Involve your boss.

MesmrEwe

MesmrEwe said:

Team "Bring the boss in on the situation" because this can also impact long-term planning in regard to PTO and PTO Sharing FWIW.  Sure, it sucks that "Andrea" is now a single Mom, but there comes a point that it's not her coworker's job to supplement her income nor vacation time!

With our family business, my FIL when there were unique situations had a way of pulling the super-valuable employees aside and on a personal level tell them "Go take care of business at home, we'll work out the details later, your job here is secure..." and he kept track of the amount, but most of it came out of his own personal pocket.  Sadly, isn't the way of the business world anymore where an employer takes care of their loyal employees like that, nor even can depending on the regulations involved if they even wanted to!

LW deserves to use every second of her PTO even if the only thing she plans to do on her day off is go buy a cupcake and consume it with an adult beverage of choice, and that's NONE of "Andrea's" business!

ETA: It wasn't until my FIL's funeral that those stories came out - he insisted that no one know...  He also let employees sobering up (a number of seasonal individuals were on probation and getting their lives back in order..) be on the clock if an impromptu AA meeting needed to take place...