A workplace incident involving an employee working from home to care for a sick family member

A 30-year-old man, referred to as Mr. A, who works in the IT industry, experienced emotional distress after overhearing colleagues gossip about him following his decision to work from home to care for a sick family member.

According to JTBC's "Incident Report" on the 17th, Mr. A is employed at an IT company where both commuting and remote work schedules are relatively flexible.

Recently, Mr. A's team was engaged in a large-scale project, which required them to work intensively, often pulling late-night shifts every other day for an entire month.

Under this high-pressure work environment, Mr. A went on an outing with his family to the beach last Sunday, where they enjoyed a raw fish dish. However, later that evening, his wife and daughter began to experience severe gastrointestinal distress, prompting an urgent trip to the emergency room in the early hours.

Balancing family health and work commitments

After receiving emergency treatment, the pain subsided, but Mr. A's wife and daughter remained too fatigued to even stand properly.

Feeling reluctant to leave his sick family members to go to work, Mr. A requested to work from home. Concerned that taking a day off would disrupt his team’s workflow, he decided to try to manage his work responsibilities from home instead. His team leader understood the situation and granted permission for remote work.

On the day he worked from home, Mr. A completed his tasks without issue. However, when he returned to the office the following day, he was met with a sarcastic comment from a colleague, Mr. B, saying, "It must have been nice working from home while we’re exhausted from overtime."

What was even more shocking was that Mr. A later learned that Mr. B had been gossiping with other colleagues, stating, "His wife can just take medicine and look after their daughter. Is that really a good reason to work from home?"

Mr. A remarked, "Even though Mr. B is around the same age as me, he is a year my senior," adding, "He has a non-marriage stance, so he hasn’t been able to empathize during discussions about marriage."

He expressed his feelings by saying, "Of course, I understand the sensitivity around important projects, and I believe I did my best not to hinder the work, but I can't see myself continuing to smile at Mr. B in the office moving forward." He reflected on whether his actions were indeed wrong.

Image source: Material photos for the understanding of the article / gettyimagesbank