A few years ago, I worked in an office at a millwork company, and I sat at my computer and began my workday by checking e-mails. I had an e-mail from HR that was sent to everyone in the administration department informing us that one of our co-workers (let's call her Jane) was going to be out for surgery and didn't have enough PTO to cover the full absence. The e-mail went on to talk about the Jane's time with the company, how everyone loves her (which is true, she was an absolute gem), and how important she was to the company.
I already knew about the surgery, since Jane and I went out for lunch together twice a week, and she told me about it. She mentioned that she didn't have enough PTO to cover the full recovery period, but she wasn't financially concerned because she and her husband are very financially secure and they always do their best to plan for any potential “unplanned” situations and have contingencies in place. That was the end of that conversation and neither of us thought anything more of it.
I'm reading the e-mail thinking it was just HR letting everyone know what was going on in case people don't see her in the office and worry, or whatever. Until I got to the last bit of the e-mail where it mentioned that she didn't have enough PTO to cover the full absence and then literally went on to talk about the importance of managing your PTO responsibly, how it's each employee's responsibility to reserve PTO for emergencies, etc. and then had the absolute cheek to ask us to donate PTO to cover her absence.
I was flabbergasted. I scooted over to Jane's office and asked her if she checked her e-mails yet. She didn't and I told her to pull up HR's e-mail. She started reading through it and apparently skimmed toward the end because a mere few seconds later, she loudly exclaimed, “What the fuck?!” Jane does not swear, like, ever. She was livid. She was planning on taking FMLA as she'd been with the company for, I believe, four years at the time and met all eligibility criteria. I was just as confused as she was.
Later that day, I met Jane in the parking lot on lunch to go get food and she told me she went to HR to figure out the problem and she was told that because the administration division was considered a separate entity and location from the production division of the company, and that the administration division had less than 50 employees, none of the administration staff were eligible for FMLA. Which neither Jane nor I knew was the case. Jane called her husband while we were on route to lunch and he said he would locate an employment lawyer and see if he could schedule a consult, because even that didn't sound right to him.
About a week goes by and Jane pops in my office and told me that she had a meeting with HR and a lawyer her husband hired that morning and she was approved for FMLA. Come to find out, the full law was that the work location had to have over 50 employees within 75 miles. The administration division was on the same property as the production division, just in a different building.
I don't remember what the full outcome was—I don't remember if Jane even told me what the full outcome was, whether the company was penalized or yelled at or whatever. No idea. I was just happy Jane could have her surgery and recover without worrying about job security. But I remember being just absolutely mad that the company had the audacity to ask all the other hardworking employees to donate their own hard-earned PTO. Like they couldn't just simply give Jane more PTO given the circumstances or just excuse the unpaid absence for surgery recovery. It's not like she was going to Disney World or something. I doubt there would have been anyone in the office that would've been mad about someone being given bonus PTO so they could have surgery.
I think that was one of the first truly big instances that taught me that these companies just really don't give a fuck about you.