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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, two questions: 1) are you able to work remotely, and 2) do you like your job? If yes to both, I'd suggest finding a way to meet in the middle. Ask your manager if you can work 4 hours every day or every other day while you're on the trip (obviously time worked would not be counted as PTO). It sucks, but if you like your job AND want the vacation, the compromise might be worthwhile.

Lots of other comments are about fighting the machine and changing corporate structure, but that isnt going to help in the near term. If you don't like your job and can afford to take a risk, i suppose you could go scorched earth but I dont think a company is required to approve your vacation request if the dates are inconvenient. That's why it is a vacation request and not a vacation notice.

Get the hell outta here. I am NOT even going to open my damn computer or answer anything on my earned leave.

I just hope that your reading comprehension is better when you respond to work emails than what you're demonstrating here. See: "obviously time worked would not be counted as PTO"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a question for your HR department, not DCUM.

This. And start looking for a new job. One way for your management to learn how to handle this better is to have you and your coworker out of the office.

[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 your leave at a different time so it doesn't overlap and therefore won't be denied.

Sounds like you waited too long.

The leave is to roll in a mini vacation in prior to a fall wedding. The wedding is far, so I’d like to take a few days off prior to the wedding so we can explore the area and make traveling that far worth it. I cannot move a wedding date.

It’s not my responsibility to accommodate maternity leave so that I can use my earned leave. If you are going to deny my leave, then I should be getting a cash payout at the end of the year.

Stop focusing on the reason for the other person's leave. Focus on getting compensated since under the policy you will not be able to take yours due to overlapping leave requests.

[Anonymous]

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.

I'm beginning to think that OP is a troll or a tween mimicking their parent's frustration. Tell me more about being 9-10 months pregnant?

[Anonymous]

You CAN have your earned leave. Just nit at the same time as the maternity leave.

You're not guaranteed your specific dates off, just that have time off .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, sounds like you should go on leave right now, before the maternity eave for the other person kicks in.

Yes this. It’s July.

Uhhhh no. The wedding is in Nov. I also have to coordinate weeks n advance with my spouse’s work schedule, and need time to plan and book reservations fir flights, hotels etc. It is also way more cost effective to book flights out 3-6 months out than a few weeks before travel.


There are many moving parts to planning leave.

[Anonymous]

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.

I'm beginning to think that OP is a troll or a tween mimicking their parent's frustration. Tell me more about being 9-10 months pregnant?

Yes it was a typo. I meant weeks. The point being you cannot preemptively use your leave until you know a person is pregnant and they’ve announced their due dates and intentions for maternity leave until 9-10 weeks into their pregnancy. But then you still need time to coordinate leave schedules with your own spouse and to book deals for flights etc. You can’t just drop what you’re doing to go take leave within a very narrow time window before a person goes on maternity leave but only after they announce their pregnancy and intentions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You CAN have your earned leave. Just nit at the same time as the maternity leave.

You're not guaranteed your specific dates off, just that have time off .

Ridiculous logic. You can’t promise to compensate people with leave, as stipulated in their employment contract, then deny them from being able to use up their leave and making them lose it without cash compensation. That’s compensation theft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a question for your HR department, not DCUM.

This. And start looking for a new job. One way for your management to learn how to handle this better is to have you and your coworker out of the office.

+1

[Anonymous]

Troll or not. The person should still be able to use their leave. Everyone else at work shouldn’t have to change their plans because of one person on maternity leave. This is a management problem. I say this as a mom who also wants longer maternity leave in the us.

[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.

Take it another time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, sounds like you should go on leave right now, before the maternity eave for the other person kicks in.

Yes this. It’s July.

Uhhhh no. The wedding is in Nov. I also have to coordinate weeks n advance with my spouse’s work schedule, and need time to plan and book reservations fir flights, hotels etc. It is also way more cost effective to book flights out 3-6 months out than a few weeks before travel.


There are many moving parts to planning leave.

Yes, including your employer’s consent

Somehow you’ve made me downright gleeful you’re not getting your way here. At this point it’s delicious schadenfreude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Troll or not. The person should still be able to use their leave. Everyone else at work shouldn’t have to change their plans because of one person on maternity leave. This is a management problem. I say this as a mom who also wants longer maternity leave in the us.

She can.

Just not for the duration she wants at the time she wants.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

It is a leave request not leave demand. Take your leave some other time, it's pretty straight forward.