New father says boss forced him to do office work despite his baby being in critical condition. 'He is blackmailing me'

Work-life balance often becomes a talking point in corporate discussions, but real-life situations continue to show how difficult it can be for employees to actually disconnect from work, even during emergencies. A recent post shared on Reddit highlights this gap, where a new father alleged that his manager continued assigning him tasks despite him being on paternity leave while his newborn was in critical care.

According to the post, the employee, a software engineer, had just become a first-time father under stressful circumstances. His baby was born prematurely and had to be admitted to the NICU due to respiratory distress. Despite informing his manager about the situation, he said work calls did not stop.

He wrote, “My baby was a premie who came suddenly before he was due, hence he had to be admitted to the NICU due to respiratory distress. I informed my manager that this is the situation he still called me and asked me about work and assigned me tasks (despite me taking leave).”


The employee also said that his paternity leave had been communicated well in advance. “I have informed the HR and the manager that I will be availing it in this month (April) back in December, still he is asking me to work and he is blackmailing me,” he added.

Past incidents add to frustration

The situation, he suggested, was part of a pattern. He recalled that during a previous medical emergency involving his pregnant wife, he was still expected to work late hours.

He said, “last year when my pregnant wife was ill and had to be admitted to hospital, he asked me to work till 3 AM in the morning despite not having any hard dependency on me at all and I lead and delivered the release with absolutely 0 bugs and it was business critical application Saving business millions and my rating was just Meet Expectation.”

He also explained why he refused to prioritise work this time. “I told him upfront this time last time when I put my work before my family it was not valued, why should again repeat it,” he wrote.

According to the post, the manager responded with statements implying that he could easily be replaced.

Online users call out ‘unprofessional’ behaviour

The post drew strong reactions from users, many of whom advised the employee to escalate the issue. One user commented, “inform hr this is clear violation of policy.” Another wrote, “Just don't reply to the manager. These guys don't have any power in big companies.”

A third user, identifying themselves as someone working in recruitment and career consulting, said, “Bhai first of all, congrats and take care of your baby, that’s priority no.1. NICU situation hai, nothing comes close… your manager is crossing the line. Paternity leave is your right, especially when it was pre-informed.”

The same commenter suggested maintaining written records of communication and formally escalating the matter if required.

The discussion soon widened into a broader conversation about workplace culture and leave policies. Several users pointed out that paternity leave in many companies remains limited.

One user wrote, “Just 2 weeks of paternity leave, damn man, the colleagues in Europe are getting months of paternity leave.” Another added, “2 weeks is still better. Some companies give 3 days.”

Others stressed the importance of setting boundaries, especially during personal emergencies, with some suggesting ignoring calls during leave or taking the issue up with HR.