Mark Serby: We need compassion, not new laws, to help the families of fallen heroes

Mr Stewardson, quite sensibly, questioned this decision which was later reviewed and changed to six days' paid leave.

Several Sheffield MPs are now giving their support to a local campaign for the families of fallen soldiers to be given the legal right to paid compassionate leave.

So far 37 MPs have signed up to a Parliamentary motion calling for a change in the law.

Common sense and compassion prevailed, an initial error of judgment (no matter how legally correct it may have been) was remedied and no doubt the situation will not recur at that employer.

Yet MPs assume that new legislation is required, specifically to give families of fallen soldiers the right to paid compassionate leave.

I think that would be a bad piece of legislation and would urge its supporters to think again.

I have great respect and admiration for everybody that serves in our Armed Forces. Whether individually we like it or not, we are fighting a war in Afghanistan and were fighting a war in Iraq.

I think that our troops and their families deserve our utmost support and respect. Losing a child or a close relative in sudden circumstances in armed conflict must be a very traumatic experience that takes a lot of grief and time to recover from.

However, while a unique experience in itself, there are many other unique experiences of bereavement which arguably require special marking.

The relatives of people who work in the emergency services who die unexpectedly could make an equally valid case, so could the parents of children who die young; indeed anybody who experiences their child pre-deceasing them finds the experience traumatic.

We cannot legislate for one of these groups and not legislate for the others. Yet where would the list end? The amount of special categories, and the permutations within that, could be limitless.

For example, within the legislation, it would not be right to treat the mother of a deceased child in the same way as that child's step-sibling who had only known them for a limited period of time.

So, within a new legal framework, special categories would have to be carved out.

There is a time and a place for legislation and there is a time and a place for compassion and common sense.

Dealing with individuals' personal circumstances at bereavement and how those interact with the workforce are best left to individual employees and employers.

The very fact that there is no legislation in this area suggests that in the vast majority of cases those relationships and those circumstances have been dealt with properly and appropriately; indeed, in the case that gave rise to this campaign for new legislation, the hospital saw that their original decision was wrong and immediately countermanded it to something far more appropriate.

The attitude that every bad decision needs a piece of legislation is losing ground. Today, we read that the rich/poor divide is wider than it was 40 years ago.

Despite the best efforts of legislators of different political hues and their attempts to micro manage conditions of pay and conditions of employment over the past two generations, not only have their efforts

failed but the legislation has worsened the problem that they sought to solve.

Again, senior former civil servants have written an open letter to the Prime Minister urging that in future there should be less and better considered legislation. They are concerned that too many laws are

passed to too little effect.

I think that proposed legislation around how to conduct a relationship in the workplace during the time of bereavement is just such a piece of legislation and should not be entertained.

This is definitely an area where people should be allowed to devise their own relationships and find their own solutions in difficult times.

Mark Serby is head of dispute resolution and employment at Sheffield law firm Wake Smith & Tofields.

A SOLDIER'S STORY

Kingsman Alex Green, was hailed by his military commanders as a "professional soldier" with "leadership and command potential".

He was serving with the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, and died in January 2007 as a result of injuries sustained from small arms fire while on a mission in the Hayy Al Muhandisn district of Basra City.

The soldier had joined the Army at the age of 19 and volunteered for deployment to Iraq. He had a two-year-old son, Bradley.

His commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Hutchinson, said: "He loved what he did, and everyone respected how he did it. His

determination, friendly nature and enthusiasm were a real inspiration."

His family said in a statement at the time of their loss: "Alex loved the Army and the services. It was all he had wanted to do. He was living his dream. He was proud of being in the Army and doing his duty."

Tom Richmond