Senior official at Mumbai's mental health NGO denies employee's period leave request: 'So ironic'

The post attracted significant attention on social media, prompting discussion around workplace practices.

A woman alleged that a senior official at a Mumbai-based mental health non-profit organisation had responded dismissively when she sought to be excused from a Sunday workshop due to severe menstrual pain. The allegation was made through a Reddit post, in which the employee shared a screenshot of her exchange with the organisation’s director.

According to the post, the employee said she had been experiencing intense pain since the previous day and requested that a colleague conduct the one-hour workshop scheduled for Sunday in her place. In response, the director allegedly wrote: 'Please don't cancel workshops every week. It reflects very bad on us.'

In her account, the employee provided broader context about her workload. She stated that the organisation conducted online workshops every Sunday in collaboration with another NGO, despite regular working hours being limited to Monday to Friday from 8 am to 4 pm. She further explained that the previous week had included a two-day training programme at a college, held on Friday and Saturday from 9 am to 4.30 pm.

“We have online workshops every Sunday (smh) with another NGO, despite only having Monday to Friday 8-4pm working days. This time, we held a training program for staff at a college which lasted for two days, Friday and Saturday 9 am to 4.30 pm. I had no choice but to attend, despite dying from the pain because of my period but I still finished my responsibilities,” she wrote.

She added that after requesting that another team member handle the Sunday session, the response she received from the director was limited to the message quoted above. “No ‘take care' or ‘it's fine'. No feedback on our work yesterday and the day before. This is an NGO in Mumbai which works for suicide prevention and mental health. This is our reality,” the post stated.

In subsequent comments, the employee clarified that workshops had not been cancelled on a regular basis. She said that two sessions had previously been postponed due to issues arising from the partner organisation, while another had been affected because members of her team were attending a conference.

The post attracted significant attention on social media, prompting discussion around workplace practices within organisations that operate in the mental health and development sectors. Several users highlighted what they described as a contradiction between the organisation’s stated mission and the treatment allegedly experienced by staff.

One user commented: “I remember working for a mental health startup and boy it has the worst terrible work life balance. I was making a module for grounding exercise with positive affirmations during my panic attacks. It was hilarious if I think about it. Tell them you can't do it, What's the worst that could happen if you don't ?”

Another wrote: “Development sector work is toxic. Very few NGOs in India with good work life balance.”

A third user reacted briefly, saying: “That is so ironic.”

"Most NGOs are sham. A way to get free funds from the government and foreign entities," a user remarked.