An employer that provides leave for its employees for illnesses or other medical or health reasons shall grant an employee’s request to use that leave for the purposes authorized under subsection 1 of section 54-52.4-02. Except as otherwise provided under this section, an employee may take no more than four hundred eighty hours of leave under this section in any twelve-month period. Any leave for bereavement is limited to one hundred sixty hours and must be taken within six months following the death of the child. The employer shall compensate the employee for leave used by the employee under this section on the same basis as the employee would be compensated if the leave had been taken due to the employee’s own illness or other medical or health reason.