However, not every one understands that, and unfortunately, a Singaporean mad had to learn that the hard and painful way.
Held back by his manager
The man, who goes by the name of Syed Ahmad Sabar Aljoofri, shared his heartbreaking story of how he couldn't be beside his dying father because he was held back at work by his manager.
Mothership Singapore, quoting Syed's post published on the Facebook group ‘Complaint Singapore’, said the incident happened in Dec 2019 when Syed Ahmad was still working for his former company and was covering for a colleague who was on leave.
On the fateful day, Syed Ahmad recounted that he received a call from a doctor who was attending to his terminally ill father, informing him that he may pass away soon and urged for him to visit him one last time.
Syed Ahmad then informed his operation manager about his situation, and asked permission to leave to the hospital immediately.
However, the manager asked him to stay on for another hour to clear pending work.
When Syed Ahmad received another call from the doctor, he called his mother and asked her to meet him at the hospital.
He informed his operation manager again, saying that he had to rush to the hospital to meet his mother, but yet again, the manager denied his request and asked him to stay for another hour.
After pleading his case, the manager finally relented, and as Syed Ahmad was rushing to the hospital, the doctor called and informed him that his father had passed away.
Syed Ahmad wrote that he was so heartbroken, he cried until his stomach hurt as he was unable to fulfil his father's final wishes, which was to have him whisper some last words and prayers into his ear before he passes away.
According to Syed Ahmad, his father had dutily reminded him about his final wish even before his health condition got worse.
He was also terminated
If losing a family member wasn't enough, Syed Ahmad wrote that he got another rude shock when he returned to work a couple of days later.
He wrote that he was terminated a week after his father’s death, as the same operation manager who refused to let him go reported to human resources that Syed Ahmad had taken many days of unapproved leave to take care of his father.
Syed argued that he was the only caregiver to his father, and he had submitted letters from medical specialists to justify his absence from work.
Despite presenting his case, the company did not budge, and Syed accepted his termination as he revealed that he had wanted to leave the company for a very long time due to a toxic culture.
Following the incident, a spokesman from the company told Mothership Singapore that "the employer acknowledged that they should have handled the matter more sensitively and empathetically, especially in this situation which involved the impending loss of a loved one".
The employer had apologised to Syed Ahmad over the incident back in August, but Syed had vowed to never forgive the operation manager.
Syed also advised those who might find themselves in the same situation to "just leave the workplace immediately, whether your request to take time off has been approved or not, especially when it's a life-and-death matter that you're about to attend to".
Sigh, we feel so bad for Syed Ahmad. We hope that he's doing OK now.