'Go contact HR': Employee denied one week of PTO to take care of newborn, retaliates by filing for full 12 weeks of paternity leave

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 18, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

Let this story serve as yet another relevant reminder that paternity leave deserves to be taken seriously by employers. You would think that in this day and age, this would be common knowledge, but you would be surprised.

Here, we have an employee who initially only asked for one week of paid time off to help take care of his newborn baby. Apparently, the timing was not convenient for his boss, not that this should really matter. However, according to the boss's warped perspective, it was reason enough to deny this request. Thankfully, the employee had a sneaking suspicion this would happen, so he prepared a backup plan. He knew his rights according to human resources and the general policy on family leave, so he promptly countered his boss's refusal by filing for a full 12 weeks of paid paternity leave.

Keep scrolling below for the boss's reaction and for the subsequent fallout. For more stories like this, check out this post about a student's malicious compliance regarding his college essay assignment.

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    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    Fine then, I'll just take paternity leave... SOC Many years ago, I was a Sales Manager for the now defunct Circuit City. My wife and I
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    were expecting our first child. This was in 1999. My wife was leaving her place of employment as she was planning on staying home with our daughter once she was born. Being our first child, I wanted to be home for a little while at the beginning.
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    As I was talking to my store manager to arrange having some time off when my daughter was born, I asked for a week off.
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    I was met with opposition and told I could only have 2 days off, because "we don't have extra management coverage."
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    (Yet we some how cover peoples vacations) This was absolutely ridiculous and luckily I had done my homework. The way the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) law is written, the parents can take up to 12 weeks of Maternity/Paternity leave, and
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    their job is guaranteed to be waiting for them when they return. I believe this is meant to be combined between the parents, but since my wife was leaving her job permanently and not taking Maternity leave, that left 12 weeks available for me to take. Paternity Leave is rarely
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    ever done, because it is most often unpaid leave. I, however, had plenty of PTO saved up (Vacation and Sick Time).
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    So, I informed the Store Manager that I would be filing for Paternity leave under FMLA and would in fact be
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    taking 12 weeks off and would be using my saved PTO to cover my income. He tried to argue with me, but I told him, he should probably go contact HR. He returned later that day and sheepishly asked me if I
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    would accept the week I originally asked for? I told him that I would accept 2 weeks or 12 and that the choice was his. I ended up with 2 weeks and that Store Manager learned that, though I was young (at
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    the time), I wasn't going to be pushed around, and that reasonable requests should be reasonably accepted.
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    Audience-Opening 12 hr. ago I would have taken the full 12 weeks.
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    P4ddyC4ke OP. 12 hr. ago It would have burned up all my PTO to do it. I really wanted to save
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    my time. With that said, I was prepared to take the full 12 if I had to. :)
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    bignides 12 hr. ago FYI, the 12 weeks is applicable to each individual parent regardless of what the other parent does.
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    Witty_Collection9134. 12 hr. ago And it can be taken within the first year. Parents are able to have mom home 12 weeks, then Dad home the following 12 weeks.
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    TheHowlin Reeds 13 hr. ago Now THIS is how you comply! Well done OP.
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    Jordangander 11 hr. ago Good play, but my advice is to always file for the FMLA under intermittent. Especially if both parents are returning to work. This way you can take a week or 2 off as the father while the mother recuperates. Then when
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    both are working both have the ability to take days off to care for the child if it gets sick or when it needs doctors appointments. Even if the
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    mother does stay home this means the father cane take a week right after birth, then another a month later, then a day
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    here and there, then another 2 weeks when the child is 6 months old. You get to spend a little bit of the early time with
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    the child, you are available for when the child is sick, or the mother is not feeling well or just needs a break, and
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    you can space it out over months instead of being out 12 weeks right after birth.
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workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job work Horrible Bosses paternity leave reddit thread newborn Reddit company toxic-work-environment
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