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Comment by jkot | Hacker News Reader

I am not excusing Yelp, but in most countries this is fire-able offense. In EU my friends were in similar situation and they had to go to work. She got half-day off on very short notice..

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I don't know about the rest of EU, but I currently work in France and I'd be shocked if someone were fired because they took half a day off with little to no notice for serious health or family reasons. If anything, the company would be sued in a heartbeat and almost guaranteed to lose.

I worked in the UK for a few years, and have had to take days off with no notice - to attend a funeral, say - and no one even thought about criticising me for it, let alone fire me. That might have been because it was a Japanese company though, I can't really tell.

I also worked in Germany for a while, and a co-worker found himself in a similar position. The company made a point of reminding him that this was not how the rules went before sending him off with instructions not to be back until the situation was resolved.

I don't know which part of EU your friend worked in, but I wonder if your generalisation might not be a bit too broad.

I live in France, in most companies you don't get to finish your trial period if you are out of the office. However for a low pay job like this one, you don't get a 3x2 mnth trial.

I was under the impression that her trial period, or the american equivalent if there's such a thing, was long since finished. If that assumption is incorrect, I agree that taking sudden unpaid leave during one's trial period is dangerous.

That being said, it's happened in my company and we most definitely didn't fire the person for that. I can see how it could happen, but I don't think it's a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination.

It's hard to know what happened without hearing both sides of the story.

In this case, what we can guess it looked like from her manager's point of view was: she kept taking days off, with excuses that didn't seem to make sense (can't find car keys), and now she wants to take three more days off.

Without trying to blame anyone, I feel bad for her and hope her boyfriend recovers.

Oh, sure, I wasn't really commenting on the original story but on the parent's assertion that it'd also get you fired in Europe, which I think is either untrue or too general a statement.

Firing a single mom for needing to take time off to take care of someone close to her, especially when it would appear her performance has been at least acceptable (if maybe not her attendance)... right or wrong, it's still a bit of a dick move, wouldn't you agree?

> or family reasons

Well, this is protected by law in the US, resulting in a similar guaranteed win if sued, the caveat being "boyfriend" not included under "family".

> in most countries this is fire-able offense.

Really? The UK provides employment protections for this kind of incident, and we're not the most eager participant in the EU Social Chapter.

It depends on what job in the UK. In the office IT jobs that most HN readers have, you'd get the time off without questions, and likely a sympathy card from the team too.

As a packer on a zero-hours contract in an Amazon shipping warehouse? I don't know for sure but my gut feeling is "hell no, you'd be let go!"

Oh, I agree that the enthusiasm with which the time off is offered will vary, but the legal right is fairly clear: https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants/your-rights

Sure. Though the Zero-hours contract is the modern loophole that's being enthusiastically exploited: A person on a zero-hours contract may not technically actually be an employee. And even if they are, the employer can just threaten to withhold paying work, since no work is guaranteed.

https://fullfact.org/economy/facts-about-zero-hour-contracts...

One more time I do not agree with Yelp, and I think its not good what they did.

I live in Czech Republic, it is post-communist country with protective work law, for example employer must give 3 month notice when someone is fired. Law specify long list of reason for taking a leave (children sick, wedding, funeral, blood donation, even looking for new job)...

But her boyfriend is not dependent on her (and is not even relative). It is very different when children are in hospital.

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