Can I complain to HR about gender bias? [closed]

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I am a female employee. A few weeks ago, I got sick with common cold and cough. I used up all my sick days, but did not get better. I worked from home since my constant coughing, sneezing and blowing my nose was disturbing my colleagues">colleagues, and they kept saying I should go home.

My manager was unhappy with me working from home, and kept hounding me to either come back to work or use my vacation days. I found out from HR that the company does allow more than 5 sick days, but my manager would not allow it. He asked for a doctor's note to prove that I was sick. Eventually, I did not get additional sick days, and had to come back to work.

A few days later, a male colleague fell sick. He had already used 4 sick days before, and then he used 4 more sick days. He was not asked to get the doctor's note, and he was not asked to use his vacation days.

Can I complain to HR about this gender bias? If I do complain, what kind of backlash should I expect from the manager? What can I do about that backlash?

manpreet 2 years ago

When complaining to HR, don't complain about gender bias.

Instead, ask them about the policy for sick leave.

• If your boss didn't act in accordance with the policy, ask HR and/or boss to explain why they didn't stick to the policy
• If your male colleague's sick leave wasn't according to the policy you can try to bring it up, although you should be extremely careful here. If you say too much you may be seen as envious or uncooperative. It doesn't matter whether people would be right to treat you as such - but they may.