Bereavement not for All Employees - Applications Systems Administrator MANTECH Employee Review

When I requested bereavement when a close family member died during the pandemic, my request was denied because it was not an "immediate" family member who passed. I was told that it would have been approved 'if it had been a family member like my father.' Since my father did not participate in my upbringing, it was a particularly hurtful explanation to be given during an already distressing time that was compounded by COVID. While I understand the policy is in place to prevent people from taking advantage of the benefit, the way ManTech implements theirs is cold and noninclusive of people with 'non-traditional' families. I'm not sure what ManTech thinks they're achieving by forcing a distraught employee to use their hard-earned PTO for an event that is definitely not a vacation or forcing them to sit at their desk when they haven't had time to compose themself, but it's not productivity.