Paid time off should not be the issue that it so often is for employees. When you sign a contract to work anywhere and that contract specifically states that you get a certain number of vacation days per year, that agreement should be honored by all signing parties. One would think that this would be a foregone conclusion, and yet so many workers across all industries have taken to online forums to complain about situations in which their promised PTO is rejected, ignored, or challenged.
Many employees, including this kitchen manager at a pub, have shared stories in which their PTO requests are continuously rejected up until the end of the year. That’s really taking the “subject to approval” part of the clause to a morally questionable level. Then, there are those who claim that their employers gaslight them about their PTO requests or pressure them to cancel vacations because their presence is needed. We’ve said this before, and we’ll say it again. If a company is unable to function during the temporary absence of one of its employees, then that is simply not a well-run company. There are no two ways about it.
In this scenario, our kitchen manager was repeatedly denied his vacation time and then told that his days would not roll over. Talk about a manipulative tactic! Here’s a thought. If the boss was so concerned about how his pub could be run without the kitchen manager, then it’s time to carefully train other employees well enough so that they can take over for a few days. After all, it’s not just vacation time. What if there’s a medical emergency? The successful management of this pub is a ticking clock.