Pets are like family members. Shorter, sometimes hairier, often smellier, family members. And a new bill being put forward in Colombia wants that closeness between pet and owner to be recognised by granting two days of paid leave to any person grieving the loss of a pet.
The proposed new laws have been put forward by politician Alejandro Carlos Chacon from the Colombian Liberal Party to highlight the ‘sentimental bond’ between us humans and our best animal pals. The law is hoping to help with the fact that losing a beloved family pet can have a ‘considerable emotional impact’ on people.
This is not a cue for anybody to go out and start collecting a menagerie of the sickest animals they can find in an effort to rack up a year’s worth of ‘pet grief leave’. Also, don’t start Googling ‘Animals with the shortest lifespan’ just to get out of a couple of shifts you don’t want to do.
The law that is being put in place will make it clear that you need to provide ‘summary evidence’ proving the death of the pet, and that there will be penalties for workers who lie about their family pet carking it.
The bill says that in order to be eligible you will need to have spoken to your employer about the pet before it died. So, if you’re in Colombia, organise a meeting with your boss right now and show them as many photos of little Buttercup and Snaggletooth as you can find.
Chacon told news organisation El Tiempo that the reason behind the new law is that “Some people do not have children but they do have a much-loved pet with which they develop a deep brotherly bond.” To which people with children might respond ‘Want to swap?’
Losing a pet will still be a tough time to go through but hopefully this new law will take some of the sting out of it and allow workers to mourn their best animal mates without worrying about going to work for a couple of days. It is unclear if the new law allows you extra time to grieve if the goldfish you flush down the toilet gets stuck there and you have to wait on a plumber to arrive.