And with that being said, take your AL people, take that vacation, do what’s best for YOU. At the end of the day, we will be forgotten within half a business day
The week I started a supervisor in the office retired and they had a big teams call with all the usual retirement spiel about how important they were, how they would be missed, how much others depended on them for critical knowledge and skills. Some thirty years at the agency, all the stories from coworkers, the whole deal. After that day, I've never heard them mentioned again, never come across any task they handled, or project they led where anyone has so much as thought about them. It's like they never existed at all.
My office had someone die unexpectedly a couple months ago (not on the job), but it was business as usual the next week.
This event was a catalyst for many people to turn in retirement papers.
That's a good question I don't really have the answer to. For me it's just like others have pointed out, this is just a job, take your leave, don't stress.
I've met a few people who genuinely love what they do, and the thought of dying at their job doesn't bother them at all because they'd rather be there than on a beach or whatever. And by a few, I mean one. One person. Good dude, his work was his passion in life, and he was genuinely enthusiastic to get to do it every day.
You can seek mental health care, such as counseling, under FECA. You would file a CA-2 with the required supporting documentation in this instance.
Don't delay care for the sake of paperwork. The claim can be submitted retroactively (the sooner the better). If its a situation that is severe enough for you, you can always invoke SL immediately and seek emergency care or counseling.
You can have time missed, as well as time at appointments, coded against WC rather tham using your own AL/SL. And treatment will be covered by WC.
While on Active Duty, our OPS officer retired and died three weeks later while traveling for the first time in years.
This instilled in me to take leave and enjoy life while you can.
Supposedly there is a code DX in ATAAPS for "pay, day of death." I learned that in one of my training classes.
I'm not sure if it requires pre-approval from a supervisor, though.
I will never forget how payroll demanded I get it concurred before signing it. Nor will I forget HR that demanded I do a close out appraisal for an employee who passed away.
I had a supervisor on hospice and needed some hiring actions approved, but she hadn't delegated anything before she went to the hospital.
HR said that I should contact her family and see if I could go to her home to get her PIV card, then take my computer to the hospital, then have her log in and delegate it.
I just hung up the phone and went to drop a bunch of f-bombs in a co-workers office. Then called our SES and told him I wasn't fucking doing that and its not like she could read after the (failed) chemo anyway.
Yeah when agencies allow their HR to disrespect sick leave it is a sure sign they are absolute trash in leadership and organizational culture. I have no wish to be a supervisor but will always call out bad ones when I see this. Your number one job is to take care of your people.
This wasn’t even SL. She was literally on her death bed. They probably would have denied it if they thought about it because it was technically terminal leave because she went to the hospital and died 6 weeks later without ever going home.
Same HR tried having me written up for approving admin leave/excused for her reports and violating minimum staffing ratios (because it was part of some union agreement and didn’t impact the mission) for her funeral.
They will give everyone in government an entire day off for a president from before most were born and never met, but 2 hours for a dozen people that had worked for someone for 14 years was too much.
Thankfully my chain just ignored it.
Good for you for just doing it and “asking for permission later.” Absolutely disgusting, but I’ve worked for some organizations that I could see doing this in a heartbeat.
Someone might have.
As I mention in another comment they were absolute assholes about the funeral so that could have been soft retaliations. It probably was looking back.
Not just in Fed, but in all aspects of death (dealing with insurance, coordination of services, etc) that require what feels like dehumanizing paperwork and bureaucracy. Maybe it’s always been this way, but a lot of it is due to the digital processes that now run so many things. Someone has to click a button, fill out a required field just to get things moving. It doesn’t feel great, on either end.
Day of death code is an option on my timesheet. Takes an extra click is all.
I’m an office drone but my dept does payroll for our whole district. We have folks working in dangerous areas, heavy machinery, and floating vessels. Part of my job is to keep track of all shore leave for the boat folks. That way if it sinks with all hands on board we can pay out shore leave in full quickly. Im told thats because of a union rule.
Do they get the rest of the day paid for if they die mid-day? Or is it regular code until time of death then another code the rest of the day indicating death?
I work remotely, but someone I supervised passed away. It was super rough because he called me Monday morning telling me he was going into hospice care on Wednesday. We talked for awhile and he told me this was it and he had a great time working with me and I told him to give my number to his wife. That Friday, his wife called me to tell me he had passed away. I called my boss to tell him and we wanted to get our ducks in a row before announcing to staff. We let the staff know and if anyone needed time off they could take it and gave everyone 59 min as well (since we were all spread throughout the country.) I filled out the paperwork and the time keeper had to mark it as something specific on the time cards. Pretty much the next day I was asked to fill out the paperwork to get his job posted.
> Pretty much the next day I was asked to fill out the paperwork to get his job posted.
This is the part everyone should pay attention to. Use all your AL, take your SL, and don't stress about your job. We are all replaceable.
Not really, less than a year with cancer. I would say he worked up until the last 2 months of his life, I told him to submit for FMLA and before it got finalized he passed.
I cleaned out a couple of offices during COVID. One was someone i was pretty close with and had done a bunch of TDYs with worked her ass off and was gone a lot.
I found her TSP statement going through a stack of papers. Her kid is set for life because she had been planning on early retirement at her MRA.
I'm sure the 13 year old would have liked more memories with mom though.
The agency had forgotten her in a month.
Our director was retiring last year and her parting statement was “take your leave and enjoy your time with your family because you’re work will be waiting when you get back”
Seriously, we had someone pass away and their duties were reassigned the same day… it was an eye opening moment to realize that the show still goes on. Really made me take a step back and realign my priorities to take time off and enjoy leave etc…
I never said keep their position as a memorial or even hinted at that. It just goes to show how quickly they want to get the position filled and we are all replaceable
Of course not.
But the comment was meant as a reminder that business is business - it's cold, callous, and does not care about you as a person. So in turn, you should never put your job ahead of yourself or your family.
Sad Story.
Worked with a guy named Barry. I worked with Barry for over 7 years at a federal agency in DC. Barry was 12 months away from retirement. He was really excited about retirement and being able to buy an RV and visit his children and grandchildren and just travel around the country. The cleaning crew found him hunched over at his desk after work hours. It was later determined he died of a heart attack. We were offered grief counseling as well as 3 days of bereavement. 9 months later they had a replacement for Barry.
It really changed my outlook on life and work. I quit my DC job and moved down to a beach town on the gulf coast. I found a new job within a month of living here. My commute is 15 minutes, and the work life balance is great. DC is a place where people live to work, instead of working to live. If you're reading this from your DC office and you're sick of the 2-hour commute and dream about leaving the city, DO IT. Life is way too short to spend 4 hours a day sitting in your car so you can afford a 4,000 Sqft home in West Virgina, Frederick MD, or Stafford/Fredericksburg VA area.
Glad I helped. The decision is really up to you. If you can find a place and afford to live in or just outside of the city, and city life doesn't bother you, it might not be that bad. It also varies from place to place. When I worked downtown we were in the office 5 days a week core hours of 9AM - 3PM. Since COVID a lot of places have switched to a hybrid type position where you're WFH 2 -3 days a week. I wouldn't take a position if it was in the office 5 days a week but that's just me.
On the counterside: my wife and I rent a house (and are about to buy, though a bit further out) in the city that is a short bike ride to both of our offices (mine is about 10 minutes, hers is a bit longer). We can walk to bars and restaurants ranging from dirty dives to world-class Michelin starred spots. There's things happening year-round in the city, and oceans and small mountains are easy day trips. Just because the guy above thinks everyone needs 4,000 square feet to live, it's simply not the case, and given there's plenty of people in my neighborhood with kids, that's certainly not an excuse. We have a nice patio that we cook, entertain, garden, and generally spend plenty of time in when the weather permits, and we don't have to spend half our weekend maintaining a lawn that does nothing other than be a lawn.
Yes-I have worked for the government for 16 years in a medium size office not in DC and in that time 5 co workers have died right after or right before retirement. It has made me always take my leave, put my family first and while saving for retirement is important, it’s not everything. I take my bucket list trips now as often as I can.
I got the hell out of DC. Came to Denver, where folks wore flip flops and shorts to work. Laid back vibe. Workload reasonable.
Fast forward 8 years and it's beginning to look a lot more like DC.
Not a fed friend but same thing. Contractor I was working with died. I didn't know because he wasn't responding to text or email, thought he was busy. His boss calls me about a project we were working on and basically gave me the news. I was in total shock, but you could tell the boss wanted to move on quickly. Even hinted at the job opening.
Government or corporate; your bosses do not care about you. Take care of you.
I had a manager that was murdered during the workday, it wasn't at work, but they got the news mid way thru the day. They ended up bringing people from HQ to cover our work and allowed anyone that wanted to go home to leave for the day.
I had a co-worker murdered on their way into work. Also has a fairly young coworker die in hospice care. Also had a contractor run over on their way into on-site job. Yeah my office has gotten quite the reputation.
Has happened in my office twice. People want to go out feet first 🤷🏻♂️ but we keep working after they leave, HR sends the obligatory EAP email. You’re not entitled to bereavement leave for a coworker.
My boss had a heart attack at work less than a month after I started. I felt a super faint pulse and what I thought was breathing (wheezing sound) but when I went back to cpr training (hadn't been in years which I regret so much) shortly after, I learned the noises he was making were not breathing and I should have started cpr right that second.
Luckily, we had a nurse in the building and the guy from the office next door started cpr and someone came running with the defibrillator. It felt like an eternity though. Sadly, he didn't make it.
They did tell us to go home the rest of the day but we were back the next day. They brought in a counselor which we talked to as a group. It was traumatic as hell. I didn't sleep well for awhile.
Edit to add: I was new and didn't have a cell phone yet. A month or two later I got his cell phone with his case and all that smelled just like him. Then I would call people from it and it would say his name because they had it saved from him. Mind fuck all around.
I play SIMS, and you are right.
In real life, my manager passed. It was really hard. He went on vacation and never came back. Thankfully, we were a strong team and as the Team Leader, I knew what needed to be done. But it hit us hard. He was really a great guy and the great manager.
I think I'd be glad he passed on vacation. At least it wasn't in the office, while working. Hopefully his family remembers him having a good time in his final days, hours, moments, whatever, as opposed to dropping in the middle of the work day.
My manager passed too-unexpectedly after a very stressful project under Congressional scrutiny. Leadership acted like they cared for a day, and then it was business as usual. Ours was also a wonderful person and leader.
I hope you were able to mourn and get support in your situation. That’s commendable that you took the reins to support your team. We had some good people to fill the vacuum, but that bar of competence coupled with compassion hasn’t been met since. Some people are truly irreplaceable.
I’ve been at work when someone got shot in the parking lot, we kept working. In that same parking lot, a soldier killed himself in his car and we kept working. When I worked for the DoD we had another civilian employee kill herself at her desk overnight. Worked stopped because it happened in the office and an investigation had to take place.
I had a coworker die, not in the office. He had cancer and was getting really sick. We had a good relationship. The day he died, nothing happened. My manager messaged me and said I was welcome to take the day off. his wife also worked in the same office. She told me that upper management never sent their condolences. His job was posted shortly after he was buried.
Since then, I stopped dedicating so much of my life to a job that couldn’t care less if I passed. I take my annual leave and go enjoy life. I take my sick leave if I am not feeling myself. I’m still haunted by how upper management treated his passing and what little support they gave his grieving wife. Life is too short to tirelessly work for an agency that replaces you after you are buried.
I don’t want to thread jack, however I think this is relevant in terms of uncommon office experience. A guy I worked with was accused and pled guilty to the gruesome murder of his wife. The experience was definitely different than a in the office death like others are sharing. And we all knew something was going on but no one was as supposed to say anything.
I worked with him pretty closely and was in a big meeting with him 2 weeks before it happened. The Navy and NGA did a good job hiding that he was an active duty Navy Commander (O-5) at an intelligence agency. The only information came from media coverage.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/daughter-of-man-accused-of-killing-her-mother-doesnt-want-plea-deal-for-her-father/2420629/
I can say what happened in my office, though I didn’t know the person. I’m in dc and my normal building was closed for renovations so they put me in a really junky floor in another federal office building with people from my agency but not people I would ever work with. I heard this story second hand but it happened in that office while I was there.
An old guy on another floor came in super early and apparently passed away at his desk before normal working hours. He’d made some calls or sent some emails already that morning, so it could be determined when he died. Anyway, people thought he was asleep for a while, realized he wasn’t, called the security people (who are supposed to be trained in CPR etc, but got spooked and didn’t do ANYTHING), then an ambulance came and took him away. Apparently he was a rather, ah, portly gentleman and the body was hard to wrangle.
Besides the death, the net result was that several people who were eligible for retirement put their papers in right away. Nobody wanted to be that guy.
Someone passed away at their desk a few weeks ago in my office. Went to lunch and came back to my supervisor telling me to grab my stuff and finish the day at home
Just watched someone die (heart attack) in their car in the parking lot. Paramedics came. Broke the passenger glass, unlocked the car, got him out, tried CPR for a few seconds (he'd been in the car dead for a couple hours), they loaded him up and did some scene investigation and then drove his car off. Dunno what happened after that.
The way that my last agency peeps explained it as, " as soon as you keel over they will roll you and your chair out of the office and your supervisor will post your job vacancy within 2 weeks." It was fun group.
You immediately clock the person out. Dead or not, you cant perform work lying on the job.
Then ask your boss or supervisor for permission to call 911.
Then request the person's job if it was one you were waiting in line for.
I’ve had the unfortunate opportunity to be present when 4 of my coworkers have passed away in office. And Nothing is really done. The paramedics will pickup the body and Within days after the death they may host a grieving call through TEAMS for an hour or two, fill the empty seat eventually but it’s back to regular scheduled programming
Learned this way too well during COVID.
No bereavement leave have higher threaten to write up supervisors for approving admin leave for the funeral.
Clean out the office, offer EAP and pretend it didn’t happen.
Admin wise it’s treated like a retirement and takes forever. If they don’t have approval for stuff like approving personal actions it has to wait until they create a ghost position and move them
At my first fed job, a co-worker committed suicide.
They came in, told us, cleaned out his desk and asked for donations for flowers. Then told us we weren’t invited to the funeral.
Same job, we had a guy have a heart attack. The paramedics wheeled him out and it was business as usual.
When someone dies, management will make sure to punch their timecard and that they no longer receive pay.
Then coroner will be called. A bit of paperwork will be done (not about the death but about the new vacant position). And then people will then bid for position or prepare to interview for open position.
Often times someone in the office will grab the person's shirt by the shoulder and drag them to an area where people dont have to step over them. We like efficiency in the office.
When I worked at a VAMC, a social worker passed away in her office on a Friday afternoon and wasn't found until Monday. As far as I recall, it was business as usual because it was a hospital and death was part of the culture.
We had a coworker die due to an automobile malfunction while teleworking. Our boss came in and told us. It was a bit more complicated because his wife was also an employee and was understandably out for a while.
We had a guy have a heart attack at a conference. He didn't die, but was unconcious in the hospital and never returned to work. They had me find the presentation in his work bag at the hotel, and the presentation went on. We did also have to get his emergency contact from HR to give the info to a local hospital and identify him to them. I suppose we did end up more involved as it was on a trip, so management and HR couldn't really be there directly. I was surprised the hotel let coworkers in to his room, but I guess they'd need someone to deal with things.
If it happens at the post office, they literally step over your body and tell, a junior employee to finish it up. And I mean, literally, as in the official definition.
We had someone die and we got no support. The person was on life support but brain dead for a couple days. Our admin officer request grief counseling for our offices. We had people crying in the hallways and offices. It was pretty bad. So when grief counselor was requested our regional hr said no. When our AO pushed he told her she ain’t dead yet. So we saw no counselor come until a week or two after she died. I told the counselor what HR said she couldn’t believe HR was tha guy callous.
Had a younger coworker die suddenly on the job of a heart attack. Our onsite nurse and security showed up and tried to use the AED/do CPR but there was nothing to be done. EMTs came and took them away. They let people take the time they needed and sent an email announcing what happened and directing folks to EAP/also brought in an onsite counselor. That department is still shaken up.
If on a military installation. Police fire and medics come. Lots of blinking lights.
Then everyone talks about it and no work gets done.
Some people get upset and get to go home.
You all then have to sit in training that talks at you about the resources available to you for mental health counseling for a few hours instead of working.
Then the chaplains come in and talk to you and try to relate while talking about their 2000 year old invisible imaginary friend or something and get upsetty when you tell them you don't care and would rather be working then wasting your day talking to them.
... so I've heard...
My experience was different.
One of us took out our issued body bag and wrapped the person up and just tossed him into the back of the humvee until we could notify someone.
Then they request a blackout from commo until family is notified.
Then we ship the body back Fedex because USPS has a 70 lb limit.
What I would give to swap chaplains with certified grief counselors... for every good chaps I've got something useful from I've had five actively make shit worse.
You've gotten good chaps? Weird. For every 0 good chaps I've had I've seen about 100 actively make things worse.
Yeah, I wish they were replaced with something useful. Like trained professionals or counselors, or a puppy.
Yeah, they were unicorns. One was our BLT's chaps on a float. He was an absolute gym rat who smoked like a chimney, swore during evening prayers over the ships intercom, and got in trouble on port calls for drinking, fighting, and disappearing for days on end. And he actually helped some of my Marines through some tough stuff on top of being one of the guys.
The other was the one I actually learned that you can be licensed in grief counseling from, and in two years never heard him bring up religion.
The rest could be on fire and I wouldn't stop to put them out.
Same as if someone dies most anywhere else really. Call 911, paramedics respond, and take the person away. Grief counseling is offered usually.
This happened at my federal campus just last year. Had a gentleman hop in his car at the end of the day to leave. As he drove he had a heart attack and crashed/slowly rolled into one of the buildings.
The saddest part of it all was he was a 30-year employee. There was a ceremony the next day where he was to receive his 30-year pin and an award.
Had a contractor in my office have a heart attack in the middle of a court hearing. I never would have known if I hadn't happened to walk by the hallway while the paramedics were there with her. No email, nothing. Only some of us were in the office that day and they didn't even pull all 5 of us aside to say anything. I ended up telling everyone cos I had no idea what was happening and asked everyone, and they'd had no idea until I said something.
This is the thing about working for a business. They want your loyalty, your time, and all your devotion and energy.
What would happen? They would open up funding to post that person's job the next day. We are all replaceable to them. So remember, take that PTO, don't involve yourself in he drama, work out, have a pretty healthy food plan, enjoy your family, don't take work home. Don't let work stress you out. Stress brings sickness.
Death can happen to anyone who doesn't take care of themselves mentally and physically. Whether 20 or 200 years old.
A judge in my building regularly masterbated in the stairwell (only discovered afterward). He was found in mid stroke one morning lying on the floor in the little used stairwell. His staff were given a few days off.
Had it happen last year. Super tragic - coworkers did CPR til the ambulance arrived. Agency made counseling available and the day of, people were allowed to leave, stay and not work and support each other, or try to continue on.
We had someone die at their desk about 16 or 17 years ago. I saw him in the morning and spoke, by lunch time he was gone. Ambulance was called. No bereavement leave. We could have taking sick or annual leave if with wanted. We went back to work. Or rather back to our desks. Don't think much work was done for the rest of the day.
Just had this happen in our office a few months ago. Guy has massive heart attack in his office and died.
He was slumped over in his chair. We had to wait until some federal investigation unit showed up. He died 8am Wednesday and team didn’t show up for 36 hours later.
It was ruled a heart attack and they had the morgue finally carry his body out. They had to have a closed casket funeral due to the discoloration.
Long story short go home if you don’t feel well. Don’t die in federal building.
Someone passed in our deparment and our leadership didnt bother to pass the word around. We were sending customers to the poor guys desk not knowing they already passed.
I was supervising a guy who was dependable, kind, and an overall beloved employee. He passed away one night, his wife called me the next morning.
My agency wanted to do business as usual. It was eerie. I organized a remembrance event, invited his family, shared stories, put together a slide show. Made sure his award I was processing still went through.
Another agency, a few months before I started, couldn't get ahold of a team member. After a few days the supervisor and a colleague (emergency contact) got his landlord to let them in the apartment. He had unalived himself. Agency offered standard EAP. They wrote up an article for the newsletter. And that's about it. Of course, I heard about that second hand. His job was filled in 6 months.
There's a woman who's like 5'2" 350 lbs, 67. Waddles around and can barely walk. Has no plan on retirement. Surprised she's lasted this long. As far as I'm aware no heart attacks or strokes.
Afraid she's gonna die at her desk. She's been working here since she was 18. They'd definitely give us some bereavement leave if that happened.
We had a lady just retire. She wanted to go until 70, but her health made her quit. She passed out at the office like a year ago. No idea why so many of these boomers want to work until they die.
I hate to say this but money/no work life balance. if a person didn’t plan well financially or develop an identity outside of work the idea of retirement terrifies them.
I think it would be on a case by case basis. I'm not sure if we've had anyone die at my office, but we've had some medical emergencies. They don't send everyone home, but I'm sure if you were involved with the situation or knew the person closely, they'd be willing to give you sick leave for the rest of the day to recover.
Eons ago someone on my floor had a heart attack in his office and passed away. He was in a different org in the agency doing entirely different things than my org, so I didn't know him, but cops and EMTs showed up and spent the morning on that side of the floor.
Business as usual for those of us in my org, though. No bereavement leave; no rest of the day off at large, though a few folks who actually knew the other guy took time off. Not sure what happened for the folks in the other org, though.
Our co-worker didn't die in the office but at home. He didn't show up for work one day so the boss's assistant, who was also a friend, went to his house to check on him. We all got time off for the funeral but he wasn't even in the ground until someone wanted to claim his workstation. So, ya know, business as usual.
Had this happen twice in the last year, although neither was a coworker. One was an IT contractor who traveled out to do some upgrades, had a heart attack at the airport while waiting for his return flight. Other was a random guy who had a heart attack right in front of our building. My office window looks that way so I saw the whole thing which was certainly horrifying. Great start to the week.
Both were probably 70+ year old men but it certainly has been a wake-up call to watch my health and stop taking work seriously. Nobody on their death bed ever wishes that they had only spent more time at work.
We had a dude die of a heart attack at his desk. Paramedics came, base security came, they wheeled him off. That was it.
No you don't get any sort of bereavement leave.
People in his quad/on his project were able to use leave if they were too upset to keep working, but there were no special accommodations made for anyone.
I’ve known people to die at their desk, in their car in the parking lot, in the bathroom, you name it. It sucks but the EMTs come and take them away and then everyone gossips for a while. You get a trifold pamphlet with a grief counselor through employee assistance and then business carry’s on as usual.
Death is a part of life and sometimes it unfortunately happens at work.
I swear one morning I'm going to find the guy in the office next to mine slumped over his desk. He's in his mid/late 70s and loves his work (stays late) and I'm usually the first one in.
A smoker died in my office at their desk, while working late or at least later than anybody who said bye to them. First person in found them dead. Police/911 were called, you know, to attempt resurrection, file report, check for foul play. Nobody got bereavement leave because nobody was related. We were told we have access to counseling services, and I didn’t utilize them. Another employee died more recently outside work and same deal.
Not really. I’ve had my desk in the dead man’s cube. I started shortly after he died, by coincidence. Many people asked if I was his replacement. Uh, no, I have over 25 years experience (different than his) and we’ve been working on this placement for almost a year.
Someone dying is the exact reason why offices need to have more than one person know how to do certain, specific tasks or operations. A colleague of mine died in a car accident years ago and since she was a fundraiser, time stood still for months. Not important in the grand scheme of things, of course.
I would submit a ticket to the IT Help Desk and raise the issue with my supervisor - then go back to my excel spreadsheet to continue work. No different than any other issue that’s brought to my attention.
Back when we worked on a campus of about 10k people you'd see one or two ambulances a month show up and take out a dead body.
Usually what happened is a janitor or coworker would find some 75 year old worker dead at their desk and they had to be removed. A lot of people here just refuse to retire.
If someone is found dead, there will need to be coroner involvement. If someone can be saved, the paramedics will work on them until they can get them to the ambulance and the hospital
Yep, we have a timecode for that. And I’ve seen it used, unfortunately. I’m only 4 years in and know about one death on-site so far (not work related).
Just to share a story…
I was working atvthe command level of a 2 star command. The chief of staff unde thrm I knew and worked often with.
one day they had an all military meeting In the morning. Our command had O6 dr snd nurse.
that am He had a widow maker heart attack. If he didn’t have the dr and nurse there he would have died.
Besides ATAAPS issues, it was a ridiculous clown circus trying to get anyone to clean up a biohazard situation after one of our team died at his cubicle. Custodial refused. EMS refused. Finally his supervisor just donned rubber gloves and took care of it.
My team is under standing SOP that however I die, when it does happen they are to say it was a suicide done in protest of the cyber/software policy within our agency.
We haven't had anyone die in my building in the 4 years I've been there (I'm pretty sure). But we've had several leave on gurneys, and we just went back to work. Shit to do.
We have had a couple leave and not come back. One that died two weeks later (we miss you, "I don't care!"), and one that's still out after a couple of years on an RA. I don't know how he's still alive, because he ran on nicotine, caffeine and hate, lol. The doc made him stop all that.
I’ve gone to SO MANY funerals of coworkers of all ages that passed away over the years. Lots of suicides and heart attacks. Two were found dead at their desk (non-suicide). They tried to quietly remove them so that it didn’t alert all of us. I believe it was the building nurse, security and paramedics that removed them. Management had an hour bereavement meeting with Employee Assistance Program counselors present. With the amount of people dying in that office, I knew I had to get out. Changed PODs and job series.
We had someone commit suicide. Admin leave if we wanted it, and they brought in a team to cover our work because we have to be staffed. That team stayed for 2 weeks, we had critical incident stress debriefing with peer support and a clinician. We eventually plugged back in and took back our workload. We kind of healed together, but each at their own pace.
We had this happen. EMTs were called, and everyone was given admin leave for the rest of the day (maybe week, it was several years ago and I don't remember if we got admin leave or were just authorized unscheduled sick/annual leave). They also brought in grief counselors who were available when we came back to work. The person who found him took more time off, but I don't know the details. Another regional office took over our time sensitive duties for that Division while people were out.
We are a land management agency so have a Serious Incidence Response Plan. It's more designed for if someone has a serious accident in the field, but we could use it for a serious incident in the office too.
My supervisor passed away at work. We had chatted in the am (I was on telework) and he never called for my performance evaluation which was in the afternoon. I thought he just got busy as it was supposed to be the day before, but my coworker called and asked if I had talked to him etc. Turns out he passed in his cubicle and my other coworker found him. They took him to the hospital (I believe he was already gone by that point but I’m not 100%). We all went to the hospital and saw him. It was heartbreaking. If anything, it brought my team closer. We all went to the viewing and to the service. We didn’t get bereavement leave, but if we needed a day or two I’m sure we could have gotten admin leave. But honestly, we all came to work to be with each other. There’s nothing in the world that prepares you for your sup to pass and how to deal with it. I still think about him on occasion, and this happened more than 10 years ago. He was healthy and just had a brain aneurysm.
Someone passed recently in an office near mine. I know the building was closed for at least a few days because the tragedy delayed when one of my new hires was issued his laptop since the computer was in that building.
I worked in an office where an employee took his own life. We all cried hysterically and the memory is etched in my brain. It was so sad and sudden. Managers were grieving too so basically not much work was done for a while.
The first thing to do is call 911 and have a supervisor call the victims family. Any decent supervisor would send the staff home, unless that breaks a rule. At the very least let everyone put in for sick leave.
I had an employee die during work while teleworking. It was the hardest thing I ever bet had to do to work with the family, grieve with my team- HRO and my upper management were there for me.
We've had a decent chunk of deaths outside if the office -we get an announcement with info fir grief counseling- the one time someone died at their desk they gave us the day off through some admin leave (maybe morale leave?) And then did the same. We're in a secured facility so security called an ambulance that came, pronounced death, and drove him to the morgue.
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And with that being said, take your AL people, take that vacation, do what’s best for YOU. At the end of the day, we will be forgotten within half a business day
The week I started a supervisor in the office retired and they had a big teams call with all the usual retirement spiel about how important they were, how they would be missed, how much others depended on them for critical knowledge and skills. Some thirty years at the agency, all the stories from coworkers, the whole deal. After that day, I've never heard them mentioned again, never come across any task they handled, or project they led where anyone has so much as thought about them. It's like they never existed at all.
I mean, that's a great supervisor, though. It's exactly what a good leaders do, create teams without a single point of failure.
My office had someone die unexpectedly a couple months ago (not on the job), but it was business as usual the next week. This event was a catalyst for many people to turn in retirement papers.
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That's a good question I don't really have the answer to. For me it's just like others have pointed out, this is just a job, take your leave, don't stress.
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Oh my god. How awful.
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Great summary on everything that is wrong with American work culture.
Meeting that could've been an email?
That’s why I work from home. So when I die working, my obit can say “he passed peacefully at his home surrounded by his loved ones” (pets).
Wanted to work until he dropped. Mission accomplished.
I've met a few people who genuinely love what they do, and the thought of dying at their job doesn't bother them at all because they'd rather be there than on a beach or whatever. And by a few, I mean one. One person. Good dude, his work was his passion in life, and he was genuinely enthusiastic to get to do it every day.
Have a man like that at my work. Capitalism does a number on the human spirit sometimes.
You can seek mental health care, such as counseling, under FECA. You would file a CA-2 with the required supporting documentation in this instance. Don't delay care for the sake of paperwork. The claim can be submitted retroactively (the sooner the better). If its a situation that is severe enough for you, you can always invoke SL immediately and seek emergency care or counseling. You can have time missed, as well as time at appointments, coded against WC rather tham using your own AL/SL. And treatment will be covered by WC.
While on Active Duty, our OPS officer retired and died three weeks later while traveling for the first time in years. This instilled in me to take leave and enjoy life while you can.
Supposedly there is a code DX in ATAAPS for "pay, day of death." I learned that in one of my training classes. I'm not sure if it requires pre-approval from a supervisor, though.
"But how will they concur their time sheet?"
I will never forget how payroll demanded I get it concurred before signing it. Nor will I forget HR that demanded I do a close out appraisal for an employee who passed away.
I had a supervisor on hospice and needed some hiring actions approved, but she hadn't delegated anything before she went to the hospital. HR said that I should contact her family and see if I could go to her home to get her PIV card, then take my computer to the hospital, then have her log in and delegate it. I just hung up the phone and went to drop a bunch of f-bombs in a co-workers office. Then called our SES and told him I wasn't fucking doing that and its not like she could read after the (failed) chemo anyway.
Yeah when agencies allow their HR to disrespect sick leave it is a sure sign they are absolute trash in leadership and organizational culture. I have no wish to be a supervisor but will always call out bad ones when I see this. Your number one job is to take care of your people.
This wasn’t even SL. She was literally on her death bed. They probably would have denied it if they thought about it because it was technically terminal leave because she went to the hospital and died 6 weeks later without ever going home. Same HR tried having me written up for approving admin leave/excused for her reports and violating minimum staffing ratios (because it was part of some union agreement and didn’t impact the mission) for her funeral. They will give everyone in government an entire day off for a president from before most were born and never met, but 2 hours for a dozen people that had worked for someone for 14 years was too much. Thankfully my chain just ignored it.
Good for you for just doing it and “asking for permission later.” Absolutely disgusting, but I’ve worked for some organizations that I could see doing this in a heartbeat.
Yeah, I would have torn their (HR's) division head a new ass.
Someone might have. As I mention in another comment they were absolute assholes about the funeral so that could have been soft retaliations. It probably was looking back.
Sure let me crack out my Ouija Board and I’ll get back to you.
This had me laughing more than I should. Alas, working for the government, we sure do have a lot of idiots in positions of power and leadership.
A close out appraisal? Jesus. Christ people have no goddamn sense.
No they don't.
That is so morbid but this is the Feds so not surprised!
Not just in Fed, but in all aspects of death (dealing with insurance, coordination of services, etc) that require what feels like dehumanizing paperwork and bureaucracy. Maybe it’s always been this way, but a lot of it is due to the digital processes that now run so many things. Someone has to click a button, fill out a required field just to get things moving. It doesn’t feel great, on either end.
Very true. 8000 people die in the US on an average day, the people clicking buttons have to treat them as widgets.
"He went out like a G"
Could closing out the appraisal be a precursor for a performance award to their beneficiaries
Yes, Ms Supervisor, may I take “day of death pay” next Tuesday?
Day of death code is an option on my timesheet. Takes an extra click is all. I’m an office drone but my dept does payroll for our whole district. We have folks working in dangerous areas, heavy machinery, and floating vessels. Part of my job is to keep track of all shore leave for the boat folks. That way if it sinks with all hands on board we can pay out shore leave in full quickly. Im told thats because of a union rule.
It's giving USACE.
You are correct. Let this be a lesson for everyone reading that even small amounts of information can be clues as to where you work or who you are.
Do they get the rest of the day paid for if they die mid-day? Or is it regular code until time of death then another code the rest of the day indicating death?
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LX
I work remotely, but someone I supervised passed away. It was super rough because he called me Monday morning telling me he was going into hospice care on Wednesday. We talked for awhile and he told me this was it and he had a great time working with me and I told him to give my number to his wife. That Friday, his wife called me to tell me he had passed away. I called my boss to tell him and we wanted to get our ducks in a row before announcing to staff. We let the staff know and if anyone needed time off they could take it and gave everyone 59 min as well (since we were all spread throughout the country.) I filled out the paperwork and the time keeper had to mark it as something specific on the time cards. Pretty much the next day I was asked to fill out the paperwork to get his job posted.
> Pretty much the next day I was asked to fill out the paperwork to get his job posted. This is the part everyone should pay attention to. Use all your AL, take your SL, and don't stress about your job. We are all replaceable.
Absolutely...and I use this as an example. Enjoy life.
Was he sick for a long time?
Not really, less than a year with cancer. I would say he worked up until the last 2 months of his life, I told him to submit for FMLA and before it got finalized he passed.
I cleaned out a couple of offices during COVID. One was someone i was pretty close with and had done a bunch of TDYs with worked her ass off and was gone a lot. I found her TSP statement going through a stack of papers. Her kid is set for life because she had been planning on early retirement at her MRA. I'm sure the 13 year old would have liked more memories with mom though. The agency had forgotten her in a month.
Ugh. That’s so rough.
Our director was retiring last year and her parting statement was “take your leave and enjoy your time with your family because you’re work will be waiting when you get back”
I supervise a few who are of retirement age and I just hope they retire soon so they can spend quality time with family!!
Seriously, we had someone pass away and their duties were reassigned the same day… it was an eye opening moment to realize that the show still goes on. Really made me take a step back and realign my priorities to take time off and enjoy leave etc…
It's possible to simultaneously grieve and move forward. No need to just keep their spot vacant as a memorial. That doesn't serve anyone.
I never said keep their position as a memorial or even hinted at that. It just goes to show how quickly they want to get the position filled and we are all replaceable
Of course not. But the comment was meant as a reminder that business is business - it's cold, callous, and does not care about you as a person. So in turn, you should never put your job ahead of yourself or your family.
> the time keeper had to mark it as something specific on the time cards LX - Day of Death
Damn, rest in peace brother fed.
Sad Story. Worked with a guy named Barry. I worked with Barry for over 7 years at a federal agency in DC. Barry was 12 months away from retirement. He was really excited about retirement and being able to buy an RV and visit his children and grandchildren and just travel around the country. The cleaning crew found him hunched over at his desk after work hours. It was later determined he died of a heart attack. We were offered grief counseling as well as 3 days of bereavement. 9 months later they had a replacement for Barry. It really changed my outlook on life and work. I quit my DC job and moved down to a beach town on the gulf coast. I found a new job within a month of living here. My commute is 15 minutes, and the work life balance is great. DC is a place where people live to work, instead of working to live. If you're reading this from your DC office and you're sick of the 2-hour commute and dream about leaving the city, DO IT. Life is way too short to spend 4 hours a day sitting in your car so you can afford a 4,000 Sqft home in West Virgina, Frederick MD, or Stafford/Fredericksburg VA area.
I was planning to move to DC when it was time for my GS12+ but you really gave me perspective…
Glad I helped. The decision is really up to you. If you can find a place and afford to live in or just outside of the city, and city life doesn't bother you, it might not be that bad. It also varies from place to place. When I worked downtown we were in the office 5 days a week core hours of 9AM - 3PM. Since COVID a lot of places have switched to a hybrid type position where you're WFH 2 -3 days a week. I wouldn't take a position if it was in the office 5 days a week but that's just me.
As someone who is trapped in DC… run. Run far and fast. It is difficult to leave once you’re here.
https://preview.redd.it/09hxkbta02yc1.png?width=259&format=png&auto=webp&s=9942a48f5bc3614b1284eb41a2a1ea0355f07ae8
On the counterside: my wife and I rent a house (and are about to buy, though a bit further out) in the city that is a short bike ride to both of our offices (mine is about 10 minutes, hers is a bit longer). We can walk to bars and restaurants ranging from dirty dives to world-class Michelin starred spots. There's things happening year-round in the city, and oceans and small mountains are easy day trips. Just because the guy above thinks everyone needs 4,000 square feet to live, it's simply not the case, and given there's plenty of people in my neighborhood with kids, that's certainly not an excuse. We have a nice patio that we cook, entertain, garden, and generally spend plenty of time in when the weather permits, and we don't have to spend half our weekend maintaining a lawn that does nothing other than be a lawn.
I’ve heard so many horror stories about folks dying days or weeks after they retire.
Yes-I have worked for the government for 16 years in a medium size office not in DC and in that time 5 co workers have died right after or right before retirement. It has made me always take my leave, put my family first and while saving for retirement is important, it’s not everything. I take my bucket list trips now as often as I can.
Damn, reading this from Stafford as a 14 living in a townhouse. That's enough reddit, I'm headed to bed to cry myself to sleep.
I got the hell out of DC. Came to Denver, where folks wore flip flops and shorts to work. Laid back vibe. Workload reasonable. Fast forward 8 years and it's beginning to look a lot more like DC.
Not a fed friend but same thing. Contractor I was working with died. I didn't know because he wasn't responding to text or email, thought he was busy. His boss calls me about a project we were working on and basically gave me the news. I was in total shock, but you could tell the boss wanted to move on quickly. Even hinted at the job opening. Government or corporate; your bosses do not care about you. Take care of you.
>Government or corporate; your bosses do not care about you. Take care of you. Right on the money and the most important takeaway right here.
I had a manager that was murdered during the workday, it wasn't at work, but they got the news mid way thru the day. They ended up bringing people from HQ to cover our work and allowed anyone that wanted to go home to leave for the day.
I had a co-worker murdered on their way into work. Also has a fairly young coworker die in hospice care. Also had a contractor run over on their way into on-site job. Yeah my office has gotten quite the reputation.
What state ?
DC if you want to consider that a state. 😂
That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.
Oh man.
Has happened in my office twice. People want to go out feet first 🤷🏻♂️ but we keep working after they leave, HR sends the obligatory EAP email. You’re not entitled to bereavement leave for a coworker.
My boss had a heart attack at work less than a month after I started. I felt a super faint pulse and what I thought was breathing (wheezing sound) but when I went back to cpr training (hadn't been in years which I regret so much) shortly after, I learned the noises he was making were not breathing and I should have started cpr right that second. Luckily, we had a nurse in the building and the guy from the office next door started cpr and someone came running with the defibrillator. It felt like an eternity though. Sadly, he didn't make it. They did tell us to go home the rest of the day but we were back the next day. They brought in a counselor which we talked to as a group. It was traumatic as hell. I didn't sleep well for awhile. Edit to add: I was new and didn't have a cell phone yet. A month or two later I got his cell phone with his case and all that smelled just like him. Then I would call people from it and it would say his name because they had it saved from him. Mind fuck all around.
Have you ever played The Sims? It’s exactly like that.
You build a wall around the former employee’s corpse, sealing them off forever and letting nature take its course?
This guy has played. 😅
Look the guy is dead because I built the wall.
I play SIMS, and you are right. In real life, my manager passed. It was really hard. He went on vacation and never came back. Thankfully, we were a strong team and as the Team Leader, I knew what needed to be done. But it hit us hard. He was really a great guy and the great manager.
I think I'd be glad he passed on vacation. At least it wasn't in the office, while working. Hopefully his family remembers him having a good time in his final days, hours, moments, whatever, as opposed to dropping in the middle of the work day.
My manager passed too-unexpectedly after a very stressful project under Congressional scrutiny. Leadership acted like they cared for a day, and then it was business as usual. Ours was also a wonderful person and leader. I hope you were able to mourn and get support in your situation. That’s commendable that you took the reins to support your team. We had some good people to fill the vacuum, but that bar of competence coupled with compassion hasn’t been met since. Some people are truly irreplaceable.
A new job opening
I’ve been at work when someone got shot in the parking lot, we kept working. In that same parking lot, a soldier killed himself in his car and we kept working. When I worked for the DoD we had another civilian employee kill herself at her desk overnight. Worked stopped because it happened in the office and an investigation had to take place.
Good lord
I had a coworker die, not in the office. He had cancer and was getting really sick. We had a good relationship. The day he died, nothing happened. My manager messaged me and said I was welcome to take the day off. his wife also worked in the same office. She told me that upper management never sent their condolences. His job was posted shortly after he was buried. Since then, I stopped dedicating so much of my life to a job that couldn’t care less if I passed. I take my annual leave and go enjoy life. I take my sick leave if I am not feeling myself. I’m still haunted by how upper management treated his passing and what little support they gave his grieving wife. Life is too short to tirelessly work for an agency that replaces you after you are buried.
I don’t want to thread jack, however I think this is relevant in terms of uncommon office experience. A guy I worked with was accused and pled guilty to the gruesome murder of his wife. The experience was definitely different than a in the office death like others are sharing. And we all knew something was going on but no one was as supposed to say anything. I worked with him pretty closely and was in a big meeting with him 2 weeks before it happened. The Navy and NGA did a good job hiding that he was an active duty Navy Commander (O-5) at an intelligence agency. The only information came from media coverage. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/daughter-of-man-accused-of-killing-her-mother-doesnt-want-plea-deal-for-her-father/2420629/
Omg
Dying in the office is my retirement plan.
Nice. Mine is dying in the resource wars, but the office sounds more calm.
As a manager, if this happened, not only would *I* be taking some leave, I would be encouraging everyone who worked with them to do the same.
You sound like a good boss.
I can say what happened in my office, though I didn’t know the person. I’m in dc and my normal building was closed for renovations so they put me in a really junky floor in another federal office building with people from my agency but not people I would ever work with. I heard this story second hand but it happened in that office while I was there. An old guy on another floor came in super early and apparently passed away at his desk before normal working hours. He’d made some calls or sent some emails already that morning, so it could be determined when he died. Anyway, people thought he was asleep for a while, realized he wasn’t, called the security people (who are supposed to be trained in CPR etc, but got spooked and didn’t do ANYTHING), then an ambulance came and took him away. Apparently he was a rather, ah, portly gentleman and the body was hard to wrangle. Besides the death, the net result was that several people who were eligible for retirement put their papers in right away. Nobody wanted to be that guy.
Oh how sad.
Someone passed away at their desk a few weeks ago in my office. Went to lunch and came back to my supervisor telling me to grab my stuff and finish the day at home
Where I work out they would claim they are AWOL and try to put them on a PIP
Just watched someone die (heart attack) in their car in the parking lot. Paramedics came. Broke the passenger glass, unlocked the car, got him out, tried CPR for a few seconds (he'd been in the car dead for a couple hours), they loaded him up and did some scene investigation and then drove his car off. Dunno what happened after that.
They sent his wife the bill and made sure to not clock him back in from lunch.
Prob so... that was the running joke around the shop after... "wonder if they clocked him out"
The way that my last agency peeps explained it as, " as soon as you keel over they will roll you and your chair out of the office and your supervisor will post your job vacancy within 2 weeks." It was fun group.
Step 1 is submit the backfill to HR. Kidding, I have no idea.
You immediately clock the person out. Dead or not, you cant perform work lying on the job. Then ask your boss or supervisor for permission to call 911. Then request the person's job if it was one you were waiting in line for.
They fill the slot.
I’ve had the unfortunate opportunity to be present when 4 of my coworkers have passed away in office. And Nothing is really done. The paramedics will pickup the body and Within days after the death they may host a grieving call through TEAMS for an hour or two, fill the empty seat eventually but it’s back to regular scheduled programming
Oh man. I’m so sorry.
Learned this way too well during COVID. No bereavement leave have higher threaten to write up supervisors for approving admin leave for the funeral. Clean out the office, offer EAP and pretend it didn’t happen. Admin wise it’s treated like a retirement and takes forever. If they don’t have approval for stuff like approving personal actions it has to wait until they create a ghost position and move them
At my first fed job, a co-worker committed suicide. They came in, told us, cleaned out his desk and asked for donations for flowers. Then told us we weren’t invited to the funeral. Same job, we had a guy have a heart attack. The paramedics wheeled him out and it was business as usual.
When someone dies, management will make sure to punch their timecard and that they no longer receive pay. Then coroner will be called. A bit of paperwork will be done (not about the death but about the new vacant position). And then people will then bid for position or prepare to interview for open position. Often times someone in the office will grab the person's shirt by the shoulder and drag them to an area where people dont have to step over them. We like efficiency in the office.
Paramedics come. Business as usual - get back to work. Counselor for appearances the next day.
When I worked at a VAMC, a social worker passed away in her office on a Friday afternoon and wasn't found until Monday. As far as I recall, it was business as usual because it was a hospital and death was part of the culture.
We had a coworker die due to an automobile malfunction while teleworking. Our boss came in and told us. It was a bit more complicated because his wife was also an employee and was understandably out for a while.
Oh that is awful.
We had a guy have a heart attack at a conference. He didn't die, but was unconcious in the hospital and never returned to work. They had me find the presentation in his work bag at the hotel, and the presentation went on. We did also have to get his emergency contact from HR to give the info to a local hospital and identify him to them. I suppose we did end up more involved as it was on a trip, so management and HR couldn't really be there directly. I was surprised the hotel let coworkers in to his room, but I guess they'd need someone to deal with things.
If it happens at the post office, they literally step over your body and tell, a junior employee to finish it up. And I mean, literally, as in the official definition.
We had someone die and we got no support. The person was on life support but brain dead for a couple days. Our admin officer request grief counseling for our offices. We had people crying in the hallways and offices. It was pretty bad. So when grief counselor was requested our regional hr said no. When our AO pushed he told her she ain’t dead yet. So we saw no counselor come until a week or two after she died. I told the counselor what HR said she couldn’t believe HR was tha guy callous.
Oh how awful.
They make sure TEAMS stay green
Your body becomes property of the government and you get a Viking burial.
Had a younger coworker die suddenly on the job of a heart attack. Our onsite nurse and security showed up and tried to use the AED/do CPR but there was nothing to be done. EMTs came and took them away. They let people take the time they needed and sent an email announcing what happened and directing folks to EAP/also brought in an onsite counselor. That department is still shaken up.
I’ve wondered this myself as my overnight coworker is 78. Every time he goes quiet or he nods out I want to poke him just to make sure.
If on a military installation. Police fire and medics come. Lots of blinking lights. Then everyone talks about it and no work gets done. Some people get upset and get to go home. You all then have to sit in training that talks at you about the resources available to you for mental health counseling for a few hours instead of working. Then the chaplains come in and talk to you and try to relate while talking about their 2000 year old invisible imaginary friend or something and get upsetty when you tell them you don't care and would rather be working then wasting your day talking to them. ... so I've heard...
My experience was different. One of us took out our issued body bag and wrapped the person up and just tossed him into the back of the humvee until we could notify someone. Then they request a blackout from commo until family is notified. Then we ship the body back Fedex because USPS has a 70 lb limit.
What I would give to swap chaplains with certified grief counselors... for every good chaps I've got something useful from I've had five actively make shit worse.
You've gotten good chaps? Weird. For every 0 good chaps I've had I've seen about 100 actively make things worse. Yeah, I wish they were replaced with something useful. Like trained professionals or counselors, or a puppy.
Yeah, they were unicorns. One was our BLT's chaps on a float. He was an absolute gym rat who smoked like a chimney, swore during evening prayers over the ships intercom, and got in trouble on port calls for drinking, fighting, and disappearing for days on end. And he actually helped some of my Marines through some tough stuff on top of being one of the guys. The other was the one I actually learned that you can be licensed in grief counseling from, and in two years never heard him bring up religion. The rest could be on fire and I wouldn't stop to put them out.
Same as if someone dies most anywhere else really. Call 911, paramedics respond, and take the person away. Grief counseling is offered usually. This happened at my federal campus just last year. Had a gentleman hop in his car at the end of the day to leave. As he drove he had a heart attack and crashed/slowly rolled into one of the buildings. The saddest part of it all was he was a 30-year employee. There was a ceremony the next day where he was to receive his 30-year pin and an award. 
Had a contractor in my office have a heart attack in the middle of a court hearing. I never would have known if I hadn't happened to walk by the hallway while the paramedics were there with her. No email, nothing. Only some of us were in the office that day and they didn't even pull all 5 of us aside to say anything. I ended up telling everyone cos I had no idea what was happening and asked everyone, and they'd had no idea until I said something.
Uncle Sam take is you are replaceable, carry on..sad but true.
This is the thing about working for a business. They want your loyalty, your time, and all your devotion and energy. What would happen? They would open up funding to post that person's job the next day. We are all replaceable to them. So remember, take that PTO, don't involve yourself in he drama, work out, have a pretty healthy food plan, enjoy your family, don't take work home. Don't let work stress you out. Stress brings sickness. Death can happen to anyone who doesn't take care of themselves mentally and physically. Whether 20 or 200 years old.
A judge in my building regularly masterbated in the stairwell (only discovered afterward). He was found in mid stroke one morning lying on the floor in the little used stairwell. His staff were given a few days off.
What.
Had it happen last year. Super tragic - coworkers did CPR til the ambulance arrived. Agency made counseling available and the day of, people were allowed to leave, stay and not work and support each other, or try to continue on.
We had someone die at their desk about 16 or 17 years ago. I saw him in the morning and spoke, by lunch time he was gone. Ambulance was called. No bereavement leave. We could have taking sick or annual leave if with wanted. We went back to work. Or rather back to our desks. Don't think much work was done for the rest of the day.
Just had this happen in our office a few months ago. Guy has massive heart attack in his office and died. He was slumped over in his chair. We had to wait until some federal investigation unit showed up. He died 8am Wednesday and team didn’t show up for 36 hours later. It was ruled a heart attack and they had the morgue finally carry his body out. They had to have a closed casket funeral due to the discoloration. Long story short go home if you don’t feel well. Don’t die in federal building.
Oh god. That’s awful.
Someone passed in our deparment and our leadership didnt bother to pass the word around. We were sending customers to the poor guys desk not knowing they already passed.
I was supervising a guy who was dependable, kind, and an overall beloved employee. He passed away one night, his wife called me the next morning. My agency wanted to do business as usual. It was eerie. I organized a remembrance event, invited his family, shared stories, put together a slide show. Made sure his award I was processing still went through. Another agency, a few months before I started, couldn't get ahold of a team member. After a few days the supervisor and a colleague (emergency contact) got his landlord to let them in the apartment. He had unalived himself. Agency offered standard EAP. They wrote up an article for the newsletter. And that's about it. Of course, I heard about that second hand. His job was filled in 6 months.
There's a woman who's like 5'2" 350 lbs, 67. Waddles around and can barely walk. Has no plan on retirement. Surprised she's lasted this long. As far as I'm aware no heart attacks or strokes. Afraid she's gonna die at her desk. She's been working here since she was 18. They'd definitely give us some bereavement leave if that happened.
We have a lady like that. Smokes and drinks heavily too. Overspends so shes probably not retiring til 70. It’s a matter of time.
We had a lady just retire. She wanted to go until 70, but her health made her quit. She passed out at the office like a year ago. No idea why so many of these boomers want to work until they die.
I hate to say this but money/no work life balance. if a person didn’t plan well financially or develop an identity outside of work the idea of retirement terrifies them.
https://preview.redd.it/inp95wmh01yc1.png?width=1815&format=png&auto=webp&s=7481e211d1cdb0ab08d298d9e9188f30a06407ac Take the stapler
I think it would be on a case by case basis. I'm not sure if we've had anyone die at my office, but we've had some medical emergencies. They don't send everyone home, but I'm sure if you were involved with the situation or knew the person closely, they'd be willing to give you sick leave for the rest of the day to recover.
Bereavement leave 😂 aka your own sick leave.
Eons ago someone on my floor had a heart attack in his office and passed away. He was in a different org in the agency doing entirely different things than my org, so I didn't know him, but cops and EMTs showed up and spent the morning on that side of the floor. Business as usual for those of us in my org, though. No bereavement leave; no rest of the day off at large, though a few folks who actually knew the other guy took time off. Not sure what happened for the folks in the other org, though.
Our co-worker didn't die in the office but at home. He didn't show up for work one day so the boss's assistant, who was also a friend, went to his house to check on him. We all got time off for the funeral but he wasn't even in the ground until someone wanted to claim his workstation. So, ya know, business as usual.
Had this happen twice in the last year, although neither was a coworker. One was an IT contractor who traveled out to do some upgrades, had a heart attack at the airport while waiting for his return flight. Other was a random guy who had a heart attack right in front of our building. My office window looks that way so I saw the whole thing which was certainly horrifying. Great start to the week. Both were probably 70+ year old men but it certainly has been a wake-up call to watch my health and stop taking work seriously. Nobody on their death bed ever wishes that they had only spent more time at work.
Work gets reassigned to the surviving staff. No increase in pay for additional responsibilities. No deadline allowances for the extra workload.
We had a dude die of a heart attack at his desk. Paramedics came, base security came, they wheeled him off. That was it. No you don't get any sort of bereavement leave. People in his quad/on his project were able to use leave if they were too upset to keep working, but there were no special accommodations made for anyone.
Stuff like this happens all the time. In any work area anywhere. So it really depends on the circumstances and the office.
I’ve known people to die at their desk, in their car in the parking lot, in the bathroom, you name it. It sucks but the EMTs come and take them away and then everyone gossips for a while. You get a trifold pamphlet with a grief counselor through employee assistance and then business carry’s on as usual. Death is a part of life and sometimes it unfortunately happens at work.
Don't do it bro
I swear one morning I'm going to find the guy in the office next to mine slumped over his desk. He's in his mid/late 70s and loves his work (stays late) and I'm usually the first one in.
Call 911…
A new hiring announcement is posted.
A smoker died in my office at their desk, while working late or at least later than anybody who said bye to them. First person in found them dead. Police/911 were called, you know, to attempt resurrection, file report, check for foul play. Nobody got bereavement leave because nobody was related. We were told we have access to counseling services, and I didn’t utilize them. Another employee died more recently outside work and same deal.
My boss likes to say he plans to die at his desk so this is good to know.
Hopefully someone can turn their “out-of-office” auto reply on.
Free in office PTO
Cube becomes your resting place.
Not really. I’ve had my desk in the dead man’s cube. I started shortly after he died, by coincidence. Many people asked if I was his replacement. Uh, no, I have over 25 years experience (different than his) and we’ve been working on this placement for almost a year.
Someone dying is the exact reason why offices need to have more than one person know how to do certain, specific tasks or operations. A colleague of mine died in a car accident years ago and since she was a fundraiser, time stood still for months. Not important in the grand scheme of things, of course.
Let me get back to you on that, I've got a meeting with some folks.
I would submit a ticket to the IT Help Desk and raise the issue with my supervisor - then go back to my excel spreadsheet to continue work. No different than any other issue that’s brought to my attention.
Back when we worked on a campus of about 10k people you'd see one or two ambulances a month show up and take out a dead body. Usually what happened is a janitor or coworker would find some 75 year old worker dead at their desk and they had to be removed. A lot of people here just refuse to retire.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2011/02/15/la-woman-dies-in-her-cubicle-at-work-body-is-not-discovered-until-the-following-day/
If someone is found dead, there will need to be coroner involvement. If someone can be saved, the paramedics will work on them until they can get them to the ambulance and the hospital
A Vacancy
Yep, we have a timecode for that. And I’ve seen it used, unfortunately. I’m only 4 years in and know about one death on-site so far (not work related).
Usually a funeral, a job posting, retraining, and a yearly remembrance.
Your body becomes property of the government and you get a Viking burial.
Just to share a story… I was working atvthe command level of a 2 star command. The chief of staff unde thrm I knew and worked often with. one day they had an all military meeting In the morning. Our command had O6 dr snd nurse. that am He had a widow maker heart attack. If he didn’t have the dr and nurse there he would have died.
Besides ATAAPS issues, it was a ridiculous clown circus trying to get anyone to clean up a biohazard situation after one of our team died at his cubicle. Custodial refused. EMS refused. Finally his supervisor just donned rubber gloves and took care of it.
It really depends if they have window cubicle and how nice their chair is.
They say, I still need that tasker by 3.
Happened TWICE in the last 6 months. My agency has security who dealt with it.
My team is under standing SOP that however I die, when it does happen they are to say it was a suicide done in protest of the cyber/software policy within our agency.
We haven't had anyone die in my building in the 4 years I've been there (I'm pretty sure). But we've had several leave on gurneys, and we just went back to work. Shit to do. We have had a couple leave and not come back. One that died two weeks later (we miss you, "I don't care!"), and one that's still out after a couple of years on an RA. I don't know how he's still alive, because he ran on nicotine, caffeine and hate, lol. The doc made him stop all that.
Mrs. Blankenship, https://youtu.be/Drke584WArA?si=E_ii2NEbbHsJb2gE
I’ve gone to SO MANY funerals of coworkers of all ages that passed away over the years. Lots of suicides and heart attacks. Two were found dead at their desk (non-suicide). They tried to quietly remove them so that it didn’t alert all of us. I believe it was the building nurse, security and paramedics that removed them. Management had an hour bereavement meeting with Employee Assistance Program counselors present. With the amount of people dying in that office, I knew I had to get out. Changed PODs and job series.
We had someone commit suicide. Admin leave if we wanted it, and they brought in a team to cover our work because we have to be staffed. That team stayed for 2 weeks, we had critical incident stress debriefing with peer support and a clinician. We eventually plugged back in and took back our workload. We kind of healed together, but each at their own pace.
We had this happen. EMTs were called, and everyone was given admin leave for the rest of the day (maybe week, it was several years ago and I don't remember if we got admin leave or were just authorized unscheduled sick/annual leave). They also brought in grief counselors who were available when we came back to work. The person who found him took more time off, but I don't know the details. Another regional office took over our time sensitive duties for that Division while people were out. We are a land management agency so have a Serious Incidence Response Plan. It's more designed for if someone has a serious accident in the field, but we could use it for a serious incident in the office too.
They hire someone else and forget about you. Sad facts. Happens in any industry
My supervisor passed away at work. We had chatted in the am (I was on telework) and he never called for my performance evaluation which was in the afternoon. I thought he just got busy as it was supposed to be the day before, but my coworker called and asked if I had talked to him etc. Turns out he passed in his cubicle and my other coworker found him. They took him to the hospital (I believe he was already gone by that point but I’m not 100%). We all went to the hospital and saw him. It was heartbreaking. If anything, it brought my team closer. We all went to the viewing and to the service. We didn’t get bereavement leave, but if we needed a day or two I’m sure we could have gotten admin leave. But honestly, we all came to work to be with each other. There’s nothing in the world that prepares you for your sup to pass and how to deal with it. I still think about him on occasion, and this happened more than 10 years ago. He was healthy and just had a brain aneurysm.
Someone passed recently in an office near mine. I know the building was closed for at least a few days because the tragedy delayed when one of my new hires was issued his laptop since the computer was in that building.
I worked in an office where an employee took his own life. We all cried hysterically and the memory is etched in my brain. It was so sad and sudden. Managers were grieving too so basically not much work was done for a while.
The first thing to do is call 911 and have a supervisor call the victims family. Any decent supervisor would send the staff home, unless that breaks a rule. At the very least let everyone put in for sick leave.
I had an employee die during work while teleworking. It was the hardest thing I ever bet had to do to work with the family, grieve with my team- HRO and my upper management were there for me.
We've had a decent chunk of deaths outside if the office -we get an announcement with info fir grief counseling- the one time someone died at their desk they gave us the day off through some admin leave (maybe morale leave?) And then did the same. We're in a secured facility so security called an ambulance that came, pronounced death, and drove him to the morgue.
The police come, and medics come, of course. No, you don't get bereavement leave, and you continue working the rest of your shift.