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Not using vacation time
Last year I took six weeks of short term disability for mat leave and nothing else. I saved my vacation time incase I needed a longer leave. However, my boss was being a bit of a b!tch and i didnt want to deal with it so I just came back. (I know that I should have just told HR but whatever. Lesson learned).
Since I didn't take a longer leave I ended up with tons of vacation time (I get 4 weeks a year). I rolled over the maximum of 10 days and just let the rest go bye bye...about 4 days.
Well, in May I received noticed that I had "low utilization of vacation time". They conducted an audit to ensure I had reported my time properly and it came back fine.
I received another notice today to verify if I had rolled over the max and ask for another audit. Fine by me. I kept my reply simple...Yes I rolled over 70 hours. Yes, the audit conducted in May concluded that all vacation was in order. Feel free to check with administrative assistant for further details.
I am starting to get a little annoyed. Like if I am being a bad employee for not taking more vacation time. I know it can mess with their budgets but I am not sure what I can do on my end.
Should I inform HR that my boss is being difficult with my vacation time requests? I have email examples where she encourages/requests I only take long weekends and avoid being out too long because then she has to cover for me. I submitted various vacation requests in May to plan out the rest of the year and she only approved half of them. She said she wanted to "check with the rest of the staff" to ensure there wasn't confict. Weird considering that I never know of someone elses vacation time until its approved and on the calendar. AND none of my requests are when someone else is planning to be out.
Sorry for the half vent/half confused email.
Re: Not using vacation time
That's really tricky. Can you let your boss know about the emails and ask how she suggests you deal with it? I'd also keep checking back about getting approval on time off you've requested this year. Your bosses behavior isn't okay, but I know that you don't want the "backlash" of reporting her to HR.
Honestly, if my vacation time wasn't going to roll over, I'd be putting it to good use. If you need to use 10 days by the end of the year, schedule a week vacation in September and another in December. If your boss says no, let him/her know that HR has done audits of your vacation time.
FWIW, your boss can't tell you that you can't use the time. Sure, you may need to schedule it around coworkers time off, but whatever. You can do that.
That benefit is there for a reason, and everyone needs vacations sometimes.
FET - transferred two embryos (boy and girl) - Nov 2014 - BFP!
If your boss wants to play that game, maybe you can have 3 day weekend, every week for the next couple of months.
But I really don't have any advice for you.
I am in a similar situation as you with the use of time and being given a hard time.
Since you have HR, I would consider doing it. But there are other office politics, relationships and friendships to consider. Even though things don't go outside the door, they typically do.
How do you communicate your requests? I do so via email and via our computer system as required so that there is always a paper trail.
Also look into policy and get a copy of it. I typically do that and I know what my rights are.