Employment law experts receive hundreds of calls requesting compassionate leave for One Direction split

“It was a situation you just couldn’t make up,” said Alan Price, employment law director.

An unusual day at the office – employment law experts received over 220 calls regarding employees seeking compassionate leave following the news that singer Zayn Malik was leaving the UK boy-band One Direction. The Manchester-based Employer Advice Service was flooded with inquiries about distraught workers who felt unable to perform their work duties in such a state.

Price explains, “[i]f employees feel strongly about the issue then request that they take days off as a holiday, but compassionate leave is what you allow if a close relative dies, unless the employer is unaware of family ties with Zayn Malik then I hardly think that this qualifies.”