Employee walks out after manager denies leave for their mother's funeral citing lack of staff

It can be a tricky affair for many employees to get some time off for a vacation or personal matters. People often have to inform their supervisor or manager ahead of time and give them a credible reason for taking leave. However, even then, there are many stories where managers initially grant leave requests but withdraw their approval at the last second. A Reddit user, u/vanluvsyou, shared such a story when they were denied leave for their mother's funeral despite applying for it in advance.

The employee wanted two weeks of paid leave the week after their mother passed away. The organization had a program where employees could apply for leave and the user put their application through that. They had made their plans based on these two weeks, so they needed it to be approved. The employee let their manager know how crucial these two weeks were in an email they sent a month back.

All seemed to be going well till the manager called them into their office during working hours to inform them that their leave request was denied because the company was "understaffed." The employee was shocked to hear this and tried to make a case for their leave application. They write, "I sat there explaining to her that I needed these two weeks for my family."

The manager wouldn't budge from the decision and kept saying, "I understand that, but we need you to understand this too." She said she was delivering the message and the employee should take their complaint to her boss. The user got frustrated and asked her, "Isn't your job organizing these things so that your employees can take time off for important things?" However, she maintained her unempathetic stance and at that point, the employee did not want to talk anymore and informed her that they would still go to the funeral.

The manager replied, "That's all good and well, but if you take off unapproved time, then we'll have to let you go." Hearing this, the employee said it was fine and left her office. They conclude, expressing frustration over how the manager suddenly changed the status of their leave. Other people on the platform shared their own incidents of not getting time off for mundane reasons.

u/cooldart61 commented, "I had a coworker ask for two days off for her dad's funeral and our boss denied the leave due to staffing shortage. We went around her and covered her shifts for an entire week (despite the supposed 'shortage'). She quit right after and we fully supported her. The rest of us quit soon after."

u/Raging_Progressive suggested, "Let her fire you, then collect unemployment." Another individual, u/Ambystomatigrinum, said, "Call their bluff. Are they really going to fire you when they're already understaffed? Seems pretty unlikely." u/CamKes424 commented, "I would email everyone above her and say she threatened to fire you for going to your mother's funeral. I'd bring up how it is management's job to fill and staff for the company and it is not acceptable that you were threatened with retaliatory actions if you went to a previously approved funeral. If possible, show proof of the accepted time off."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on September 11, 2023. It has since been updated.