You have our sympathy and condolences. Unfortunately, we cannot offer you the answer you'd like; the law does not require employers to provide death and bearevement leave; therefore, you employer is free to impose any conditions it likes on the leave, or to terminate you if you took leave without its permission or without satisfying its requirements.It is almost impossible that it could charge you with a crime in this context--there is no general crime of "falsying documents," and while, in theory, it could try to claim a form of "theft" if you were paid for leave to which you are not entitled, the authorities would almost certainly not pursue that case--and if they did, you'd have plenty of time to prove the death and therefore that you falsified nothing.If you can't get a death certificate in time to satisfy your employer, what about other forms of evidence--e.g. an obituary; paperwork from the funeral home; etc.