People Are Asking For Time Off To Mourn Zayn Leaving One Direction

I understand people are saddened by Zayn Malik's departure from One Direction, but this is just goddamn ridiculous.

Apparently, people are calling their bosses and asking for compassionate leave from work due to the fact Zayn left the band.

An employment law and HR service in the UK called Peninsula Business Services received over 200 phone calls from employers whose employees asked for time off because of the One Direction situation.

Alan Price, who works for Peninsula, tweeted this earlier today:

@AWBellMENMedia Hard to believe but we have received calls from bosses whose staff requested compassionate leave over Zayn Malik leaving 1D — Alan Price (@alan__price) March 26, 2015

Price told BuzzFeed,

We have taken 212 [calls] from employers seeking advice on employees requesting compassionate leave for Zayn's departure. When you put this into perspective it equates to approximately 5 [percent] of the calls received. Whilst we sympathise with employees saddened by the news of Zayn's departure -- and it can even be compared to Robbie Williams leaving Take That, or the split up of the band in 1996 -- I personally do not believe this qualifies as compassionate leave. We also need to remember that a number of employees may take advantage of the situation in order to gain a few extra days off work.

I think any rational person would have to agree with Price here. Compassionate leave is meant to be reserved for family emergencies or deaths, not for the fracturing of British boy bands.

But, I suppose Directioners aren't the most rational bunch.

Citations: An Employment Law Service Claims Hundreds Of People Have Asked For Time Off Work Because Zayn Left One Direction (BuzzFeed)