavement leave; discourse analysis; labour standards; parental bereavement