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Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

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Re: Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

#101
This is incredibly sad. From the complaint (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46405847):

""" When she arrived at the hospital and learned that Annie had died, Ms. Connolly collapsed and screamed non-stop for hours. Hospital staff placed Ms. Connolly in a separate room for observation, and the doctor who declared Annie dead had to speak to other family members about what had occurred because Ms. Connolly could not bear to speak to him or to see Annie’s body. 88. Mr. Surman was alone in the back of a taxi to the airport when he received the call that Annie had died. He could hear his wife’s screams in the background while he was helpless to comfort her. He sobbed through his redeye flight to join Ms. Connolly.

"""

Reading the complaint, I don't see any way in which the company is not responsible for this. The about turn in requiring her to come back in couple of weeks or else be terminated is just cruel. Now, I know what companies can be like, and especially if they're doing layoffs, things can get quite bonkers. But ultimately, the responsibility rests with the company: like it or not, an employer in America is responsible for their healthcare, which means you need to be careful when dealing with what happens when you suddenly end it.

Re: Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

#102
post #8

Sad. And perhaps a controversial take but consider the counterfactual: Should it be illegal to fire employees that recent took mental health leave? Get a bad review or put on a PIP? It's already becoming a common strategy to immediately take mental health/sick leave.

Here's another controversial take: as long as healthcare is tied to employment, companies shouldn't be allowed to fire someone except for actual negligence / malice. If they suck at their job, find them another one at the company -- there has to be something they can do in a company of 5k employees.

On the other hand, it may end up the other way: pressure you or bully you into quitting yourself. Here in Spain it happens sometimes: firing you is expensive and they don't want you around for whatever issue, so they'll try to find any justification to fire you, or just pressure you in some way on another to make you miserable enough to quit. No doubt that would happen in the US.

Re: Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's another controversial take: as long as healthcare is tied to employment, companies shouldn't be allowed to fire someone except for actual negligence / malice. If they suck at their job, find them another one at the company -- there has to be something they can do in a company of 5k employees.

On the other hand, it may end up the other way: pressure you or bully you into quitting yourself. Here in Spain it happens sometimes: firing you is expensive and they don't want you around for whatever issue, so they'll try to find any justification to fire you, or just pressure you in some way on another to make you miserable enough to quit. No doubt that would happen in the US.

In the United States, that's known as constructive dismissal or discharge.

https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/eta/warn/glossary.asp?p=constr...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_dismissal

This can easily backfire on the employer with discrimination, hostile workplace, and a variation on wrongful dismissal lawsuits.

From Wikipedia:

    From a legal standpoint, it occurs when an employee is forced to resign because of intolerable working conditions which violate employment legislation, such as:

    Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)
    Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA)
    Change in schedules in order to force employee to quit (title 12)
    Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
    Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)
    Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
    Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)
It would take significant change to multiple parts of federal legislation and that in many states with additional worker protection laws.

For example, in California ... https://workplacerightslaw.com/library/retaliation/construct...

    To succeed on a claim for constructive discharge, you must be able to prove at least three elements:

    Your employer was trying to force you to resign by intentionally and knowingly creating an employment environment that was intolerable and aggravated;
    This unbearable, hostile workplace gave you no choice but to resign; and,
    Your employer was motivated to get rid of you for illegal, retaliatory or discriminatory reasons.

Re: Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

#104

from NY Post, https://nypost.com/2025/12/27/us-news/nyc-woman-driven-to-su... But on Sept. 13, 2024, she attempted suicide again with the same lethal drug “citing the shame she felt at being fired by MongoDB,” according to the lawsuit. Surman apparently regretted the decision and called 911 herself — but died on the way to the hospital. Mongo later backtracked on an offer to retrieve Annie’s life insurance policy for…

so sad, hope the family get some kind of closure (never will be enough with an lost life)

Re: Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

#105
This is incredibly heartbreaking. I was fired from MongoDB after experiencing mental health problems, and HR as well as my manager were incredibly callous while I tried to navigate the accommodations process. Did not have a chance to take medical leave before I was summarily PIPed. It has taken me years to recover mentally. In the months afterwards, there were many points at which I was close to committing suicide. I hope the family is able to get closure, and I hope MongoDB loses in court.

Re: Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

#107
post #101

This is incredibly sad. From the complaint ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46405847 ): """ When she arrived at the hospital and learned that Annie had died, Ms. Connolly collapsed and screamed non-stop for hours. Hospital staff placed Ms. Connolly in a separate room for observation, and the doctor who declared Annie dead had to speak to other family members about what had occurred because Ms. Connolly could no…

[deleted]

Re: Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

#108

I don't know legally how it works, but my gut says if this is found to be a wrongful termination under state/local/FMLA, then it also stands to reason that this could also be a wrongful death. From 1960, but it covers this line of thinking wrt suicide: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?a... Anyway here's the actual complaint (I read it after I wrote the above), I guess her parents/counsel tho…

Thank you for finding this, really helpful. I checked PACER and didn't realize it was filed in state court instead. The complaint is speaking and it is aggressively written and, to my non-lawyer mind, pretty well drafted. If I were Mongo, I would be trying aggressively to settle this and make it go away. If I were the parents, I would be trying very hard to force any other outcome, preferably one where Mongo pays the…

Unfortunately, it’s not as strong a case as you’d think. One of three cases has to be true: either she was disabled and unable to work, disabled but able to fulfill job duties, or not disabled at all.

In the first case Mongo can likely fire her once FMLA is up (notice that the termination is 12 weeks after she started leave). Disabilities aren’t protected if they leave you unable to perform job duties, which is what Mongo will claim. Notice how the complaint tries to say additional leave is “reasonable accommodation”. Mongo will claim not working at all means you’re not fulfilling job duties and that she used up her FMLA.

In theory if you become unable to do your job due to disability you should get disability insurance, which is mandatory in NY, but it sounds like Prudential rejected the claim, hence the letter from the doctor there.

In the latter two cases, then Mongo will claim that she could come back to work and asking her to was not violating any ADA laws, and that they would have been willing to make e.g. scheduling accommodations for any treatments and so on to accommodate a disability that doesn’t prevent her from fulfilling core job duties.

Re: Employee commits suicide after MongoDB fired her during mental health leave

#109
post #41

From their site: 'Employee mental health and wellbeing is another core focus at MongoDB. It’s important for us to help break the stigma around mental health and provide our employees with the support they need, especially at work. We are dedicated to providing our employees with valuable tools to face all of life’s challenges and offer mental health programs that provide confidential assistance from qualified profess…

"Employee mental health and wellbeing is another core focus at MongoDB"

Loophole. Fire them, they're not employees, we don't have to care about them.

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