There really is a lot to unpack here. First of all, Veronica should have gone to her manager first and not gone over her head. She went to her boss’s boss’s boss, as she said, who did approve it, but Veronica had a valid reason. Employers do need to show some compassion, and if there is an accommodation that can be made, why not do it?
Why not show Goodwill to Veronica, not just be so hardcore and say, absolutely not. You’re working. Forcing Veronica to take a PTO day, which was not really acceptable, could have been an option, but the way the manager handled it was totally showing no compassion at all to Veronica.
