Boss who rejected nurse's first holiday leave in 6 years ends up regretting it instantly

There are several stories of workplaces prioritizing employees with families and children over those who are childfree. However, when a widowed nurse (u/Skydancer-Fun1889) requested her first Christmas vacation in six years, her boss tried to guilt-trip her into giving it to a woman who had recently given birth. However, her response left the boss sweating and sorry. On November 4, she shared her tale through a Reddit post.

u/Skydancer-Fun1889 had been working as an ICU nurse for six years. She also revealed that after her husband's demise, she had worked every Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. "It was no big deal to work all these holidays because I do not have an immediate family (widowed 5 years ago and no children due to infertility issues)," she shared. However, this year, since her parents had retired and the family, along with her siblings, were planning to take a trip to Europe, she requested a week off for Christmas, and it was approved. Unfortunately, in the last week of October, her boss called her into the office to inform her that her Christmas vacation would be taken away and given to a co-worker who had delivered her child a couple of months back. She explained, "(this same co-worker had a baby last year and had this baby 10 months from the other one). The co-worker did not work any holidays last year and is not scheduled to work any this year (made boss aware of this point)."

While she argued that her leave had already been approved back in July, her boss stated that "priority for vacation holidays was given to those with families." Despite the back-and-forth disagreement, the boss was not ready to retract her point or stop from taking away her already approved leave. The nurse decided to take it to HR; however, they told her that it was up to the manager to decide. Frustrated with the decision, the Reddit user decided to quit her job, with her last working day being the day before Thanksgiving, due to which the co-worker will now have to work on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

The author shared that her decision was met with criticism from other co-workers; however, she defended her decision since it was her first Christmas with her family after her husband passed away six years ago. The Reddit user's sentiments have been echoed in the 2022 study authored by Dominique Goldschmitt. The study notes that many workplaces favor employees with children. Just like the Redditor's experience, oftentimes, employees who are parents are given priority when it comes to requesting vacations and days off. Among childfree employees surveyed, a striking 63% believed that their colleagues with children were given preference when planning time off, which reflects the perception that workplaces implicitly prioritize family-related responsibilities over individual needs.

Soon after the post went viral, many users expressed their thoughts. u/SnooPaintings8917 wrote, "NTA. Your time isn't less valuable simply because you don’t have children. Also, the new baby isn’t gonna remember Christmas anyway. If it was that serious she would have requested the time off responsibly the way you did." u/pinotJD commented, "NTA. If you are in the United States, please consult with an employment lawyer. Your manager is not permitted to discriminate based on family choice. Get a strongly worded demand letter and get your money, honey." u/ifdefmoose shared, "NTA. The coworker's new baby has no idea what day Christmas is or even what Christmas is, could have easily celebrated any day. She's selfish and gaming the policy to her benefit. Good on you for forcing the issue."

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