Heartbroken parent decides to quit job after being denied PTO to take child to the ER

The work culture in many companies has taken a troubling turn, with employees increasingly sharing their dissatisfaction and workplace grievances on social media. Issues like unfair wages and denial of entitled leave are becoming alarmingly common. One mother, known as u/HappyCat79, took to Reddit to share her heart-wrenching experience after her child fell seriously ill—and her employer’s response was anything but compassionate.

“So sick of this. My kid had to be taken to the ER by their girlfriend’s mom because I have no PTO,” the mom wrote in her post. She condemned the inhumane treatment of workers in the U.S., adding, “My 17-year-old has COVID and pneumonia, and I couldn’t bring my own kid to the hospital. I was able to give consent over the phone, thankfully.”

The mom is navigating this crisis alone, as the child’s father is not involved due to his lack of support for their teenager’s gender identity. This leaves her to care for her teenager as a single parent, all while enduring a workplace environment that offers little room for empathy or flexibility.

"Thank God for their girlfriend’s mother and her employer for being flexible. I need the job because I need the money but I’m looking elsewhere for employment because this is insane. My poor kid," she concluded in the main post. The mom later commented to update the community, sharing, "My boyfriend (AKA their substitute dad) was able to pick them up from the hospital and is taking care of them now. He has a flexible job but couldn’t bring them in because he had to care for his disabled son this morning since we had a two-hour school delay." The post sparked intense reactions from other Reddit users, with many weighing in to share their thoughts on the matter.

u/soaringseafoam mentioned, "I'm sorry. Stuff like this reminds me why it's worth it to hold the line and fight for my staff. I'm sure their treatment of you and by extension your child made you want to keep working there, go the extra mile and be loyal to them." u/scoutriver wrote, "This is really bad and I'm sorry. But I'm really glad for you too that your kid and you have that community around you so there was an option. We all need more of that." u/LowDetail1442 noted, "The entire health system needs to be scrapped and nationalized."

u/BlizzardLizard555 added, "God I hate this country, nobody should have to go through this. We should be allowed to have time to take care of our loved ones. The fact that we have to put our jobs before a family is a crime." u/Pink_Slyvie remarked, "Thank you for being an amazing parent. We need to build community to beat this. We don't all need to be working, the community can support the homemakers of the community. And in time, we can dismantle this messed up system. The rich will have little power if our community can make up for our loss of wages until we get a new job."