Getting permission for something shouldn’t mean getting punished for it later — full stop.

One employee had already arranged a recovery plan with management ahead of time before a major surgery, covering a week off followed by remote work before eventually returning to the office full-time.

But when recovery recovery took longer than expected, they went directly to the CIO, who personally encouraged extending the work-from-home arrangement and approved it without hesitation.

Months later, that same approved time became the reason the employee’s annual leave was suddenly at risk of being cut in half, with the CIO citing “attendance concerns” despite having greenlit every step himself.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

This is your reminder to never trust anyone from leadership

I had surgery a few months back. I had told management that I would need a week off of work, and I’d be able to work remotely for a week, and then work at the office after that.

Soon, life threw yet another curveball.

Surgery recovery was a bit more difficult than what I had anticipated, and so I asked for an extension for the WFH.

The WFH approvals go to our CIO, so on the day I was supposed to return to office, I went in person to his office, and as soon as he saw me, he started encouraging me to work from home, and to play it by ear week by week.

So, based on this, I decided to extend the WFH another two weeks, which he approved.

This decision soon caught up to the employee in an unexpected way.

Fast forward a few months, and now I’m being told that my annual leave might be reduced by half because of my attendance.

Apparently, the CIO doesn’t like it that I took 1 sick week, and 3 WFH weeks, and a couple of annual leave days here and there.

He’s also holding it against me that I left work early one day (we have 10 hours a month for short leaves, and I didn’t go over those 10 hours).

The employee can hardly believe their ears.

It’s absolutely ridiculous that I have to deal with this. I had a pretty major surgery, and I spoke with management about it before and after my surgery.

Now that I actually want to go on leave, they make a big stink of it.

Sounds like this company things of their employees as more machine than human being.

What did Reddit have to say?

HR really needs to get involved here.

Some leaders seem to go out of their way to be cruel.

It’s time to give the handbook a thorough read-through.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an accountant who sticks to 40-hour weeks after overtime guidance, and finds he likes it.

This commenter shares their take on the situation.

Getting explicit approval for something and then getting penalized for using it makes zero logical sense.

The company leader didn’t just allow the extended WFH, he actively encouraged it in person, which makes this retaliation even harder to justify.

Holding sick time against an employee who genuinely needs it is just plain cruel at the end of the day.

Recovering from major surgery isn’t a performance issue, it’s a medical reality.