A coworker and buddy has been seeing a shrink for the past few years and told our manager recently that he had to take medical leave. He says during the call the manager asked if it was work-related knowing he has been way overworked and really stressed lately. He told him the doctor ordered it with stress being one of the primary reasons. The guy has also been looking for a promotion for the last several years and has been passed over even though all of his previous managers have recommended it. We all kinda think he’s way overqualified to be in his current job. He says he’s been having talks during reviews and such about getting that promotion this year and our manager really wanted to help and is going to put him up for it.
Now the weird part is that when he told him the leave was stress-related the boss asked that if he was having a problem handling stress in his job today wouldn’t he think a promotion would make it worse. He says he was kinda shocked by the question during a conversation that he thought was just a simple notice and to ask about all the processes and asked me what I thought he meant by it. I honestly don’t know but told him definitely not to go to HR yet (knowing that could easily go sideways).
Our manager seems to be a pretty good guy but we don’t know him too much yet because he’s new to the group. Hard to say if he’s just trying to look out for the guy or looking to hold him back because of this. Anyone had an experience like this? Is this creepy or just wrong on some level? What advice could I give him? He’s worried now that the question was really a threat and he should reconsider the leave. I’m worried about his safety if he does.