Dad takes a stand after toxic boss writes him up for taking leave to take his sick son to hospital

Every working professional deserves to take time out from their job, whether to take care of their own physical or mental well-being or for the sake of an ailing family member. But u/coppersguy shared a story where he got written up because he took his son to the emergency department. The 31-year-old father to a toddler faced an ugly situation at his workplace when he decided to inform his manager that he wouldn't be able to show up at his job due to a medical emergency in his family.

The response of his employer was anything but empathetic. "I live in the US and work the 3rd shift (11 pm to 7 am) so that my toddler who goes to daycare can have at least one parent home to watch him whenever he is sick (which is once a month minimum). Last week, he caught croup and after OTC medication wasn't enough to snap his fever, I took him to the hospital. I was there from 8 am until my wife got off work," the father revealed through his post on Reddit.

At that point, the father had been awake for more than 24 hours and was trying his best to keep his kid calm and comfortable while staying at the hospital as the medical professionals came in and checked on the toddler from time to time. "Not to mention that I was looking at an 8-hour shift starting in a few hours. My wife convinced me to call out, pointing out that I was clearly exhausted and that driving a forklift like that is as dangerous as driving a car. I asked for a work excuse from the nurse, wrote my manager a text and explained that I couldn't come in while sending that with a picture of the excuse," the father narrated.

The next day, when the father went to work, he received a "written up with a verbal warning." As per his manager, "If they let me out because my kid is sick, then they have to let everyone call out too," the man continued on the post. He further decided "to find a new job once I use up my accumulated PTO. The entire point of me working there is to have the flexibility to watch my son." The father expressed his thoughts about the imbalance between work and life and how employers expect the employees to live just for the sake of working and ease things for the management.

Fellow Reddit users slammed the employer for acting the way they did and spared some advice for the father as well. u/Time-Reindeer-5824 asked, "Would OSHA and your Manager want you driving a forklift after being up for 24 hours with a sick kid at the ER? Is that the standard of safety your company is looking for in its business model? I would turn this around and ask them if they prefer next time that you show up to work and become a safety risk!" @taishiea wrote, "Sir, Child Neglect is a crime and if your stance is to leave a sick child at home to come to work I would like to see if HR and the company agree with that statement."

u/Human_Ad_7045 shared, "I worked for a Director of Sales many years ago. He always made a point of telling me he was never going to have kids because he didn't want to work his ass off for them. I approached him one today to tell him I'd be in late the next day because my 3-year-old daughter was having a procedure done to her eye. He had the nerve to say, 'What about your wife?' I said, 'No, my daughter.' He said, 'I mean can't your wife take her?' I said, 'I'll be late tomorrow. My family always comes first.' He and I never had another issue arise after that. Although, he did harass others who took time for their family's needs."

A few others who had faced similar situations advised the man to just call in sick if his kids were ill and if they knew that their management was not going to approve them a day off easily. u/YogurtclosetDull8042 added, "There are very few instances in which your employer can demand proof you were actually sick. It's absurd that parents can't use their sick time when their kids are sick. If you're sick, you can't go in to work because you can't get everyone else there sick. It's the same deal unless you can find a babysitter willing to take a sick child last minute and you're comfortable leaving your child in someone else's care when they're sick, you can't go to work."