Putting who pays for the leave aside, employees will always be punished to some degree when they take a leave of absence. Employers are disadvantaged (again, to

Putting who pays for the leave aside, employees will always be punished to some degree when they take a leave of absence. Employers are disadvantaged (again, to some degree) by the missing employee. For example, they have to invest in training a temporary replacement only to let the go when the leave ends. That disadvantage will, intentionally or not, affect the employee.