An IT professional from Hyderabad was asked to work on paternity leave. This happened when their newborn baby was admitted in the NICU. The incident, shared on Reddit, is drawing widespread criticism.
A Hyderabad-based IT professional has alleged that his manager asked him to work during paternity leave while his newborn child was admitted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The employee says that he had already informed the management and HR about his leave, yet he is being assigned work. Takei’s baby was born prematurely and needs critical care in the NICU. The man claimed that the management ignored his family emergency and put pressure on him to complete the work. This is not the first incident; The employee recalled a similar incident last year when his pregnant wife was hospitalized.
In a post on Reddit’s r/developersIndia subreddit, the employee wrote, “My baby is a premature baby who suddenly arrived prematurely, so he had to be admitted to NICU due to breathing problems.” She further wrote, “I explained this situation to my manager, yet he called me and asked about work and assigned me tasks (despite me taking leave).”
He said, “Last year, when my pregnant wife was ill and had to be hospitalised, they asked me to work till 3 in the morning even though I had no hard dependencies. I led that release and delivered it without any bugs, and it was a business critical application.”
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“This is completely outrageous, and he is doing it regularly, and this firm is one of the largest insurance companies in the world; we are its GCC (Global Capability Centre) in Hyderabad… Please suggest what to do.”
People’s reaction on social media
The incident has created an uproar online. Many people are criticizing this behavior of the manager as a blatant violation of corporate policy and employee rights. Fellow professionals are advising the employee to keep records of all conversations and take the matter to HR.
This post got more than 500 votes. Many users gave their opinion in the comment section. “Nothing is more important than you and your family. Nothing,” one user wrote in the comments section.
Another person said, “Only two weeks of paternity leave, amazing man; colleagues in Europe get months of paternity leave.” A third user said, “He is a prime example of how low a person can stoop. Don’t give him feelings and enjoy these days with your newborn baby and your wife.”
Some others advised taking precautions along with gathering evidence. Another commenter said, “If you don’t have a year’s worth of savings, don’t complain now—just keep all the evidence with you and quietly start looking for another job.”
Many users described the threat of termination as a common tactic to put pressure on the manager. One comment read, “New hiring and onboarding costs lakhs. Don’t fall into this trap.”