Work Issue – What Should I Do?
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That’s super nice! I felt like the bad guy when I had to ask for those notes. But I also couldn’t penalize anyone for taking their time off.
That said, my boss tried to guilt me into not taking my earned time off. I had 3 weeks. Use them or lose them. But there was zero distinction between sick and personal time for salary people. You’re just feeling very feverish that will peak in May 😉
@JimmyJam I have 22 days per year. I’ve only asked for half of them. I still have half my days left for the rest of the year.
I have not “pushed the issue”. When they told me I could not take my requested time off in March, I said ok thank you I understand. When can I resubmit my request for?
They told me May. So I resubmitted my request for May as instructed.
Now they’re coming back saying I don’t have that many vacation days allowed. Which is bullshit – because I have it in writing that I am allowed 22 days per year to use as “personal days” and that was one of the conditions upon which I accepted this offer.
They absolutely cannot dismiss because I requested a week off. They absolutely cannot dismiss me for standing up for myself with written proof of what they offered me and the conditions upon which I accepted this job.
And if they do? Oh well, fuck em.
And I would absolutely like to make it clear that as fucking frustrated as I am and as much shit as I have talked in this forum, I have been nothing but 100% professional and agreeable at work.
I’ve made it clear that I want to work WITH them on this, and I did not complain or say it’s unfair when they denied my original request.
THEY TOLD ME that I could request 1 week off in May. So I said ok thank you, and that is what I did.
Me speaking up for my rights with printed proof of what I was offered by the directors, plus a copy of my signed contract, is not grounds for dismissal.
@jimmyjam What kind of personal issue do you have with this situation? It’s very bizarre advice to tell someone to give up the vacation days they negotiated for and were approved. Would you also say someone who negotiated a higher starting salary and got it in writing should just back off if their employer tried to not give it to them?
Also, last time I checked, nobody gets to deny time off because they have decided you should save it in case of an emergency. What a strange thing for a random person on the internet to get so angry about.
They are saying “no” for a reason.
But if all else fails, go into your direct supervisors office stamp your feet and roll around on the ground for a bit … lol. You will get your 21 days off and more.
The battle lines have been drawn
Ask yourself, how long have I have been working with this company? How many days have I had off? What is the policy in regards to vacation and personal / sick days? Have I used or requested time off that would have anyone question my request? (we know the answer to this one) Have any of my request for time off been ignored or denied?
Most importantly, have I drawn attention to myself in which management might question my employment with this company?I could definitely be misreading the situation, but what it sounds like to me is possibly that it came to someone’s attention that you had taken a couple of trips last year for which you used just a handful of vacation days and “worked remotely” for the rest. That’s not something a lot of employers in the US at least would be cool with, for a new employee, even if she’s truly keeping up with all her work while she’s out. You stated your intention to do that again in March and they shut you down, so it looks like they want to put a stop to that and limit you to the 10 vacation days they believe you have. No working remotely, no pre-booked sick days. They’re giving you reasons that have to do with client face-time, to discourage the long trips.
You’re moving there in the summer, right? So maybe it’s ok if you just get the one trip in May, because it sounds like that’s all they’re willing to approve, unfortunately.
That’s what it looks like… again, I could be wrong. Someone maybe got jealous and complained, or they just felt you were gone too long out of the office.
This sucks, and they are very much trying to screw you over, but from everything you’ve said, it’s beginning to look either like they’re trying to build a case to dismiss you (I don’t know if where you work is “at will” or whether they would need legitimate reason), or are very concerned about your absence as it pertains to the new account they just won. Regardless, I would try and schedule another in-person meeting with your direct supervisor.
As a smaller company, they probably don’t have a formal policy on working remotely, and while management have more discretion, your peers were likely starting to complain. And although you negotiated the 22 days of personal time very fairly (although I agree with Kate that for 12 of the days there is enough ambiguity they could say they were actually sick days to be used “at your discretion.”), my personal policy has always been to not request any vacation days or anything “special” (like working remotely from out of the country) during the first six months in a new job.
On a final note, I would absolutely not call in sick when you’re visiting your SO out of the country. That will likely come back to bite you in the butt, and at a minimum, you will severely damage your standing with the company.
Best of luck, and I hope you are able to reach a fair resolution with your employer. My now husband and I were long distance for just around a year shortly after we started dating, and I understand how very challenging it can be.
Kate, you could be right but I highly highly doubt the issue would be stemming from any of my peers. I mean, I could write you a list as long as my arm as to why I don’t believe that’s the case. But I guess it’s possible and you could be right. I get along with my colleagues really well, though.
I just wish they would work WITH me on this and be honest with me.
If putting in that initial request to work remotely would frowned upon, the director should have just told me that to begin with when I spoke to her about it in person, and I never would have done it.
Like, that’s WHY I asked her in person. To gauge whether or not it was even a possibility. And she told me to go ahead and submit my request.
Anyway, I’m just tired of this place. I’m counting down til the day I can give notice. The two colleagues I was closest to both quit and it’s been lonely without them.
Yeah, I get it. The Director may not have known how to have that conversation with you right then so she tried to put it off by asking you to check with your colleague and then submit it… she was trying to buy time, and didn’t handle it very well. There’s probably not an explicit policy against what you’re doing, but she (or whoever) doesn’t want to allow it, so they’re being weird about it.
Are “sick (personal)” days defined anywhere in a handbook? I think it’s weird that they lump “personal” and “sick” together like that. It’s not the use of “at your discretion” that makes me pause — it’s the treating sick/personal days as one and the same that makes me feel that’s ambiguous. I’ve worked places that distinguish between vacation, personal, and sick days, and places that don’t. The places that made that distinction defined the parameters of each, and vacation/personal days were super similar, which was weird but whatever, and sick days were intended for doctors appointments or illnesses. Based on my past and current work experiences, I think it’s weird to schedule “sick days” ahead of time unless it was for something like a scheduled surgery. FWIW, I personally wouldn’t call in sick from abroad when they know you’re not actually sick. And I agree with Kate that they’re probably trying to rein in your WFH privileges. I think I mentioned this a couple pages ago, but I don’t think any company I’ve worked for would’ve been okay with an international WFH arrangement, especially as a newer employee. But I totally understand why you’re frustrated. The policies should be clearer and they really should be in writing.
