Burned-out workers are using medical leave as a vacation to escape toxic bosses

Under FMLA, eligible full-time employees in the U.S. can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for a serious health condition—and crucially, that includes burnout and mental health. In the U.K., workers can use Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for up to 28 weeks. 

And some workers say they’re even getting paid while they decompress and job hunt. Lexi, for example, claimed short-term disability allowance while she was off—and by the time she was due to return to work 12 weeks later, she’d had another job lined up.  

But others (like this TikToker) are openly admitting to abusing the system and using medical leave as bonus PTO days.

Using medical leave as a vacation might raise red flags, says HR

Seven weeks into medical leave for her mental health, one TikTok user filmed herself hiking picturesque mountains. Her comment section sparked outrage. But she’s not alone—many of these videos are full of workers treating the FMLA less as a mental health resource and more as a workplace loophole to legally buy more time off.

As one TikToker put it: “Take the FMLA, take the disability, take you a break… There’s so many people out here who are going on FMLA and using that time as like a nonpaid PTO vacation.”

And according to a HR consultant who weighed in, what they’re doing isn’t technically illegal. Just because someone looks okay on the outside—and is posting from a beautiful nature trail on TikTok—doesn’t actually mean they weren’t genuinely struggling when they filed.

“Very generally, you can take vacations and actually have fun even if you’re on FMLA,” the creator @hr_explained explains. “If you take FMLA because you have mental health struggles or you just had a baby or many other reasons, you are allowed to have fun. You’re allowed to take a vacation, and it is not considered FMLA abuse.” 

The only time it would raise a red flag with HR, she says, is if your leave reason and your activity are obviously incompatible—if you claimed you’d broken your leg, for instance, and then posted a skiing video. That would raise eyebrows and invite an investigation from your employer.

FMLA does not fix a toxic workplace

To be clear: taking FMLA for genuine mental health reasons is entirely legitimate. The law has covered mental health conditions since its inception in 1993. Burnout, severe anxiety, or stress caused directly by a toxic workplace can qualify, as long as a healthcare provider signs off. 

Creator @theanonymousemployee, whose video on FMLA and toxic workplaces has racked up over 101,000 likes, stresses this point.

“If your job is causing severe stress, anxiety, (or) burnout—and your healthcare provider agrees—FMLA may be an option for you to protect your job while you take some time off or while you update your résumé and go look for something,” she says. “FMLA does not fix the toxic workplace but it can give you that space and that time to breathe, to heal, to plan without the fear of immediate termination. It’s going to protect you for the time off, it’s not about being weak or lazy or trying to scam the system—that’s not what it’s about.”

Her advice: document everything, see your healthcare provider, and know your rights before your body (or mental health) makes the decision for you.

Her advice resonated. One commenter on @theanonymousemployee’s video summed up how it played out for them: “I took FMLA from a toxic job for 2 months, came back with 2 weeks’ notice and a new job!”