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Boss pressurises woman with stage 4 cancer to come back to work: ‘if you are fit…’
A Reddit user shared that the company where his mother worked for over a decade pressured her to come back to work despite knowing she had stage 4 cancer.
A Reddit user’s post about his mom’s workplace has sparked anger among people. In his post, the Reddit user shared that his mom, who has stage 4 cancer, was asked to come to work by her boss. The boss also wanted to know more about her treatment plan.
“My Mum has stage 4 cancer in 5 areas, and her boss has been pressuring her to come back to work,” the Reddit user wrote and shared a screenshot of an email his mother received from her boss.
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“My mom is 50 and has been with this company for under a decade. She was diagnosed 18 months ago, and her workplace was notified right away, meaning the boss has been aware of the severity of the illness for a long time. Asking for welfare meetings less than 24 hours in advance is nuts,” the Reddit user added while replying to his own post.
Take a look at the entire post here:
The post was shared two days ago. Since then, it has collected more than 37,000 upvotes, and the numbers are still increasing. The share has also prompted people to post varied comments.
How did Reddit users react to this post?
“HR called me when I was in the middle of daily radiation treatment. I'd just had three surgeries and needed one more, but I had to complete radiation first. They called to tell me I needed to return to work in a couple of weeks, as I would use up all my FMLA days. I asked, 'How can I do that?' He tells me I have to, or I no longer have a job or health insurance if I don't. This was a job I'd had for 35 years with excellent evaluations and attendance. I was extremely fortunate to have a union lawyer who was able to work out an agreement with them. Still, I sweated it out pretty much, not even sleeping for 11 days trying to figure out how I could work and do radiation, then put off my last surgery for a year until I had more FMLA days (possibly letting cancer grow). I was lucky. Very lucky. Having your employer in control of your health insurance is disgusting,” wrote a Reddit user.
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“Her treatment plan? This is all wildly inappropriate,” added another.
“Twenty-five years ago, I thought it was horrible when HR made me come in with a concussion after a car wreck to be fired, the reasons for which they lied. They tried to get out of paying me severance. They also told the ESC that I quit to try to stop me from receiving unemployment. Unless your mom’s boss is the head of the company, you could call the head of the company. That’s what I did. I received my two-week severance and unemployment,” suggested a third.
“Some people are so disconnected it's disgusting. I hope your mom has the capacity to dismiss the awful boss. It's not fair, and it sucks. Some people are just evil,” wrote a fourth.
