i too am from US< . I am however self employed, run a state certified daycare. If i do not work, i do not get paid. If my daycare is closed, i cannot charge. So hubby passed on a Tues, i had 8 days without pay. NO choice but to return to work, because the bill collectorsjust dont care.

Here in Canada it is three days, but you can take paid sick leave. If you have a signed form from the doctor it can go indefinitely. That is if you work for a decent place. Seems most of our decent jobs left the country for China and India.

I too live in the U.S. My husband was buried on a Friday. By choice I returned to work that following Monday. It was better for me to be busy and around people that cared. I had the flexibility of staying out longer, but would have needed paperwork filled out by a physician to determine me temporarily disabled.

I was given 24 hrs and in my work world that is 2 days. We are given 3 days off time wise but pay wise it is 2 days. Fortunately I had been able to qualify for an FMLA leave for 120 days; took a month off after Sherm passed and still had some of the time left. One booklet I got from hospice said that most folks should be able to return to work in a week or so but find they need time off after 2-3 months when the shock begins to wear off. Too bad no job recognizes that fact.

since moving to NY in 1997 I haven't worked as bigbear didn't want me to work, my work was taking care of him....lol...pay was lousy, but the benefits were great.....now he's gone and to support myself sooner or later I have to find a job, but as of this moment, brain fog, widows brain, stupidity....there is no way I can't keep my mind on 1 thing long even to do anything....

When my husband was in his last months, I took weeks off, using my sick time. When I ran out of time, I had to retire. But by that time he was so sick, he needed full-time care anyway. BTW, I was a state worker.

Funeral was on Friday, I was back at work on Tuesday. They wished I wasn't, Boy how they wished I wasn't.

I am a Canadian. When my husband passed away I was working two jobs. They were both government, unionized jobs. If I was self employed or working in the private sector I wouldn't have fared nearly as well.
In job #1 everyone gets one paid week for death of an immediate family member. But I was able to take all my unused sick time (yearly 18 days) plus all my vacation time ( 8 weeks, I had worked there for 20 years) plus all my accumulated stat time,my family emergency days and lieu days. My husband passed away Feb.23/09. This took me to the end of July then I took an unpaid year of absence for one year. I resigned at the end of this period.
In job #2 we get 20 sick days a year, Unlike job 1 where you use them or lose them in this job the days are accumulated in our sick bank We also get the one week paid given. They gave me an extra week because of my circumstances. My husband died in Mexico. So if you used 4 one year, 16 would go into your bank. As long as you have a doctors note you can use up as many days in your bank as you want. So I went back to work Sept. 4th. Used banked sick days. Over 6 months worth. Don't think I don't know how lucky I am. What a blessing this was, I really feel I needed that time. I sincerely wish everyone could have the time they needed. I wouldn't have been able to do my job. But on the other hand somehow in life when we have to do something we find a way to do it.