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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I can't tell if OP is being deliberately obtuse, or is just a blithering idiot. But one more time, you *can* use the leave - at any time before the maternity leave begins. Just not for the dates of the wedding. You don't have to lose it.

[Anonymous]

Leave also doesn’t require flights, it just requires not working. Per your logic you should have submitted your Nov. leave request in May.

Take a lovely staycation and use your time now before you lose it. No one will feel bad for you that you’re pouting bc you can’t use the exact days you want. You have 2.5 months to use your leave…so use it or else lose it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You're not the only one.

[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.

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leave also doesn’t require flights, it just requires not working. Per your logic you should have submitted your Nov. leave request in May.

Take a lovely staycation and use your time now before you lose it. No one will feel bad for you that you’re pouting bc you can’t use the exact days you want. You have 2.5 months to use your leave…so use it or else lose it.

So now your employer should dictate WHERE you take leave too.

Amazingly bad logic.

[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.

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.

BS. 9-10 weeks pregnant is well before anyone usually announces a pregnancy at work. It is way, way before anyone planning for maternity leave. You were actually more correct the first time, but you clearly don't know what you're talking about regarding the window.

You are correct that if you are being denied any use of scheduled leave between September and February, that is unfair. If you are also being told that you are going to lose accrued PTO at the end of the year but also that you cannot take any PTO by the end of the year, that is potentially illegal.

You have not been specific at all anywhere in this thread about that, though. You continue to be hung up on this being your colleague's fault for taking maternity leave. It's not. Stop being bitter - you are a caricature of a childfree colleague at this point. Your issue is with poorly communicated corporate policy, nefarious corporate behavior, or your specific supervisor. Leave your colleague out of it, and quit talking about pregnancy like it's something you know about.

[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.

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.

BS. 9-10 weeks pregnant is well before anyone usually announces a pregnancy at work. It is way, way before anyone planning for maternity leave. You were actually more correct the first time, but you clearly don't know what you're talking about regarding the window.

You are correct that if you are being denied any use of scheduled leave between September and February, that is unfair. If you are also being told that you are going to lose accrued PTO at the end of the year but also that you cannot take any PTO by the end of the year, that is potentially illegal.

You have not been specific at all anywhere in this thread about that, though. You continue to be hung up on this being your colleague's fault for taking maternity leave. It's not. Stop being bitter - you are a caricature of a childfree colleague at this point. Your issue is with poorly communicated corporate policy, nefarious corporate behavior, or your specific supervisor. Leave your colleague out of it, and quit talking about pregnancy like it's something you know about.

Excellent like this is why DCUM is such a fantastic resource. I genuinely hope OP takes it.

[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.

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You're not the only one.

Honestly, at this point I hope she throws and enormous fit at the office and, after HR calmly explains why she's wrong, she gets fired.

She sounds like an idiot and I'm relieved I don't work with her.

[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.

Which again, is totally frustrating. But your boss isn't preventing you from using your leave. You just only want to use it at this specific time, which you can't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes it is your job to cover for coworkers who are out on leave … maternity, sick, bereavement, etc.

Nope. It’s the employer’s responsibility to make sure you have enough staff in the first place so that leave issues aren’t a problem.

They did by hiring OP.

[Anonymous]

You generally do not have a right to choose your vacation time. In more civilized jurisdictions, like CA, you do have to be paid for unused time.

You work for a hostile employer. Keep that in mind the next time you consider doing more than the bare minimum to avoid getting fired, when you could be using that time to improve your resume or otherwise further your personal interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leave also doesn’t require flights, it just requires not working. Per your logic you should have submitted your Nov. leave request in May.

Take a lovely staycation and use your time now before you lose it. No one will feel bad for you that you’re pouting bc you can’t use the exact days you want. You have 2.5 months to use your leave…so use it or else lose it.

So now your employer should dictate WHERE you take leave too.

Amazingly bad logic.

You can go anywhere you want! Apparently your spouse can’t go with you though. Oh well.

Maybe he should accuse his employer of stealing leave from him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You're not the only one.

Honestly, at this point I hope she throws and enormous fit at the office and, after HR calmly explains why she's wrong, she gets fired.

She sounds like an idiot and I'm relieved I don't work with her.

At this point I'm wondering if they just hope she quits.

[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.

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.

NP and it sounds like (maybe?) she won't be able to take leave from mid-September through mid-February (plus or minus a bit depending on when the baby arrives). Even if its a blackout on taking leave from mid-October through mid-February that still seems unreasonable to me, if true.