{"id":18179,"date":"2026-07-26T20:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=18179"},"modified":"2026-07-26T20:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:58:18","slug":"boss-sparks-outrage-over-one-week-notice-sick-day-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=18179","title":{"rendered":"Boss sparks outrage over &#8216;one-week notice&#8217; sick day demand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fnewspress-collage-n5mahczxx-1785075373672.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261785061011\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft wp-block-nypost-editor-partner-article-links\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>An online post has sparked outrage online after a person claiming to be a Coles Supermarkets worker were told they should have <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/tag\/paid-sick-leave\/\">given their boss a week\u2019s notice<\/a> before calling in sick with a stomach bug.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/coles\/comments\/1v3vtxq\/i_should_have_planned_getting_gastro_a_week_in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Screenshots shared to Reddit<\/a>\u00a0by appear to show the employee notifying their manager that they had developed symptoms of gastroenteritis amid an outbreak at another workplace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is an ongoing gastro outbreak at my other job and now I am symptomatic of gastro,\u201d the message reads.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The screenshots, which were shared to Reddit, find the employee telling the boss about catching gastro following an outbreak at their other job. <span class=\"credit\">Reddit\/Allmyideasarenangs<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cNot sure if I can work tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The alleged manager replied: \u201cNo way. You need to manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs you know we are short staff here. You need to let me know 1 week in advance. It doesn\u2019t work anymore like this here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The screenshots also appear to show the manager later sharing the exchange in a workplace group chat while reminding staff they were <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/02\/world-news\/germans-must-now-have-doctors-note-to-call-in-sick-to-work\/\">expected to complete their rostered shifts<\/a> and update their availability each week.<\/p>\n<p>The post, titled\u00a0<em>I should have planned getting gastro a week in advance,<\/em>\u00a0attracted more than 1,600 upvotes before comments were locked, with hundreds of Reddit users criticizing the alleged response.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow tf do these people still exist,\u201d one person wrote.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The boss told the employee to give a week of notice due to having a \u201cshort staff.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Reddit\/Allmyideasarenangs<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another commented: \u201cImagine how much more short staffed they\u2019re gonna be when the whole store catches gastro.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Several others also raised food safety concerns after noting the screenshots appeared to show the conversation occurred within a deli team group chat, although it has not been verified where the alleged exchange took place or the identities of those involved.<\/p>\n<p>The incident follows another workplace boundaries story\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/finance\/culture\/i-know-you-are-off-today-wild-boss-text-sparks-work-boundary-debate\/news-story\/6f7ad5d0268ec88ce87dbcb8984c3504\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported by news.com.au<\/a>\u00a0last year, after an anonymous employee shared text messages allegedly showing a boss contacting them while they were on annual leave to help prepare for a client meeting. The exchange similarly sparked debate online about employers contacting staff outside work hours.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The alleged manager from Coles also told employees they need to do their rostered shifts and update availability weekly. <span class=\"credit\">Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairwork.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fair Work Ombudsman<\/a> says employees who become unexpectedly ill should notify their employer as soon as practicable if they need to take personal leave and, if requested, provide evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person, such as a medical certificate or statutory declaration.<\/p>\n<p>News.com.au reached out to Coles who declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union and the original Reddit poster were also contacted.<\/p>\n<p>The authenticity of the screenshots and the identities of those involved have not been independently verified.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An online post has sparked outrage online after a person claiming to be a Coles Supermarkets worker were told they should have given their boss a week\u2019s notice before calling in sick with a stomach bug. Screenshots shared to Reddit\u00a0by appear to show the employee notifying their manager that they had developed symptoms of gastroenteritis&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-n5mahczxx-1785075373672.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1785061011&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}