To start I was approved for time off from Thursday to Tuesday for a personal event. I called in sick the day before I was supposed to take off with a temperature of 101.2 and a positive test for influenza A. When I called my boss to inform them I’d be out for the day they reacted very poorly. They stated I was taking too much time off and this would be an issue. I reminded them my time off was approved and I cannot control that I got the flu. I was even more upset because I would be missing the event I took time off for in the first place. They reminded me that when I had an on the job eye injury I rushed straight to the doctors office instead of waiting to go through occupational health first. This was despite knowing the ER doctors told me to seek immediate medical attention from a specific doctor who had been treating me in the ER as my vision could have been at risk without fast action. Occupational health totally understood and covered my expenses. But my boss brought this incident up as if I k*lled the pope. They said if I thought I had a virus I should have waited and went through a specific recourse that way there was an easier paper trail for the company. They told me this was a pattern of not waiting for their advice. That I should not be rushing into doctors offices and instead calling and consulting with them first before making medical decisions. I literally woke up from the dead of sleep with extreme chest pains, body aches and being super cold to have my partner take me to the closest urgent care. Too bad for me, my first thought was oh I need immediate medical attention as I have immune system issues and feel like death, instead of oh let me call my boss and see what they think.
*TLDR; I got sick with the flu and called off. My boss accused me of of repeatedly not waiting for their advice on my medical issues. This is because I rushed to the urgent care for the flu and had previously I rushed from an on the job (time sensitive) eye injury to the doctor. They wanted me to go through doctors that were easier on the company.