Employee quits mid-shift after being denied a break at work while recovering from leg tumor surgery
Despite having a doctor's note, which the employer demanded as a prerequisite, the employee was still denied the break.
An employee recovering from leg tumor surgery shared on Reddit that they quit mid-shift after being refused an early break despite being in severe pain. The post, written by u/Numerous_Dirt_2489, described how the situation unfolded during what they called the store’s busiest day. "Back in January, I found out I had a tumor in my tibia in my left leg, and it was pretty bad. I went for an appointment with a surgeon in April," the employee said.
Their surgeon warned that working could risk snapping the bone, so they stayed home until after surgery in June. About two and a half weeks before the incident, they returned to work with clearance but were told to be cautious while healing. On Sunday, while working as a curbside shopper, the pain in their leg became unbearable about an hour and a half into the shift. "I asked my shift leader if I could go on my break 20 minutes early because I couldn’t walk and needed to just rest, so I didn’t cause a problem with my leg," they wrote. The request was denied. "She responded with 'I’m in pain too, this is a team effort, and unless you have a doctor’s note, you can’t leave break.'"
The employee added that they did have a doctor’s note, but it didn't help their case. Studies show that denied or skipped breaks are more common than most people realize. A 2024 report by Shift Project/Harvard’s "Compliance and the Complaint Gap" found that among workers in California’s service sector, 43% experienced meal break violations (skip, stay at workplace, or continue duties during break) in the past year. Also, 58% experienced paid rest break violations. Of those, 26% said they were required to skip their break entirely.
A few minutes later, they were allowed to take a break, but had already decided to quit. "After taking a breath, I thought, I’m done with this. I’ve had multiple issues with her before, and nothing was ever done," they wrote. After the 15-minute break, they told another manager they were quitting, clocked out, and left. "A few minutes later, I got paged to my department, and I kinda laughed," the post read. "My main boss showed up a few minutes later as I got my groceries and was checking out. He walked by, gave me a side glance, and turned his head away. He looked really mad. After all the stuff I had to go through, I was done."
The post drew wide support from Reddit users who applauded the decision to put health first. u/blkcdls5 wrote, "Serves them right. Hope you have a speedy recovery. Continue to put yourself first and take care of yourself." u/Key_Competition_663 commented, "My first job, I went to clean the bathroom and saw someone had explosively pooped over about four feet of wall. I went to my manager and whispered, 'I’ll quit before I clean that, and then you’ll be down a person. Pretend a customer told you and get someone else to do it.' I did not clean the bathrooms that day."
u/KeppraKid wrote, "So your doctor sent you back to work with no restrictions but the understanding that if you pushed yourself, you could create complications? That sounds like a restriction to me. Are they too lazy to file paperwork or like what the fuck?" u/Minflick added, "Jeopardizing your recovery is absolutely not OK. That’s your leg, that you need to walk on! Dang... Glad you left!"
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