Unfiltered Story #296030

I’ve recently landed a very good remote job that is exactly what I went to school for. I’m very excited at being able to leave a 55+ hours/week warehouse job for a 9-to-5 office. I meet some of the team and proceed with my training, with my trainer saying I’m picking it up quickly and giving me positive feedback frequently.

During my training, my dad unfortunately becomes ill very suddenly. I tell my trainer and ask if I can have an unpaid half day to drive the almost-600 miles home as the doctors say the situation is dire. She gives it to me, saying she’ll support me during this time with whatever I need. I am profusely thankful.

My dad is on life support for three days. During this time I force myself to work as I don’t yet qualify for FMLA and won’t have any paid time off for 6 months, plus my mother is understandably off work and we need the income to keep paying off my parents’ house so my mother doesn’t have to move. My output is obviously decreased but I can account for all hours worked. On the third day my dad is life-flighted to a bigger hospital and I let my trainer know. After driving to the hospital, my dad passes in the early morning. I let my trainer know I am beginning my company-given 3-day bereavement period. My trainer says nothing.

Fast forward to my first day back. I’m getting caught up when my trainer e-mails me to ask what I did on a certain day last week when I was forcing myself to work, as she “thought I was taking the day off as she didn’t give me an assignment.” This was never offered to me nor agreed on, as it would have been unpaid. My training up until that point has also been pretty independent. I apologize for the miscommunication and list the things I did that day. She asks me for more specifics. I list even more detail, attaching training certificates with time stamps and referencing timestamped conversations with coworkers over a team chat app which she has access to. She insists I’ve only done 3 hours worth of work, when the time stamps say otherwise and my concentration was obviously impacted. She then arranges a “check-in” video chat, which accept.

Unbeknownst to me, she has invited one of the senior operations members, and senior ops proceeds to accuse me of time theft. I repeat the time stamps but say if they only want to pay me for the hours they believe I worked, that’s okay and I will change my time card. They continue to call me a liar and speak to me very threateningly.

Scared for my job, I call their HR, getting in touch with the employee who first told me about the bereavement leave and who I called to explain the situation once I was home with my mother. The HR rep is obviously reading off a script on time theft and refuses to acknowledge any evidence I present regarding the time stamps. She also goes on a tirade about how I never told my trainer where I was, even though I also cite multiple messages over the team chat app. She then says “we have no choice but to terminate your employment.” My mother is so incensed she gets on the phone to break down exactly what happened with my dad. HR refused to speak to her and hangs up, then when I try to call again because I am now the sole breadwinner in a 3-person household and need the job, she says that any further contact will be treated as harassment and hangs up.

And by the way, this accusation of time theft and subsequent firing happened on my first day back, which happened to be THE DAY BEFORE MY FATHER’S FUNERAL.