Woman reveals short grieving time from work after brother’s death

‘Corporate America is not forgiving. It’s inhumane’

One woman is opening up about her company’s bereavement package and what that says about the work culture in corporate America.

A TikToker under the username @later_kates took to the platform to share what her employer’s response was to her informing them that her brother had died.

In her video, she is seen staring at her computer monitor in tears as text across the screen reads, “Work: Sorry your brother died. Take all the time you need, we have a generous bereavement package of 3 days.”

Soon after posting her TikTok went on to receive over four million views with many people leaving comments about how bad they felt for her and what their own company policy is.

“Corporate America is not forgiving. It’s inhumane,” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing, “‘Take all the time you need’ while having a time requirement. I’m so sorry, sending you love.”

“Had a family member pass and I got written up for performance issues because I couldn’t stop crying at my desk. It’s unbelievable how they treat us. I’m so sorry,” a third comment read.

Some dived into their own experience with bereavement leaves, and most of them were just as short as Kate’s.

“One week (3 days paid) to get over the death of mom when I was just 24. Horrid,” one story in the comments read.

Another story from the comments read, “After returning from my 3 day bereavement, my work sent me to meet a new client. At the hospital my mom died at. I immediately put in my two weeks.”

“5 days paid bereavement when I lost my son. Used up all my PTO, but coworkers donated their PTO for me so I had enough for 1 month. Used FMLA as well,” a third story read.

This isn’t the first time someone has taken to the social media platform to discuss a work struggle. Another TikToker recently shared a story of how an employee reacted to their annual leave being cancelled at the last minute.

Michael Sanz is known for his videos on stories that his viewers submit to him about their work environment, whether that be poor pay or, in this case, where a boss decided to cancel an employee’s leave.

According to the text messages shown in the clip, someone had resigned and more help was needed until another hire could be sorted. The boss let the employee know that their leave, meant to happen next week, would be pushed back a few months and also told human resources the news.

In between reading the messages, Sanz intervened with his own opinions as he explained how unfair he felt it was to cancel the period of leave without any type of conversation.

The employee responded with frustration that HR was given the news before them. The leave was for their brother’s wedding which was put in the system seven months in advance. “I can help out more until I leave, but I can’t change my leave dates,” the employee’s message ended.

Their boss then offered to reduce the leave period to only fly in and fly out for the wedding and “then take three days over the weekend instead of the three weeks.”

The employee once again clarified that they would not be changing their trip at all and suggested maybe hiring a temporary hire or two while they are on their leave.

“Mate, can’t stress enough, your leave is cancelled, we just can’t do it. I’m sorry,” the last message from the boss read.

This appeared to be the last straw for the employee who responded that they weren’t sure if they’d be coming back to work at all anymore. They decided to start their leave immediately after sending the message to think about whether they want to stay at the company and would be forwarding all of their boss’s messages to HR.