That conversation with HR is very, very, very necessary.

100% accurate!! Corporate micromanagement is the worst - especially when they lie AND try to guilt trip you.

I had a migraine and got that same line from my supervisor. I made sure that when I was vomiting during a con call that everyone could see and hear everything. A higher level exec contacted me after the call to see if I was ok and to let me know that I shouldn’t be working when I’m that ill. I told him that my supervisor had told me otherwise. He called my supervisor and chewed him out. I didn’t receive pushback on any future sick time.

No more corporate bs, just calling people out as they pull this. New motto from now on

If you're sick,you're sick. Your body and mind need rest to heal, period.

I once had a boss that asked why I took time off to rest with a sprained ankle if I was working from home. That was one of many many times I contacted HR about him. When I left, he had to replace me with 5 people.

I used to work 12 years in consulting, and all your videos were hitting home so much that it actually made me change to a normal job where at 5pm, I go offline. Previously I used to work until 10pm on average. Thank you for giving me that reality check I needed! Love from South Africa!

HR reading email: "Dammit, what did she do now?"

As a normal adult, I know the difference between being too sick to work and being mildly sick and able to work. Bosses who think working from home means no sick time are just jerks. At my last two jobs, I had amazing bosses. When I was sick and could not get out of bed, they told me to get better and not worry about it. If I sounded sick in the morning meeting, they usually would ask me to shove off and stop working. Numourous times they would pester me to leave until I logged off. When my dog died, when I was working overnight on an urgent legal matter for the company, or any time I needed time, they told me to sign off and let them know if they could help. Early in my career, I learned to tell them I was taking my time and not asking or begging.

I need to learn nor to "react" you handled this perfectly. The HR threat is the best

😂 Don't make Loe Whaley angry......you will NOT like her when she's angry.

As calmly as that was delivered, it just might be the most savage "Toodaloo" ever.

You’re right and I need to be better about this. Last week on Wednesday I worked at home instead of taking a needed sick day. I both half-assed work and half-assed rest, so it didn’t really benefit anyone.

I am privileged in that I've never had a job where I had to justify being sick and therefore unable to work. But I hear stories like this all the time and it makes me sick to my stomach. These employers act like the company is going to fold if you don't complete a single task, but they are so quick to fire people they don't like and let their job sit unfilled, and all the projects assigned it to, for MONTHS on end. The hypocrisy of bad managers and the companies that hire, promote, and enable their trash behavior is astounding.

Thankfully, I'm in a place where I can work with and compromise with my supervisor without fear. Told her my fiancé was in the emergency room, and i was there with him since 2 am. I said I'd go and get my laptop to work, but I may be slow to respond to calls due to any background noise in the hospital. She said, "Oh, just take a free half day for the morning. If you need the full day, I'll consider the afternoon a half day of PTO."

Oh I worked for a place that demanded you say exactly what was wrong with you and if your boss didnt think it was severe enough, he wouldnt "allow" you to take sick time. I started making all my sick time requests be very graphic female problems. I managed to bait out of him a sexual discrimination complaint to HR as it was alllll in writing.

That is what I did. I did not renew my telework agreement and go into the office every day. I also removed my personal cell phone from the contacts lists. I was asked why I did not. I explained that since I don't have a telework agreement, no one should call me after working hours. They asked if they needed to get a hold of me, and I said they could reach me first thing in the morning. Ask what happens if I get sick? I answered, I am sick so I will not be working.

I worked at a lot of food joints that would make people work sick. I usually would call the Health Department about it. That tends to do the trick in the food industry where very few are full time.

Even if the illness didn't interfere with your work, which it absolutely will, working while ill will interfere with your recovery.

That's going to be at 100% hell no from me. The amount of scams like this has just gone through the roof lately. And we all need to stand up against it. That was well played and I want to learn how to do this in all facets of my life, on the fly. Thanks for modeling it so well for us.

I hated working for corporate. Hired a lawyer to read/review every thing and paid though the nose to know how to deal with this kind of BS. Worth every penny. Find a lawyer who works in your field and pay for a consultation. Ask what to look for. Save hard copies of everything.

Working from home, though, does help to stretch the meager number of sick days. I can take off sick for the days I am completely non-functional and work with rests on the days when I am in the recovery phase that would completely wipe me if I had to be in office. (and the washroom is closer at home, too)

Every video of yours makes me want to get an office job so I could deploy some of your "I value my time and will not be taken advantage of" tactics, but then I remember I hate people and that's why I am a hermit. Instead I just made a coffee mug of my own and since I'm Canadian, when anyone asks about it I say it's from the University of Northwest Territories!

Most unrealistic part is HR actually responding to an email

Love this! I wish HR was actually that quick and responsive in real-life.

Perfection! Sometimes an email is needed, followed by a call to ensure understanding lol!

Years and years ago, I worked for a chemical dependency company, and I was injured by a client in detox who knocked me into the wall and gave me a concussion. I went to ER and then I went home and my leave was approved for three weeks to recover from my injury. During this time I attended my bosses bridal shower, and because I did that, she took it upon herself to discontinue my approved leave, stating if you can come to my bridal shower, then you can go back to work and so I lost my case because Worker’s Comp. did not stand up for me either. This video took me right back to that person who denied me sick time to get well and heal from a work related accident. I am amazed there are so many people who are evil like that.

Absolutely not. I'm fine with the flexibility of allowing *extra* wfh for someone who is generally in office for things like bad weather (so fine to work but unsafe to drive) or mild illness/chronic flares of things like ibs that are honestly just easier to deal with at home, etc), but when you're too ill to focus to work, being denied your sick leave because you "already wfh" is dumb.

She handled that manager's misinformation like a true professional, I salute you.

I have had days where I was too sick to do a two-hour commute (each way), but well enough to put in a few hours' work from home. But that meant I was only slightly under the weather; and I made sure to stop if I felt I was pushing myself too hard. Once a person is really sick (and for most people, you can trust them to make that determination for themselves), then yes, working from home is a bad idea all round: you're not only making yourself even sicker, but you're also submitting sub-par work, since your concentration can't be at its heighest

On one hand, yes there are definitely days that I would be not sick enough to work in the office but could work from home, but there are definitely times that I don't and cant work when sick anywhere.

My previous employer did not have sick days (with or without doctors note) or personal days. Both were done "at the discretion of the manager", which was capricious at best. I recall having to work with full blown pneumonia. My doctor wanted me at home resting, my employer said be at work. I either had to drive to work and do a full 10-12 hour days or quit. I foolishly went to work with a 103.5 F fever, chills, a horrible cough, and no energy. caused my pneumonia to drag out for almost two months.

Salaried I don’t care. Hourly, cool PTO, make it up, doesn’t make a difference. Feel better soon and come back when you’re ready!

In my office, if you’re sick you’re not allowed to work from home. If you’re sick you don’t work.

Excellent!!! Never had these problems; MOIST fortunate in my work life.

Ha ha ha HR is not just there for the hirings and firings! As I was recently told by them, if your new department tries to add more responsibilities via the back door without a formal change in remit, tell us right away!

DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!!!! Even if it's just a followup recap email! Try to get Read receipts but even if you don't have that option any previous and future email to the same address that they respond to says that they saw yours.

I agree with the response from the sick colleague - don't give the other person - manager/supervisor - a chance to back out. Make sure they know you don't bluff and that you WILL do something about their BS without them having a chance to stop you. I think it's likely to lessen the risk of them pulling more BS on you, as they risk their job doing so.

My boss practically scolded me for Not leaving early this weekend. My sister had a baby Sunday and I was waiting for the text to go meet them. I explained I was not able to go see them right away and she still said I could have left early. She also has made it possible for me to leave early when I was having medical issues and was not up to working my full shift.

Well played. They owe you for your time & effort, not the other way around

The last time I was this early, I was going to work.

What are my thoughts on this? I'm angry I can only click the LIKE button ONCE!

These shorts are completely spot on. I’m in upper management in a fortune 100 company that introduced unlimited vacation time over a year ago. Obviously they did this to not payout owed vacation time when layoffs occurred (which they have). However part of our required training was understanding this policy. No tracking of employees time off. Must approve up to 2 weeks as long as there is coverage. Anything above 2 weeks needs Director approval anything else you must approve. Now I am getting blowback from directors and above for my employees taking time off and am instructed to speak with them about it. WTF. I told them it’s their own policy that I’m to adhere to, and if I did not approve the time off, I would be breaking the policy myself. Don’t ever think anything is given for free in corporate America. They track everything and break the rules and their own policies constantly. HR is NOT for employees but rather to prevent lawsuits and retaliate fire in the guise of corporate restructuring. Truth!

I've always worked more blue collar jobs and yet can relate to much of this content where employers think that just because you're on their payroll, that they own you and don't have to respect boundaries. One in particular thought it was fine to wait until 2nd shift (my shift at the time) showed up to work to let us know we were were working extra hours that night. We were paid overtime for the additional hours but I always thought it was a violation of boundaries to do that. Another company I worked for thought it was fine to have me take a promotion where I had to show up early (I got paid for the extra time), manage a crew, handle all paperwork that covered my new role, and be top of the list should anybody need to stay late (also compensated time), but refused to pay me the rate for those extra responsibilities. I even went to HR about it, where I was told to just do tue job and deal with it. I responded by stepping down from my role and as soon as I had a new job lined up, I quit without notice

I just love the control you exhibit - facts calmly spoken will always work better than screaming at someone!

You got a response from HR within 96 hours!! They must be watching for these specific complaints, that boss isn't going to have a happy call. Nor their boss.

"Only for in office employees". This is the same BS my leader said when I asked for accommodations to express, when I returned from maternity leave.

I thought something similar. I had a bad cold - but I work from home. I wouldn't have gone in the office if I worked in one. My coworkers wouldn't want to have someone sneezing and coughing around, myself included if I were to work there. But I work from home. I can take breaks at home if I feel too bad, that's a plus. Sometimes the pressure to work with an illness does not come from supervisors, but from oneself...

That's exactly how you deal with people like that.

The level of sickness and overall comfortability of the employee is an important thing to take into account here. I have been known to work from home when I'm feeling under the weather, but if I am too far under the weather or I have something too important to miss then I take time off of work. I also thoroughly enjoy my job, so it's almost the same as relaxing and resting especially when I'm allowed to do it at home, as long as nothing too intense comes up.

Good way to get sued. Sick leave is protected in my state

😂 I just had this discussion with my cousin and told her to contact her HR, union advisor and ask management to put it in writing. 😂

No drama, just facts and receipts! This is my favorite video!

I think this is ludicrous! Exactly what I would do, reach out to HR on the spot! I actually had to do this for bereavement after my mom passed away.

My thoughts: sick days should apply if you're feeling ill and it's not reasonable to perform your tasks reasonably. This regardless if you work from home or in the office. I further think that if you work in the office additional arrangements to work from home, isolate, or have time off is best! Especially after the international situation recently faced for several years and luckily seemingly decently in control presently.

I’m a remote worker. I have the most supportive boss. I have chronic migraines and use my sick time as needed no questions asked. When I’m at work I work hard so she knows something’s wrong if I’m saying I need to step away. She never questions it and I don’t think she ever would.

I work a job I love doing but they have a minimum quality score of 98%. If you’re ill and fall below that due to illness degrading your work, you get a verbal warning and if it’s something that has happened before it basically counts against you twice. Now when I’m sick, I take time off. It’s unpaid because PTO has to be scheduled 6 months in advance or more. It’s June 1st and no more time is available for rest of 2024. I’m semiretired and disabled, working from home, otherwise I’d be gone. Thank God I’ve got great bosses, it’s corporate that’s the problem. When I do leave going to file complaints against them for all the laws they break.

In Australia it would be illegal to demand employees work from home if they request a sick day. Some people at my work may choose to work from home if their roles are compatible with it, and they may do so for a number of reasons (and yes, some people voluntarily work from home if they are sick), but sick leave is granted to anyone who is sick without expectation of work from home.

Never heard THAT one before - and it belongs back in the dumpster fire from which it came. When you're sick, you're sick, PTO policy or not.

It's crazy that I have spent so many days working while feeling sick because I work from home. At least in my job, all communications done by chat and I don't have to communicate much with other people as well, so this works just fine. I wish I could be more caring to myself.

Could you please make some videos about what to say to very chatty coworkers and also one about every time angry coworkers? How do I politely say: go away. Stop yelling. I just want to do my job. 😢 I want to be polite. At the moment I am silent and go through hours of interruption and I started feeling like a trash hold for my coworkers frustration... I would be so happy for advice and some good answers

I love this! My boss and I both work from home and there's never been an issue taking time when you're sick or taking care of things that can only be done during working hours.

I'm so lucky to have the most understanding boss ever. I'm in a rough patch and my health is not in it's best condition rn so sometimes I need some sick days and I've never gotten anything other than support. I'm working on getting better of course! But it's good to know I'm trusted and cared for

I was let go from my former job in early 2022. I truly wish I had discovered your channel before that. I put up with quite a bit of stress and also suffered anxiety and panic attacks for the first time in my 50+ life. My former supervisor did not give me any sort of support only grief. In hindsight I could’ve stood up for my self but did not know how. I love the job I have now but I hope I learned from my mistakes and also hope I don’t have to suffer what I did before. Keep uploading your videos. Believe me they help. I Don’t wish what I endured on my worst enemy 😊

I had a boss tell me the company “owned” me, my life. I said NO it does not. She wouldn’t stop. So ridiculous.

What a boss!!! She probably was never sick a day in her life.

Sick leave is time your company gives you to take off when you are not feeling well, and that can happen whether you work from home or in the office. You are entitled to that time if it is offered. Back in 2014-15, I was fully work from home and I got pneumonia. I was so sick and could not stop coughing, and it was an effort just to sit up all day. I took 3 full days off and didn't move from my bed. Since I was WFH, I probably started back to work much earlier than I would have if I had to go into the office.

I remember being called and told I had to come to work even though I had pneumonia. This was in the food industry no less

Brilliant! Work to live, not live to work!

My workplace (and my boss) are pretty flexible about working from home and leave time. There have been times I've worked from home while sick or too tired to commute. There have also been times when I'm legit ill and can't work for anything. So long as you don't abuse their good will or try to play them, they will accommodate you.

So glad that I work in a place that is like, "it doesn't matter that you work from home - you're sick, be sick and take the time away you need!"

I cannot work at full capacity if I am sick. Whether I'm in the office or at home. Getting rest when you are sick will be beneficial in the long run.

Best Loy key savage I have witnessed in a while.

I have been there, makes you hate that boss

This goes for mental health as well.

I feel like HR is going to have some very strong words with that person lol

Although it's important to get H.R. involved, just a friendly reminder that H.R. does not represent its employees. H R. represents the company. But if H.R. feels that a supervisor's actions are going to get the company into trouble then it will step in. But if H.R. and the supervisor are ion cahootz with each other then they will make your life miserable and before you know it you'll be on a PIP for picking your nose during mid-shift.

Are there people who only get very mildly sick each time? Ooh I'm a bit envious! When I get sick I'm SICK.

So thankful for the team I work with. Days off no questions asked.

100% agree... Most shocking thing though is the HR response time like DAMN!

Checkmate 😅👍🏻

This happens at my work with the 15min paid break the company gives. Management refuses it to their employees. I asked about it and they answered my question with a question: “Do you have a health condition that requires it?” I was like WTF then they where like they ‘could do it once if the employee really needed it but not for every shift’… jeez it’s 15min per every 4hr shift worked, the employee manual says it. Sadly more than half of the employees don’t know about this company benefit that’s being refused to the all of employees by a store manager.

I love when management makes up their own rules..... NOT!!!!!

Oh, toodaloo! You really cracked me up🤣!

Love the accuracy in which these awesome shorts focus on the benefits of knowing your rights within your tribal setting! Stay informed, confirm the facts, and defend on principle, as necessary...🤺⚖

in the real world HR does not care like that. 😂

I agree with the premise. However, in my experience in the corporate world, HR is more likely to protect the corporation these days, when possible

I am lucky. I missed most of a year at work with endocarditis and Sepsis. My employer covered my absence and covered my share of my health insurance while I was recovering.

I get it. It's an entertaining, clever and satirical skit, but those that are planning to apply this to real-world environments - at least in America - do so with some caution. Although I agree with the premise, Toodaloo lives in Canada; it's much different there.

I don't think I've seen that in action yet, but it really wouldn't shock me. Damn.

Been there, i was young and naive, i worked sick so many times 😢

Love the HR

Yep. I totally would do this too if I get sick. I'm petty when I don't feel well. Thankfully my employers are usually very responsive and they don't mind if I take time off.

You go,🎉 girl!!!! That was one of the best ones yet!!!!! Ha-Ha!!!😂😂😂

The mug at the end made it for me 😂

Actually, that has been a topic of discussion at work yesterday and some offices discontinued wfh because of "silent vacationing"

I gotta say, I have two direct reports in another country, and if they tell me they don’t feel well there is no discussion. Feel better and just shoot me a quick message if you don’t think you can’t come in tomorrow. Thats it; no questions. I might ask if there is anything I need to step in on to get it out the door but otherwise, that’s it.

I'm so happy that I live in germany and don't have to deal with this BS

My last supervisor had me work on weekends for months when my contract said 4 days a week.

HR protects managers and the company. Don’t count of them to take sides of the employee, ever.