If you’re burned out, stuck in a toxic job, and too financially stretched to just quit, TikTok has a suggestion: Take medical leave. Instead of quiet quitting or burning through PTO, a growing corner of the internet is advising workers to take up to 12 weeks off—fully protected and, depending on your benefits, even paid.
“If you have a full-time job with benefits and you are really struggling with your mental health, take FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act),” one TikToker, @lexi.inks, told her followers in a viral video.
The former kindergarten teacher took FMLA during a period of severe mental health crisis, enrolling in a 10-week intensive therapy program that she says “literally saved my life.”
Under FMLA, eligible full-time employees in the U.S. can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for a serious health condition—and crucially, that includes burnout and mental health. In the U.K., workers can use Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for up to 28 weeks.
