TikTok tells LA workers affected by wildfires to use personal/sick hours if they can’t work from home

Currently, forest fires continue devastated the greater Los Angeles areaIt burned more than 45 square miles, burned more than 1,300 structures and prompted the evacuation of about 180,000 people on Thursday. However, TikTok’s LA-based employees are advised to either continue working from home or use personal/sick days if that’s not possible, while the company’s LA office remains closed due to power outages caused by high winds.

The Palisades Fire is now close enough to TikTok’s office that smoke can be seen through the windows. But despite the Culver City-based office itself not under mandatory evacuation orders at this time both he and many workers’ homes are affected by fires, winds and related problems.

TikTok’s employees in the area are from the greater LA area — some even commuting hours — and many of their homes currently lack electricity, Wi-Fi, or both, we understand from employee sources at TikTok. Some may even be under evacuation orders themselves (although we have not directly confirmed this at this time).

Unfortunately for workers dealing with this large-scale natural disaster, TikTok is telling them to use their personal or sick time to count the days they have to take off due to these conditions.

In messages from TikTok management to LA employees, the company informed employees that the LA office will be closed on January 8th and will remain closed until Sunday, January 12th, as the fires continue to burn the area and the office itself is without power. Days when the office is closed are considered Work From Home days in contrast to days off, unless the individual team leader decides otherwise.

In one message, an HR representative shared links to other company resources for those affected by the fires, including signing up for free mental health sessions with the Mental Health Portal. Liraand a link to TikTok’s “PSSL” policy. The latter applies to TikTok’s paid sick and safe leave program—basically, sick time and personal days.

TikTok’s LA employees have 10 paid sick/personal (PSSL) days per year in addition to 15 PTO (paid time off/holiday) days if hired before June. Since TikTok’s strict back-to-office policy requires employees to work from the office at least three days per week, these sick/personal days are also highly desirable. (The days of the week are chosen by the team and cannot be changed to other days if necessary.)

This means that if an employee feels unwell, like a common cold or flu, and doesn’t want to spread their illness to colleagues, they have the option to stay home. However, because they are required to be in the office three days each week, they will still have to use their PSSL hours and take time off on work days – home-sick days (instead of taking work leave). from home without penalty).

This week, TikTok’s LA employees are being asked to use personal/sick days if they can’t work from home due to power or Wi-Fi outages, or are under an evacuation order (unless the entire team is given time off). This is not the case for many affected by the fires). This leaves them with fewer days in the year to use during actual illness or other personal emergencies, such as staying home to care for a sick child. If they don’t have enough PSSL hours, they can either borrow from the next year or use PTO time instead.

Employees who can work from home must still log into the My RTO portal where they manage their sick time and change their work from home status to “natural disaster” to avoid penalties. This will not be deducted from their PSSL hours.

Meanwhile, TikTok’s PSSL policy documents do not specifically state whether the time can be used for natural disasters like these massive wildfires.

Instead, the policy says, employees can use time off to care for a family member with a physical or mental health condition, or when the office is closed for public health reasons “by order of public officials.” emergency, including exposure to an infectious agent, biological toxin, or hazardous material. (Although the smoke in the area may be “hazardous,” not every TikTok LA employee facing poor air quality is under an evacuation order issued by a state official.)

In several internal messages shared with us, workers report that their homes are without electricity or that there is no power in their town. (The news shows that some 4 million people were left without electricity due to yesterday’s forest fires). Some workers are concerned about how bad the air quality is. Others worry about using precious battery power or generator fuel just to run the house because it’s unclear how long these power outages will last.

Considering it’s under pressure because of TikTok The upcoming ban in the USit probably feels a little tone-deaf to be told to continue working through a disaster of this magnitude, which is already affecting the mental health and stress levels of US workers. In fact, some of the internal messages reviewed by TechCrunch have a very “businesslike” air to them, despite the scale of the disaster. A supervisor, for example, reached out to an employee who didn’t have the power for a status update on some of their work, the messages show.

Employees were told to contact the EAP (Employee Assistance Program) or their HR representative if they were not told they needed to be evacuated. While there are many messages from leaders emphasizing that employees should put their safety and well-being first, asking employees to worry about using personal days if they can’t work from home goes against that narrative.

TikTok was asked for comment but did not respond before publication.

Sarah Perez can be reached via email at sarahp@techcrunch.com or @sarahperez.01 on Signal.