Manager's reply to employee's sick leave request makes Reddit question boundaries
A woman shared the startling response she received from her manager when she informed him she was unwell, which left Reddit once again spotlighting questionable workplace behaviour.Posted on r/IndianWorkplace under the title “Informed manager about my SL, this was his response,” the woman explained that she woke up with a high fever and immediately notified her manager that she would be taking a sick leave.Instead of a basic acknowledgement or even some concern shown, the first thing her manager texted back was: “You still have balance?”
She wrote that she was thrown off by the reaction, especially because, as she put it, “Regardless, out of humanity people say ‘take care’ before anything else.”She mentioned that her manager likely assumed she had exhausted her sick leave because it was the end of the year, and she had taken a few earlier. But, as she clarified, “Even if I didn’t have any balance, I wouldn’t have taken the leave irresponsibly.”She emphasised that this wasn’t happening in an unorganised or poorly run place. “And mind you, this is not a ‘LALA company’. It’s a reputed MNC!” she said, pointing out how surprising it was to deal with such insensitivity in an organisation that prides itself on professionalism.The screenshot she shared along with the post showed the brief conversation:Employee: “Hi, I'm not well. I will be on sick leave.”Manager: “You still have balance?”Check out the post here:Her post led to a long discussion in the comments, with several users dissecting both the manager’s tone and the broader culture of mistrust in corporate setups.One user suggested that the manager may have been “just confirming” the balance but added that the wording was “terrible” and lacked basic empathy.Another user wrote, "In such set-ups, it is important to be able to take a stand for yourself."Some users also discussed how common it had become for managers to treat sick leave as a privilege rather than a necessity, with one user writing that no matter what the balance is, “SL getting over doesn’t mean we can’t take sick leave.”Others agreed that, at the very least, a manager should have shown concern for the employee’s health instead of auditing their leave status mid-fever.- EndsPublished By: Yashna TalwarPublished On: Dec 1, 2025
