Boss replaced PTO with 'early Fridays' so the worker maliciously complied, and it blew up in his boss' face

It's strange how you're expected to work overtime without complaints but are called out for demanding a little time off. A person working in the tech space experienced something similar when they ignored their boss's call while away from work. The employee (u/careless-cat3327) narrated the incident on Reddit on November 18, and so far, the post has 12k upvotes online.

The person said they work in a corporate setting, for 40 hours a week. On a Friday, they had to stay up late to cover for their manager and a colleague when an urgent task showed up. The employee worked through that evening till 8 pm and finished the task by utilizing their weekend. "Some colleagues get that time back as 'monetary,' where I was told by HR to arrange with my manager on when I can have that time back," they said. So, the person requested 2 extra leave days in December. However, their manager wasn't happy and instead insisted they clock out early every Friday before the person went on leave. "So that's EXACTLY what I did. The annoying part is, there is an unwritten rule that meetings & work really end at 2 pm on Fridays unless it's a P1," they said. Fast-forward to a Friday, the manager assigned the employee a task at 4 pm, but since it was a Friday afternoon, he told them to leave early. The person was spending time with their son at home when the manager called. They ignored his calls, then noticed a scheduled meeting set for Monday with him and a senior HR representative. "I accepted & prepared everything. I haven't dealt with her before, but she was extremely neutral. She asked for both sides," they recalled. 

The HR began by asking why they hadn't requested 2.5 PTO days instead of only 2. "If you don't want him to take leave, then accept the cash in option [lieu of leave]," the HR asked of the manager. In the end, the meeting turned out in the employee's favor. "1 of 2.5 days will be taken in December to extend my leave. I was given the option to take both, but I thought I'd rather continue with my early Fridays as it gives me more satisfaction," they confessed. The employee used 0.25 days on a Friday and wrote, "The other 1.25 days can be taken as I choose. However, I have to send a written email at least 24 hours before the time & have to use it before 31 December."

Working overtime without pay or extra leave has become the new normal. In fact, a study of over 32,000 workers across 17 countries, titled "People at Work 2021:A Global Workforce View," found 10% of workers giving over 20 hours/week for free. This number has increased by 5% in 2020. Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit post, u/cris090382 commented, "It looks like you have good HR. The minute that the senior HR manager leaves the company, start searching for a new job." u/kingcapthappy-lotpp wished, "Thanks for the update! Glad to see you were fairly treated in the end! I hope that the manager learns something, even though that’s unlikely." u/tasty_work4380 commented, "It is pretty cool that the HR staff behaved in a neutral fashion. That's always a bonus because in the end, their job is risk mitigation for management and shareholders, not as an external mediator, arbitrator, or worker advocate."

u/funny247365 wrote, "That's crazy. We have open PTO, so as long as we put it on the calendar in advance, it is OK. We don't have vacation limits. Unfortunately, we tend to take less vacation time when there is no policy that states the number of days we can take based on our years of service (I got 6 weeks when there was no open PTO policy, and I probably take 5 weeks a year)." u/mrhashbrown commented, "It goes to show — document everything yourself and get any promises from leadership in writing. Or send a message in writing to summarize what you brought up and discussed during a meeting with your superiors or HR and what they advised for you. If there's a mistake in your email, it's on them to correct you."

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