There was this post about somebody’s friend suicide ranting how a manager is asking about a document.
First of all, I am incredibly sorry for your loss, unfortunately I am in your shoes right now (my grandmother passed two days ago), under different circumstances though.
It is perfectly normal (at least in most of Europe) for your employer to ask for certificate of death. Let me elaborate on this: in Europe(btw I work for an American company) you are allowed by law to get PTO in case of death, but in order for it to be paid you need to provide documents so the company can fix its legal issues with that PTO.
Therefore, I do not understand what is wrong with the current situation. After all, it is in your benefit not to spend any of your PTO and to get PTO without any kind of approval required as it might be needed in regular situations
EDIT: let me clarify I do not judge the person in any way and my post is towards people commenting rather than the specific individual