Sacked worker calls for pet bereavement leave

[Still Waters]

A woman who says she was sacked on the same day her family dog died has started a campaign for bereavement leave when employees lose their pets.

Emma McNulty, from Glasgow, said she was too upset to work after her terrier Millie died at the weekend.

She claims she was physically sick with grief, but the 18-year-old student was told to find cover or risk dismissal.

Unable to find a replacement, she said her part-time job in a sandwich shop was terminated.

Ms McNulty described the death of Millie as like "losing a member of the family".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-49346408

[SHaYap]

I foresee the ant colony being the next coming most popular pet project... 

~

 

[ExpandMyMind]

I don't see a problem wit this. To some people the death of their pet can absolutely crush them.

[Still Waters]

She was only working part-time and they still sacked her. They could have just given her the day off, it wouldn't have hurt them.

[Stiff]

I'm on the fence with this one. Some people get hugely attatched to pets and in many cases can love them more than human counterparts. It's not something that's ever affected me that much but Mrs Stiff gets very upset whenever a pet has died. I doubt that she'd need time off work for it though. Some people really are crushed at the loss.

 The problem I see with giving leave for pet bereavement is where do you draw the line? Just cats and dogs? Or do birds count as well? And fish?

Too much of a grey area in my opinion to legislate it.

[Still Waters]

3 minutes ago, Stiff said:

The problem I see with giving leave for pet bereavement is where do you draw the line? Just cats and dogs? Or do birds count as well? And fish?

Good point.

[psyche101]

54 minutes ago, Stiff said:

I'm on the fence with this one. Some people get hugely attatched to pets and in many cases can love them more than human counterparts. It's not something that's ever affected me that much but Mrs Stiff gets very upset whenever a pet has died. I doubt that she'd need time off work for it though. Some people really are crushed at the loss.

 The problem I see with giving leave for pet bereavement is where do you draw the line? Just cats and dogs? Or do birds count as well? And fish?

Too much of a grey area in my opinion to legislate it.

Dogs are more than pets, they are companions. They work for police, the forces, the blind, national security, lead the blind and so on. 

Dogs should have special status. It's a shame that some might abuse such a privilege but the employer was an outright ass. It shouldn't have got to this point. Because people like him are employers, I think it should be at least considered. 

Edited August 17, 2019 by psyche101

[Stiff]

20 minutes ago, psyche101 said:

Dogs are more than pets, they are companions. They work for police, the forces, the blind, national security, lead the blind and so on. 

Oh I fully agree with you wholeheartedly but the main point I was making was that people get attatched to pets as a whole, regardless of species.

Millie may well have been "too upset to work" after losing her dog. Little old Hilda down the road may well have been utterly devastated at the loss of her cat/bird that has been her only true companionship for decades.

[SHaYap]

I hate to bring this up but most likely we're not looking at a valued employee of the establishment....

~

[psyche101]

On 8/17/2019 at 11:25 PM, Stiff said:

Oh I fully agree with you wholeheartedly but the main point I was making was that people get attatched to pets as a whole, regardless of species.

Millie may well have been "too upset to work" after losing her dog. Little old Hilda down the road may well have been utterly devastated at the loss of her cat/bird that has been her only true companionship for decades.

Indeed, but this jerk of an employer is who opened this door. It may get taken advantage of but only because heartless people like this fellow set the bar. Others might pay for his mistakes, and that's a shame I agree.

If a person really is that attached to any species  then it's just the right thing to do to let them grieve for a day at least, I assumed you were more thinking about people taking a day of for a goldfish they forgot to feed, flushed down the toilet and never thought about again. That I would consider abuse. 

[Timothy]

On 8/17/2019 at 10:05 PM, Stiff said:

I'm on the fence with this one. Some people get hugely attatched to pets and in many cases can love them more than human counterparts. It's not something that's ever affected me that much but Mrs Stiff gets very upset whenever a pet has died. I doubt that she'd need time off work for it though. Some people really are crushed at the loss.

 The problem I see with giving leave for pet bereavement is where do you draw the line? Just cats and dogs? Or do birds count as well? And fish?

Too much of a grey area in my opinion to legislate it.

I’ll vouch for birds! Fish, nope.

I had two Quaker Parrots (Butty and Bella) with my ex and they were awesome interactive pets. They used to run to our bed when the sun came up to play. They would shower with you and speak and whistle and play peekaboo etc. Lol. And they would groom you and each other and loved warm baths and watching bird videos on YouTube.

I actually took a day off work to take Butty to the vet because he was pooping blood and was not himself the poor little guy. He was in pain! I felt so bad like I’d failed and let him eat something sharp, but it was worms which he could have caught while at the park. (Yes we used to take them to the park to play! Haha)

So he made a full recovery and was his happy little playful self soon enough. 

Anyways I actually took it as ‘Carers Leave’ of which you have 10 days in the year. My employer knew it was for a pet bird but understood and were fine with it. They would have been sued anyway if Butty died because I wasn’t allowed the day off work...

So I’m all for it, but yeah, fish or insects which don’t really experience any emotion, probably not. The line could probably be drawn with intelligence. So a dolphin would be okay. 

[Duke Wellington]

On 8/17/2019 at 11:52 AM, Still Waters said:

A woman who says she was sacked on the same day her family dog died has started a campaign for bereavement leave when employees lose their pets.

Emma McNulty, from Glasgow, said she was too upset to work after her terrier Millie died at the weekend.

She claims she was physically sick with grief, but the 18-year-old student was told to find cover or risk dismissal.

Unable to find a replacement, she said her part-time job in a sandwich shop was terminated.

Ms McNulty described the death of Millie as like "losing a member of the family".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-49346408

She is weak, needing a day off due to a pet.

I agree with her ex-employer sacking her.