Employee Claims Their Boss 'Suddenly Changed' The PTO Policy To Prevent Them From Having Time Off
The old PTO policy had been in place for over a year before it was changed after the employee requested time off.
Vadym Pastukh / Shutterstock An employee has accused their boss of intentionally trying to prevent them from having any time off at work.
Posting to the subreddit r/antiwork — an online forum where users can share job and work-related struggles — a Reddit user shared an email they had received from their boss after requesting time off during April.
An employee says their boss 'suddenly changed' the PTO policy to prevent them from having time off.
In their Reddit post, they explained that, at their job, the usual policy when requesting PTO is to email a supervisor 30 days in advance of the date that an employee wants to have off.
Following the policy in place before, the employee sent a request over to their boss for the amount of time they would be out of the office. However, after sending the request, they were shocked to see the reply sent by their boss.
"Thank you for emailing this to me after our verbal conversation. This request was not received 45 days before the first date off. Being a long-time employee, you are aware that requests need to be submitted 45 days plus, and are first come, first serve," the email stated.
In the caption of the post, the employee pointed out that since August 2021, the PTO policy had been 30 days of notice to management, and that her boss had suspiciously "suddenly changed" the policy after they had requested time off.
As a solution, the boss offered to look at the time available in May and asked if there were any dates they "desired" that could be accommodated within the next month. However, the solution proved to be unnecessary considering the employee had been looking to take time off in April.
The employee even included screenshots of previous emails from management that stressed the importance of making sure PTO days were requested 30 days in advance as that was the policy before it was changed without notice.
"Request for PTO must be made in writing and approved at least 30 days in advance," an email read, which was sent out in August 2021 after the policy had been created.
While the employee had been offered an alternative, they deduced that the policy being changed right when they requested days off, was their employers' way of trying to prevent them from taking off.
It has been proven that employees taking time off helps their overall performance at work, and prevents them from feeling burnout. According to a 2021 survey by Visier, 89% of 1,000 U.S. workers surveyed said they had experienced occupational burnout.
In the comments section, other Reddit users pointed out that having to request that far in advance is abnormal.
"45 days out?! This is insane to me. Do they have to let you know 45 days out if they’re going to need you to be in for overtime? Or to pick up a shift or whatever?" one Reddit user wrote.
Another Reddit user inquired how many PTO days are the employees at the company given, to which the writer of the post clarified that after working a full year at the company, they are given five days of PTO.
"If you submitted the request before the change you should be good and would have a good case if you were to be wrongfully terminated. I’d take the time off and hope they fire me," a third user wrote.
The employee also shared in the comments that they have since quit their job, and had been trying to request PTO days before handing in their two weeks. They also claimed that depending on what their boss said about the sudden policy change, they wouldn't "be returning."
"Take the longest vacation you can, just be patient and let them pay for it. Come back and immediately quit," a fourth user remarked.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics.