‘Go contact HR’: Employee denied one week of PTO to take care of newborn, retaliates by filing for full 12 weeks of paternity leave

Let this story serve as yet another relevant reminder that paternity leave deserves to be taken seriously by employers. You would think that in this day and age, this would be common knowledge, but you would be surprised.

Here, we have an employee who initially only asked for one week of paid time off to help take care of his newborn baby. Apparently, the timing was not convenient for his boss, not that this should really matter. However, according to the boss’s warped perspective, it was reason enough to deny this request. Thankfully, the employee had a sneaking suspicion this would happen, so he prepared a backup plan. He knew his rights according to human resources and the general policy on family leave, so he promptly countered his boss’s refusal by filing for a full 12 weeks of paid paternity leave.

Keep scrolling below for the boss’s reaction and for the subsequent fallout. For more stories like this, check out this post about a student’s malicious compliance regarding his college essay assignment.