She asked for one day off to attend a beloved coworker's funeral. Her boss told her to 'watch it online' instead

The corporate world can be cut-throat, but showing a complete lack of empathy when an employee passes away is simply inhumane. Denise Ruiz (@adventuresofsinglemomdom) took to Threads to talk about how her company handled the death of her co-worker, Steve. Even though they were working remotely, they were a tight-knit group and considered each other a "work family." Instead of paying their last respects to Steve, the company declared it could not close the department and suggested watching the funeral online like a podcast. Her company's decision made her realize it was not worth working for them. Shared on June 10, 2026, the post received 316 likes and 64 comments.

Funeral or podcast?

Ruiz shared that the 13-member team had visited each other in the past and had paid out of their own pockets to do so. It did not matter that they were separated by screens most of the time because "we celebrate as if we're in person every day." However, after Steve's passing, the company expected everyone to be "normal," even though his teammates were "devastated." When she asked for bereavement leave to attend the funeral, she was told to use her PTO. Additionally, team members who could not attend the funeral were asked to watch it online. Ruiz said, "Like watching a funeral is akin to listening to a podcast on your break."

Zero empathy

The company insisted that they could not close the department down for that one day. The reason why Ruiz shared this story was to remind everyone that corporations do not care about their employees. Steve was a good man, "a once-in-a-lifetime soul you are blessed to meet. I get that work goes on, but we lost a family member to us." She further added that if she were to pass away despite working crazy hours at the company, her employers would not let her team members even grieve her. After this inhumane incident, Ruiz started looking for a new job.

What can mutual empathy do?

Corporations most likely do not care about their employees on a personal level, but having empathy is a basic requirement when working with humans. An Ernst & Young report revealed that companies often fake empathy, and employees can sense it. More than half (52%) of the employees noticed that the corporate attempts at empathy were often inauthentic. Raj Sharma, the EY Americas Vice Chair for Consulting, revealed more information from the study. He said that mutual empathy between company leaders and employees can bring out more efficiency (88%), creativity (87%), job satisfaction (87%), sharing of ideas (86%), innovation (85%), and even changes in the company revenue (83%).

Attend the funeral anyway

The comment section was a mix of people who condemned the corporate world for its insensitivity, as well as others who shared stories about wonderful employers who honored their late family members. @kaykayccheart commented, "I feel like bereavement isn't something they can tell you what to use it for. You can use it whenever you have something like this come up. This company sounds like one I would leave too." @pudge_pudge_ advised, "I suggest everybody leave and go to the funeral anyway. They can’t shut down the entire dept, but you all are the entire dept, so what are they gonna do?"

You can follow Denise Ruiz (@adventuresofsinglemomdom) on Threads for more lifestyle content.

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