Viral Post: Employee Asked for Sick Leave—Founder’s Reply Shocked the Internet

An employee at a Noida startup shared a screenshot of his founder's unsympathetic response to a sick leave request. The founder marked the leave as unpaid and questioned the employee's illness, sparking a debate on Reddit about toxic work culture in Indian companies. The employee is now considering switching jobs after the incident.

A man working at a startup shared a screenshot of what he said was his company’s response to a sick leave request, claiming that it was the most unexpected reply he could've received. The post was uploaded on the forum r/IndianWorkplace, where the guy described an email conversation that occurred after he sought a day off due to sickness. The snapshot shows the employee's mail to HR, which was labelled "Sick leave application." In the email, he stated that he was feeling ill and would be unable to attend work that day, asking leave and pledging to resume tasks once he felt better.

However, he said that the company's founder responded in a significantly less sympathetic manner. The reply, as displayed in the screenshot, read: “Mark this as leave without pay. Do not authorise same-day departures. Thanks.” Along with the photo, he explained what caused the issue.

“I work at a startup in Noida. We had an electricity outage in our area which caused me fatigue because I was not able to sleep whole night. I woke up and didn't feel right, so I sent a sick leave mail to HR hoping I would be able to rest today (mind you, this is my 2nd leave in my whole 6 months with this company).”

He said the response surprised him, especially because the request was for a health issue: “This is what I got in reply from the founder himself. Can't take same-day leave even when I'm clearly sick.”

The employee further stated that the matter progressed into a phone discussion with the founder following the email. "He called me while I reiterated that I was not feeling well, he said 'You sound just fine'," he wrote.

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How Social Media Reacted?

Clearly annoyed by the exchange, the worker asked fellow users for advice on whether the incident indicated a larger problem with the company: “Is this my sign to switch companies? Did I do anything wrong? I work as their support employee.”

"You did nothing wrong by taking sick leave. That is precisely what sick leave is for. You could start looking for other jobs and switching firms," remarked one user, while another added: "Then they wonder why the company has such a low retention rate. Apparently, this is rather prevalent in several Indian firms."

A third person said, "Man, I don't even understand what these founders or individuals in high positions believe. Cannot treat their staff properly. What do they believe we are? Some kind of slave in their eyes, that if they let go of their whips, we'll start a revolt?"