Worker Says Colleague Faked a Family Medical Emergency for Paid Leave — They Found a Bali Vacation Booking and a WhatsApp Message From the ‘Sick’ Mother

A Reddit user said that they were working over 60 hours each week after a colleague made up a serious family medical emergency to get extended paid leave. The post was shared on September 6 in the r/whatdoIdo subreddit and got 2,500 upvotes. Commenters were divided over whether the colleague was actually lying and whose responsibility it was to investigate.

The poster described a colleague they referred to as "Dan," who told their manager that his mother had been diagnosed with a serious illness in its late stages and in a different country. Management agreed to extended paid leave under the company's compassionate care policy and kept paying him while his duties were covered by the other colleagues.

The Reddit user had at first gone along with the situation since they thought their colleague was facing a family crisis.

After about three weeks of covering extra duties, the poster said they came across what appeared to be evidence contradicting Dan's account.

While organizing a shared desktop folder for a client project, the poster said they accidentally opened a browser tab showing what appeared to be a month-long luxury vacation to Bali, booked weeks before the leave request.

The user also saw a message on WhatsApp Web from Dan's mother asking him to water her plants at her home, which was nearby. The poster saw this as proof that the alleged illness had been made up.

But instead of addressing Dan directly, a number of the commenters told the user to take the information straight to management and have the company carry out the investigation. One commenter advised the user to explain that they had "accidentally discovered something unsettling" and to show management what they had found.

People believed that it was not the poster's duty to investigate the alleged deception. One commenter outlined a specific course of action, writing, "If it were me, [I would send an] anonymous email to Dan with a crypto wallet link. Dan will do the math. Donate half or all to charity; it depends on your needs and morals. Then anonymously snitch as well."

A number of the commenters noted that the extra workload was already having a negative effect on the employee and that management should think about getting temporary help or reassigning the tasks.

Most commenters said that an employee could report the matter without having to decide if the colleague was guilty. According to them, it was the duty of management or human resources to verify the case.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in this Reddit post, including the colleague's leave request, the poster's account of what they discovered, or the outcome of the situation. The details above reflect the post as shared on r/whatdoIdo and the comments in the thread. The identities of those involved have not been confirmed.