Worker Admits He's 'Devastated' For Being Fired After Asking For More Time Off To Grieve His Mother's Passing
He explained that he is now living in his car after being wrongfully fired.
Anutr Yossundara / Shutterstock A company is being inundated with slews of criticism after it was revealed they fired one of their employees who recently experienced a death in his family.
The entire debacle was originally posted to the subreddit "r/jobs" — an online forum where people can seek advice relating to their career — but later reposted on Twitter, where people were angered on behalf of the employee who was wrongfully fired.
The worker was fired after asking for more time off to grieve his mom's death.
In his Reddit post, he explained that he was recently fired after asking for an extension on his return date to work following the death of his mother.
"My mom passed away [on a] Monday evening," he wrote. After the news of his mother's passing, his boss granted him three days of bereavement leave so that he could travel home for his mother's funeral.
However, the time off only allowed him to hurry home for the service and didn't give him any additional time to mourn as he would have to return quickly for work.
Photo: Reddit
Once he attended his mom's funeral, he was forced to hop back on a flight the day after and admitted that once he was home, he realized that the last few days had been a blur and he would need more time to not only go through all of his mother's belongings and handle her estate, but also time to grieve her death.
"I emailed HR and asked if I [could] please have the rest of the week to actually grieve her death," he continued. In response, a representative from the HR department told him that "they'd been gracious enough" to allow him those three days of bereavement leave and weren't going to give him any more time off.
In the end, they ended up firing him over email and informed him they'd mail his final check as well.
He pointed out that to make matters worse, the company he worked for had a reputation of presenting themselves as being "friendly" on social media, yet he was fired without any remorse and is now devasted that has to live in his car because of it.
Many people criticized this employee's boss for their lack of kindness about his heartbreaking circumstances.
The post, which was shared widely on Twitter, attracted a slew of backlash directed toward the company.
"Missing work when life events happen is part of life. The man’s mother died. How [expletive] up are you? Also, you don’t pay your people enough so they have to live out of their cars?" one Twitter user questioned.
Another user shared a similar incident that happened to them after experiencing a death in their family, writing, "One time my boss denied my bereavement leave because she didn’t think I had a good relationship with my mother. I worked 6 days a week for 6 years straight. I ended up quitting 4 months later and she was shocked."
"Bereavement time should not be so short and should be extended to more than just parents. I only got 4 days when both of my parents passed, and it wasn’t nearly enough," a third user chimed in.
Firing an employee just because they requested more time to grieve an impossible situation is both appalling and displays a lack of empathy from his boss and the company's HR department. Grief is a deeply personal and emotional experience and people should be allowed the time and support they need to process their emotions and cope with the loss of a loved one.
Photo: fizkes / Shutterstock
Having a boss that puts their employee's needs above the monetary value of a company is something many working-class people want.
A 2021 survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by Ernest & Young found that 54% of workers left a job because their boss wasn't empathetic to their struggles at work, while 49% left because their boss wasn't empathetic to something happening in their personal lives.
In such moments of vulnerability, it's up to the employer to exhibit even an ounce of sympathy and understanding that goes beyond just three days of bereavement leave and an expectation that someone who's experienced a loss that great will just come back to work with no issue.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.