Being denied my earned leave because I’m covering due to maternity leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sad how many people here are Stockholm Syndromed tools of capitalists with no class consciousness.

That's obvious in the return to office threads too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you just submitted your leave request, but the maternity leave had already been submitted prior to yours, no?

So friggin’ what. It is MY earned leave. I’m not being compensated for the loss. Ridiculous.

Presumably you knew well in advance that this person would be leaving on maternity leave. Why didn't you take your "earned leave" before she had her baby? It's called planning ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you just submitted your leave request, but the maternity leave had already been submitted prior to yours, no?

It doesn’t matter. They can’t just steal her leave like that

Nobody is stealing anything; she is just having a temper tantrum about not getting what she wants. I bet you anything that it’s not the six-month blackout she’s broadly hinted at. She was simply told she couldn’t have the dates she asked for. And she has elaborate reasons why those are the only dates that could possibly work for her.

Of course, there’s the question of if she would be in this drooling rage if her coworker needed back surgery or chemotherapy. I’m guessing no and that this is just a projection of all the times in her life she’s felt less-than for being childfree.

[Anonymous]

[img]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t understand the anger at OP.

I get that saying she’s being punished for not having kids is stupid, because it is stupid.

But, she’s right to be angry.

People seem to be taking this really personally like she’s coming after all parents and being disrespectful to maternity leave in itself. She’s just saying she should not have to do 2 jobs for 6 months….and she should not have to do that…..and she should be entitled to her leave.

If you look at the first page of the thread, OP actually started out with a decent amount of goodwill. She spent it but raging constantly and screaming about how anyone who doesn't agree 100% with everything she's saying (including her allegation that this is somehow the fault of her colleague for taking federally mandated leave under her company's policy) supports wage theft.

Well, yeah….that’s true…..you can’t come on these boards expecting blind support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you just submitted your leave request, but the maternity leave had already been submitted prior to yours, no?

So friggin’ what. It is MY earned leave. I’m not being compensated for the loss. Ridiculous.

Take it another time

No, the OP is right. Her office is not allowing any PTO from mid-September through the end of the year (and into February 2024). She also will lose any leave accumulated if she doesn't take it in the next 2 months. Who knows if she will lose out on PTO hours that accumulate beginning on September.

That's a terrible policy.

I would be beyond furious in this scenario. It can't possibly be legal, either, to tell OP she has to use her leave or lose it - then not let her use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the OP is not reacting well to the posts, but honestly if I was her, I would be livid too. Not being able to take leave from mid October to mid February is crazy. The longest amount of time I’ve ever been not able to request leave was working retail and there was a three week blackout date. When someone has been out of the office for medical leave for a month once, I was never not allowed to take a day off. I’d say anything beyond 2-4 weeks is unacceptable. Look for a new job, even if you lose your earned vacation time. Because it sounds like your job is going to be a living hell October to February.

I simply do not believe this is the case. I think OP put in for this wedding and it was denied, she asked why and they said they needed coverage due to someone being out on maternity leave, and because OP is an extremely reactive person with little to no ability to regulate her emotions or react rationally to bad news, she has taken this to mean she is not allowed to take any leave for four months. She has shot down a variety of suggestions, including people trying to help her get what she wants. She's purposefully misinterpreted multiple posters, including some who originally supported her and wanted to help her. And yes, she has continually said insulting things about parents or women who use maternity leave, as though that is who is to blame for this situation.

This is a solvable problem but OP doesn't want to solve it. She just wants to melt down.

I'm sorry but any office that can't deal with one person on long-term maternity leave while another takes a few days off for a wedding, is a VERY poorly run office. This isn't on OP - this is on her sh***y management.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I put in for time off later in the year, because if I don’t use my earned vacation I will lose it. My supervisor is now denying my leave, because I will bet covering the work for a person who will be on maternity leave until Feb. 2024.

I don’t understand how this is fair. It is my earned leave that I desire to use. I am being punished because I choose not to have kids. I won’t be compensated either in a cash payout for lost time off. The time off I will lose obviously doesn’t not carry over either. Why should people without kids be penalized like this?

Take it up with your employee. It is not the pregnant employee's fault. Also, I assume he discussed you covering for her prior to denying your leave so it sounds like you had some awareness of the fact your presence was needed during this period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have a right to use your leave, but your boss generally has the right to approve or deny WHEN you use it. Earning leave does not usually mean you get to take off whenever you want.

But, the boss must be reasonable. If you submit leave requests every month, and it's denied every month because "this isn't a good time", that is effectively denying your use of leave at all.

How long are you covering for the person on leave? If it's a short leave, or if you are trading off with someone and this happens to be your week, then the denial is reasonable. If you are covering for 6 months, and your boss is saying that you can't take any leave at all for those 6 months, that is not reasonable and you should talk to HR to ask for more information on the policy.

The person is going on maternity leave in October. They’re going on maternity leave for 3 months, then using an additional 4 weeks of their leave to add on an additional month of leave. They want me to basically start to cover everything they’re doing from mid-Sept as they ramp down before maternity leave and through to Feb 2024. Yes, so that’s effectively restricting my use of my earned leave for 4-5 months. How the hell could I possibly use my leave earlier like all of the stupid other posters claim. A) you don’t even know about maternity leave until a person is like 9-10 months pregnant and you still need a lot more time to plan leave and make sure you can coordinate with your spouse, and B) it has to overlap with a fall wedding like I already mentioned.

So you could use your leave for the rest of July, August, September, and some of October? It isn't being stolen from you.

Also, while you would like it to overlap with the wedding, it doesn't have to. As other have repeatedly said, you are not entitled to take leave on any particular date. That's the entire purpose of the approval process.

Cannot use it in July, Aug, or Sept, because my spouse has commitments at work. We already intended to go on leave to coincide with the wedding trip we already have to take to help reduce costs.

Must be nice having unlimited amounts of money like you so you can take leave at the last minute and have other spouse you have to coordinate with.

So your spouse can't take leave now. Sounds like his job has the same restrictions on leave as yours does.

[Anonymous]

Op: sounds like you are being allowed to take a leave for the wedding just not extend it for the mini vacation prior to the wedding. That's what it sounded like in your early post. So you are allowed to take leave while your coworker is on maternity leave, just not a long leave. Or am I misunderstanding what you originally wrote

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you just submitted your leave request, but the maternity leave had already been submitted prior to yours, no?

So friggin’ what. It is MY earned leave. I’m not being compensated for the loss. Ridiculous.

But who submitted it first? Made atrangements first? Not you.

Is this PP an idiot? Or is there some legitimate point they're trying to make? Several times they suggest that maternity leave is something the coworker got because they asked for it first. Does PP understand how pregnancy works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the OP is not reacting well to the posts, but honestly if I was her, I would be livid too. Not being able to take leave from mid October to mid February is crazy. The longest amount of time I’ve ever been not able to request leave was working retail and there was a three week blackout date. When someone has been out of the office for medical leave for a month once, I was never not allowed to take a day off. I’d say anything beyond 2-4 weeks is unacceptable. Look for a new job, even if you lose your earned vacation time. Because it sounds like your job is going to be a living hell October to February.

I simply do not believe this is the case. I think OP put in for this wedding and it was denied, she asked why and they said they needed coverage due to someone being out on maternity leave, and because OP is an extremely reactive person with little to no ability to regulate her emotions or react rationally to bad news, she has taken this to mean she is not allowed to take any leave for four months. She has shot down a variety of suggestions, including people trying to help her get what she wants. She's purposefully misinterpreted multiple posters, including some who originally supported her and wanted to help her. And yes, she has continually said insulting things about parents or women who use maternity leave, as though that is who is to blame for this situation.

This is a solvable problem but OP doesn't want to solve it. She just wants to melt down.

I'm sorry but any office that can't deal with one person on long-term maternity leave while another takes a few days off for a wedding, is a VERY poorly run office. This isn't on OP - this is on her sh***y management.

But it doesn't appear she is asking for a few days off for a wedding. She is asking for a few days off for a wedding PLUS an extra few days off for a vacation. OP is purposely not answering whether the few days for the wedding we're approved or denied and only focusing on the "mini" vacation attached to the wedding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you just submitted your leave request, but the maternity leave had already been submitted prior to yours, no?

So friggin’ what. It is MY earned leave. I’m not being compensated for the loss. Ridiculous.

Presumably you knew well in advance that this person would be leaving on maternity leave. Why didn't you take your "earned leave" before she had her baby? It's called planning ahead.

The employer should have planned ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you just submitted your leave request, but the maternity leave had already been submitted prior to yours, no?

So friggin’ what. It is MY earned leave. I’m not being compensated for the loss. Ridiculous.

Earn to leave still has to be approved. It doesn't mean you can just take it whenever you want...... Everyone in the office can't be out the month of December..... How do you not realize that?......
You should have put in for it earlier or talk to your supervisor about other ways to have maternity leave covered so you can still get your time off.... Is there really no other time you can take off this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have a right to use your leave, but your boss generally has the right to approve or deny WHEN you use it. Earning leave does not usually mean you get to take off whenever you want.

But, the boss must be reasonable. If you submit leave requests every month, and it's denied every month because "this isn't a good time", that is effectively denying your use of leave at all.

How long are you covering for the person on leave? If it's a short leave, or if you are trading off with someone and this happens to be your week, then the denial is reasonable. If you are covering for 6 months, and your boss is saying that you can't take any leave at all for those 6 months, that is not reasonable and you should talk to HR to ask for more information on the policy.

The person is going on maternity leave in October. They’re going on maternity leave for 3 months, then using an additional 4 weeks of their leave to add on an additional month of leave. They want me to basically start to cover everything they’re doing from mid-Sept as they ramp down before maternity leave and through to Feb 2024. Yes, so that’s effectively restricting my use of my earned leave for 4-5 months. How the hell could I possibly use my leave earlier like all of the stupid other posters claim. A) you don’t even know about maternity leave until a person is like 9-10 months pregnant and you still need a lot more time to plan leave and make sure you can coordinate with your spouse, and B) it has to overlap with a fall wedding like I already mentioned.

So you could use your leave for the rest of July, August, September, and some of October? It isn't being stolen from you.

Also, while you would like it to overlap with the wedding, it doesn't have to. As other have repeatedly said, you are not entitled to take leave on any particular date. That's the entire purpose of the approval process.

Cannot use it in July, Aug, or Sept, because my spouse has commitments at work. We already intended to go on leave to coincide with the wedding trip we already have to take to help reduce costs.

Must be nice having unlimited amounts of money like you so you can take leave at the last minute and have other spouse you have to coordinate with.

Your spouse can't take off any time in July/August/September? July and August are extremely common times of year for people to take vacation. Since you don't have kids, September and early October are a great time to travel -- terrific weather, but everything is less crowded and often less expensive. My DH and I got married in late September and we always use to take our big trips to coincide with our anniversary.

It's really weird to me that you are fixated on "I'm being punished for not having kids" when every time you respond you reveal yet another restriction (it's a wedding so the date is fixed, your work won't roll over leave, your husband can't travel any other time, etc.) that as absolutely nothing to do with the fact that your colleague is taking maternity leave.

Is your spouse also a victim of compensation theft since he cannot take off July, August or September??

[Anonymous]

Use or lose is called such because . . . some lose.

It's not "nobody loses except OP."