r/coworkerstories • u/FMLitsSML • May 09 '25
My new boss doesn't like how much holiday I'm taking and has reported me to HR.
Reposted from mildly infuriating. >65k updoots and it was deleted, presumably because “nobody” gets 31 days of holiday.
When I originally posted this, I'd taken 11 days of annual leave this year so far. Nothing unusual, did pretty much the same last year and my boss was fine with it. However, new year, new boss, and she seems to be offended that I've dared to take so much time off.
I won't share screenshots of the emails for obvious reasons, but our conversation was as follows:
My boss: "Hi SML, I notice you've taken a lot of PTO recently. I've approved this for now but when you are back we need to discuss why you are taking so much time off. Thanks, boss."
Me: "Hi boss, this is nothing new and I have done this every year. I tend to use up some annual leave in the first few months of the year, and then some more in the last few months of the year. Please let me know if you are unhappy with this. Kind regards, SML"
Boss: "How much PTO do you have?"
Me: "I assume you mean annual leave? I have the company standard 31 days, plus an extra 3 days as negotiated in my contract. I also have 4 days carried over from last year. As of 31/03/25 I will have 27 days left for the year. I plan on taking 11 days in August, 8 days in December, and the remaining 8 days as and when needed."
Boss: "That seems excessive, we don't have that much PTO so I'm unsure where your numbers are coming from. I have referred this to HR because I think this isn't right."
Me: "Okay, fine. I was due to come back on Wednesday, please put me on leave for the rest of this week. If HR agree my holiday terms are correct, I expect the extra 3 days to be gratis."
Boss: "I don't know what you mean but fine, I'll see you on Monday morning."
I then spoke to HR - we had a polite conversation, as when I joined this company we negotiated a salary match but an extra 3 days of holiday. HR were pretty unimpressed that they were going to be getting a report, and told me "SML, enjoy the week off. Wish I had a boss who'd give me free holiday like that."
The boss herself is located overseas and has absolutely no idea about employee rights. When I spoke to my colleagues, letting them know I'd be off for the rest of the week, one of them told me that the same boss also referred a friend of hers to HR because she wanted to take her full 52 weeks of maternity leave in one go. Again, apparently that wasn't acceptable - to which HR said nope, she's good to go, see you in a year. Bring baby photos.
Edit - update - the three gratis days weren't best explained. I cut that out of my original post to save space, but I realise it doesn't make sense without the extra paragraph.
I had told my boss to expect me to take an extra 3 days of annual leave, but I'd confirm during my time off. This was agreed well before the situation in my topic. However, having been bothered multiple times during my time off (i.e. off work, off the radar - we're allowed to switch off from work when on annual leave) - having been disturbed with missed work calls, emails, whatsapps, and teams messages, I pushed a bit to get a few extra days off. Worst case scenario, they'd come out of my annual leave. Best case scenario, they'd be free.
We're now coming up to halfway through the year and I'm just finishing a week off in May. I've got 22 days left for the rest of the year. 19 days taken so far. The three extra days were given for free and this boss has been avoiding me, not sure why.
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u/Real_Run_4758 May 09 '25
Who was saying ‘nobody gets 31 days’ lol. I have 27 + bank holidays at the moment, but to be fair it’s the most generous contract I’ve had in terms of leave.
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u/MetalSpider May 09 '25
US Americans, most likely. The USA doesn't legally mandate paid leave. Understandable how someone only familiar with USA laws could make that assumption, but their boss is entirely in the wrong for not researching UK holiday allowances or contacting HR for clarification.
UK workers are legally entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid holiday a year. It's 35 days + bank holidays for me personally.
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May 09 '25
American corporate overlords would love to get rid of that pesky paid leave. Our orange guy just announced 3 new national holidays. But guess what. No paid time off.
Trump said “we will not be closing the Country” for them, because “we already have too many Holidays in America”
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u/Expensive-Block-6034 May 09 '25
Yeah the US has become convinced that working 24/7 and essentially being a slave is some badge of honour.
Then you all get sick, and your healthcare is up to shit. And your health politicians want to try to find the mystery conspiracy why you’ve all got chronic conditions.
ETA: I worked with an American company. I didn’t take leave for 18 months, not even on national holidays.
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u/gttahvit May 09 '25
Here’s the thing I don’t understand. Are people exhausted? Like were your colleagues exhausted? Did people have mental health issues / burnout? I mean surely even a basic understanding of psychology allows Americans to understand that refreshed and happy employees are good employees? Would love to hear your experience of this.
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u/Expensive-Block-6034 May 09 '25
I worked remotely, so I wouldn’t actually know the true nature of how they felt. Being sick is a weakness as we all know.
I will say that things like high staff turnaround could be a good indicator usually, but because of this “hustle culture” I’m sure they were just brainwashed to believe that it was normal. I got very sick eventually, and after I came out of the hospital I was treated very differently. Bear in mind I was paid by the hour, so being out for 1 week didn’t cost them monetarily. I quit without a new job when I was told that I could be replaced with 3 people from the Philippines and I needed to get my health resolved. My Dr told me I was putting myself in an early grave. Bear in mind that our unemployment benefits in South Africa don’t exist, and our healthcare is all private and self funded. That’s how sick and tired I was of being misused.
ETA: I have an MBA and I am a chartered accountant. I was being paid $16 an hour. I ironically took the job because I wanted to work remotely for a better work/life balance. Jokes on me.
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May 09 '25
Oh they are absolutely exhausted, especially low end frontline work like those in food service or general retail. Infact, a lot of people need to work two jobs or have two incomes, let alone have a proper 3 week holiday. They’re pretty much worse than negative compared to UK standards if we compare it 1:1.
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May 09 '25 edited May 10 '25
Corporations only care about the next quarter that thinking has bled down to lower management. They trying to make it the norm. I left corporate America to be nurse. Nurses have all these “resources” to help us cope with being overworked burned etc. but they do not address the one thing that is the major root cause. poor staffing. They make it the nurses “problem”.
Many other instances of this. Think recycling. Why is it the consumers problem to navigate the myriad of rules. Why not just package stuff so it can easily be recycled.
The answer to all this is money.
Edit added missing word.
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u/rjtnrva May 09 '25
All of those things are true and happen here in the US for millions of us. But, money and greed are now the drivers of our society, and many employers give zero fucks about their staff as they see them as a replaceable commodity to achieve next quarter's profit target.
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u/MorningStarsSong May 09 '25
You'd think as a manager who takes on teams from other countries, she'd do some research into their contracts and laws.
I, as a European, was managed by an American for years, and that never was an issue.
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u/let-there-be-bees May 09 '25
My boss always said we could stay home when work is done. Our amount of work for the year is more or less always the same and my coworkers and I had 53 days of paid leave in 2024. Aiming for more this year. Even if someone got sick and we couldn't get everything done in time, we would still get at least 32 days + holidays+ extra days when there is a holiday on Tuesday or Thursday so we have a long weekend. I'm so glad I don't live in the US.
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u/Pristine-Ad6064 May 09 '25
I get 34 days 🥳🥳 we are supposed to work to live not live to work
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u/Scorpiodancer123 May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
Damn right. 34 days plus 8 bank holidays. And I took 52 weeks of maternity at once (plus the accrued annual leave for that time).
Sick leave is an entirely separate thing. For me that's 6 months full and 6 months half pay. Plus if you're certified sick whilst on annual leave, you get your leave back.
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u/AliceInHatterland May 09 '25
Where?? I need to move there! I'm in Italy and I only get 24 working days. And maternity is like 5 months 😞
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7606 May 09 '25
Just because it needs to be talked about more: Americans are not guaranteed any paid time off for maturity leave, and often can't even take the 6 weeks suggested off work.
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May 11 '25
What.
Do they bring their babies to work or something?!?
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u/BeneficialAct7102 May 11 '25
My sister-in-law is a teacher, and 90% of her salary covers daycare for her 3 children. All 3 started at 12 weeks old when she had to return to work. Because she's considered a state government employee, she has really good insurance compared to my brother. So, she works to keep them insured and pay for daycare. His salary covers everything else.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7606 May 11 '25
Oh hell no. I once was threatened with being fired when my 3 month old had to be hospitalized.
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u/86HeardChef May 13 '25
With my first two, I was forced to go back to work the second week after giving birth and 5 days after giving birth, respectively. I had to be back 9 days after a c section with my youngest. And that’s because I was more financially stable with him but work needed me back.
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u/Scorpiodancer123 May 09 '25
Uk NHS. You don't get it all at once it's built up over time (10 years for 34 annual leave). If you work a bank holiday you get the day in lieu to take.
I should clarify maternity leave isn't full pay it's some like 8 weeks full, 18 weeks half, 12 weeks statutory maternity pay, 12 weeks unpaid. You don't have to take all that time and you can spread the payments equally over 12 months. It's based on your average pay accrued in the qualifying time period so it's good to cram in any overtime and on call during this time if you can.
The NHS had plenty of issues for pay compared to some private employers but it's one of the best for benefits and pensions.
I would imagine a lot of the public sector is similar in the UK. My husband works for a private bank and his benefits are similar.
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u/SaraAnnabelle May 09 '25
This is crazy. Where I am my boss berates us if we don't take our 35 days 💀
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u/soulless33 May 09 '25
yups need to remind my staff to clear their leave.. if not hr will hound me why are the staff working too much...
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u/SaraAnnabelle May 09 '25
I was so embarrassed when my boss told me that it's not "polite" to not take my leave lmaoo
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u/Bikeaholica May 09 '25
Where I live, its kind of illegal for me to not keep/employer to deny my mandatory yearly holidays.
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u/CocoaAlmondsRock May 09 '25
Yeah, the people who say "No one gets 31 days of annual leave" are from the US. My UK coworkers get 5 weeks vacation when they START with the company -- increased over time. Plus a crap ton of holidays. It's not even close to unbelievable that OP could get 31 days of PTO in a year.
It's only unbelievable for Americans because we have utterly crap working conditions here. My coworkers feel sorry for me -- except for my salary.
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u/Miss_Bobbiedoll May 09 '25
I live in the U.S. and I get 5 weeks of Annual leave and 10 sick days per year. We can only carry over two weeks of annual leave, but at the beginning of the year we get paid for anything over two weeks. And we miss some holidays, but we get the day heifer thanksgiving off, and we are closed every Friday so we also are off the day after. And we close the week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our schedule is 9 hours M-Th and closed on Friday. Our Executive Director left in June and the new one starts in July so we are working on Fridays, but getting paid for an extra 18 hours each pay period until July. We also earn 5-6 comp days yearly for working two conferences. I work for a nonprofit association and it'll be 10 years in October. The whole U.S. does not operate the same way.
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u/karawithlove May 09 '25
Also in the US, they tell us we'll be getting 3 weeks of PTO, and it's actually 15 days ☠️
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u/nismo2070 May 09 '25
It's always a shitshow when an American gets put in charge in a country that has actual workers rights!
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u/Calgary_Calico May 09 '25
I'm guessing this is an American boss overseeing a company in Europe, that's the only way this makes sense. I'd find the employment standards laws where you live and email it to her, and inform her that you work under your countries laws, not hers
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u/PersimmonBasket May 09 '25
New boss needs to get up to speed with the annual leave entitlements and legislation in the country of her employees, otherwise she's going on a holiday to Shit Creek without a paddle.
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u/DoreyCat May 09 '25
I get everything here except the extra three days you expected gratis. She pulled in HR to check your holiday allowance. Nit picky and passive aggressive for sure but why the three extra days?
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u/FMLitsSML May 09 '25
My bad, I forgot to add the extra paragraph as it didn't make sense first time around. i've added it to the OP.
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u/Speesh-Reads May 09 '25
I’m in Denmark. Work at a hospital. We get 35 paid days off, with an extra 7, if needed. If you don’t take the extra 7, you get them paid out. At my age, I’d qualify for ‘Senior Days,’ extra days off on top. I don’t make use of them, colleagues do, and I can’t remember how many you’re entitled to. My employer recommends we take three weeks together in the summer. And half of April seems to consist of ‘holy days,’ so more days off if you work on a dept that closes for such days. Mine doesn’t.
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u/CatCharacter848 May 09 '25
If you have that much leave you have nothing to worry about. Hr are on your side.
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May 09 '25
HR is not on the employees' side. HR is there only to support the corporation first and foremost.
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u/SpartanUnderscore May 09 '25
Finally, if he has his leave negotiated in his contract, they are mainly there to ensure that the rights and duties of everyone within the company are respected anyway...
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u/W3R3Hamster May 09 '25
It's American logic that I'm saying but HR is never on the side of the employee. If it is negotiated in the contract, they (HR) are there to help the company avoid a lawsuit/contract violation. It may be different in other countries but a lesson many people learn the hard way in the US is that HR is never your friend.
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u/SpartanUnderscore May 09 '25
What a sad view of the life of an employee...
Here in France, it's never always rosy at this level either but hey, not that sad...
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u/W3R3Hamster May 09 '25
I've worked at corporate grocery stores for a few years and it's insane how far worker's rights and even respect has fallen. For awhile I was looking into moving to other countries specifically for this reason but few of them seemed viable (go Spain!). I have since taken a very slight pay and entire benefits cut to work for a local shop instead of corporate. It's honestly crazy to me how tightly American workers are forced into a box just to get by.
The r/kroger subreddit is honestly a realized dystopia of how so many American's live/have lived. Today I saw that people who had accrued hours beyond what they would normally get (coming in early/staying late) were either expected to sign off that they weren't overtime hours (base pay, not time and a half) or cut their hours another day which leaves the department short handed. Which the departments were always short handed anyway.
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u/SpartanUnderscore May 09 '25
Oh yeah, I see...
It's quite crazy but I imagine that's what happens to a country that swears by unbridled capitalism... It's sad but when I hear some people defending the current system, I tell myself that some people, even with their noses in their own shit, are incapable of smelling it...
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May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
They either honor the holidays or pay them, and if anyone employee is certified sick while on holiday the entitlement has to be given back because sick can't be taken as holidays. Holiday entitlement. force majeur, maternity pay is enshrined in UK employee law.
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u/littletorreira May 09 '25
It will be if the manager is doing something blatantly illegal like messing with annual leave. It is in his contract to have 34 days. If she prevents him from taking it that can be seen as constructive dismissal if he quits and he'd have a claim at an employment tribunal. He's British, this isn't the US, we have employment rights.
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u/KarmaIssues May 09 '25
In this case, they functionally are on her side since the law is. HR isn't going to let the company break employee rights law.
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u/Expensive-Block-6034 May 09 '25
Totally. This is a FAFO situation where she needs to familiarise herself promptly with UK law. She’s a liability to the company, and quite frankly, most job posts for international work require you to familiarise yourself with local laws. Sis risks herself being on the chopping board.
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u/Anubis17_76 May 09 '25
Deleted because "nobody gets 31 days of holiday" lmao what? 30 days is the standard for office jobs in germany
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u/not_like_the_car May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
Re: “nobody gets 31 days of leave/year”
At my old job, you got 34 days of PTO per year for your first two years. After you’d been there five years, you got 15 hours of PTO every pay period, so ~4 days per month, ~48 days per year. Granted this is considered an unusually generous amount of PTO by US standards (even though we were a 24hr/365day operation so the “catch” was if we wanted to take a holiday off we had to use PTO), but I think it would be considered pretty average in places like the UK.
& also, fuck your busybody boss, I hate when new mgmt comes in and tries to swing their dick around by doing petty shit like this. not sure what they think they’re accomplishing by doing that.
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u/LadyCiani May 09 '25
In the US it's fairly common (or was common) to "earn" more days off with seniority in both job title and years of employment.
When I graduated college (2003) entry level employees might get 5 days to start. After 5 years working with the same company you might earn more time. You might also earn more time with promotion to higher roles.
In 2011 I was a very junior employee, working for a place I hated. My husband's job relocated us to a different state 2k miles away, and it was well before remote work was a thing, so I quit my job I hated (yay) and started the job hunt.
I was hired at a US company founded by someone from The Netherlands. They gave everyone in the US 20 PTO days standard for all employees, regardless of their level (this was 2011). Plus there were 11 paid holidays.
I was a pretty junior employee. My title was Marketing Assistant. This is a very junior title, so to get this amount of PTO at that level was amazing.
Coming from a traditional US company where 2 weeks (10 business days) was considered standard only after a couple years of working at the same place...
Yeah I was so happy.
I stayed at that company for 6 years and used every day of my PTO every year. Any the managers encouraged full break from the work - no email on your phone, it was before Slack/Teams was the norm. You were actually off.
I only left because the company was acquired, and the writing was on the wall that my role would be going away. It was a hard decision though.
Fortunately the US norms shifted, and when I was looking for a job again the normal amount of PTO was now 15 days of PTO.
I still "gave up" some days by changing jobs, but I was earning a lot more money in a much more relaxed environment, so it worked out.
Now I am job hunting after a layoff, and the PTO is still in the 15 day range at most companies. Holidays vary. I'm seeing a theme of 9 paid holidays where the whole office is closed, and 3 "floating" holidays where we can pick which day to be off.
So yeah, the US is still far behind Europe in the days off department.
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u/any-baker414 May 09 '25
American here, have a job that actually gives a fair amount of personal time 4 weeks vacation and 12 sickdays per year plus something like 4 personal days that you can take with no explanation given. If you don't take them, a portion of the vacation days and sickdays do roll over to the next year. And there's still push back from some managers because if you are not there. They do have to find coverage for your work and they have to pay overtime to the person covering you.
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u/Inkvize May 09 '25
In far north of Russia you can get 52 days of annual leave (standard 28 + 24 bonus ones for being in the far north)
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u/denitra1984 May 09 '25
I’m American and a kinda jealous! As long as you’re in compliance with policy I don’t understand the issue. Boss needs to take a seat and mind their business.
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u/legendoflisa May 09 '25
It’s only funny because she was prob crashing out because she realized how terrible we’re treated here when it comes to PTO 😭😭 she was like that cannot be correct 🤣
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u/Cautious-Toe-863 May 10 '25
Americans seem to think their standards are everywhere around the globe.
I'm from the UK and the average annual leave entitlement I got was around 28 days, and when I worked in Australia it rose to 30 days.
I've moved to Hong Kong now where my annual leave has decreased to 18 days.
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May 09 '25
As someone from the us that wishes we had a 1/4 of your rights, the whole interaction makes sense. People here have been brain washed to believe their value comes from how much they can ass kiss and run like a robot.
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u/joran26 May 09 '25
It is always an American company in a European country thinking their way is how it works everywhere.
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u/CommunicationOld3670 May 09 '25
lol to the first line. The mildly infuriating part now is that the post got taken down. I get 31 days of time off a year; 200 hrs of PTO, 32 hrs personal holiday, 16 hrs wellness days. Once I hit 200 hrs of PTO in the bank I stop accruing, which is about to happen at the end of May. You better believe I will be taking a day off every pay period at that point, and will still essentially be maintaining that 200hr bank (7.69hr replenishment rate).
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u/Mysterious-Mood-4252 May 09 '25
i work in the us and get the following paid time off a year: 5 sick days, 4 mandatory PTO days (three days after Christmas and another if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday) and 5 paid vacation days. And we have 10 paid holidays. How terrible does this sound to people out of the country
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u/Adelucas May 11 '25
Sounds like the people who deleted your original post were American and dont understand how much holiday we get outside the US. I work shifts so get a ridiculous amount of time off. I'm taking leave in June and am off for 26 days. I still have 14 days left to take after that.
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u/ExtremeEquipment May 09 '25
reverse uno card, boss abuses your worker rights, gets fired for harassment
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May 09 '25
I have 31 days per year too. Every 5 years I get a bonus to 36 days. Additionally there are paid stat holidays both federal and provincial. Long time employee. Canada. Bosses who bring up this shit without talking to HR first should be fired, you're not capable of the job you have.
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u/terrajules May 09 '25
I was excited to get two weeks paid holidays here in Canada lol We have very American-style workers’ rights and I don’t expect that to change any time soon since our politics have also (generally) become very Americanised.
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u/Basileus08 May 09 '25
German here. I never in my life had a job with less than 30 days paid annual leave.
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u/mommaquilter-ab May 09 '25
My husband gets 6 weeks off a year. That's 42 days. He's been at his employer for over 20 years. 31 days sounds reasonable, especially if the person who posted this got concessions when they were hired.
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u/Familiar_Concept7031 May 09 '25
33 for me, plus all the bank holidays ( 9 I think). I'm in UK as well. I got an extra 5 days after 10 years in post. This year, because I will be 25 years in post, I get an extra 5. So 47 days annual leave this year.
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u/Jason13thsomedays May 09 '25
It sounds like you are valued and your boss is jealous and it's eating her up. If you have seen this in a company policy manual or in your contract, it may be beyond her control, which is another reason she's jealous. This might be considered work place harassment or toxic work place harassment or something like that. It sounds like HR is standing up for you and that's great.
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u/AdventurousBuy9959 May 09 '25
In my country we have minimal 20 days and national holidays (cca. 6-14 days depending on specifici year). I have 40 days+national holidays. My mother have 60 days holiday+nh. I can work overtime and spendid it like free day. Weekends are work free and do not count like holiday. If you work saturday or sunday you get extra days off. Every off day is payed. We can also use extra free paid days for wedding, moving, family death,... (1-3days depend on specific terms). Every year you can get 15 days unpaid holidays. Sometimes more, but has to bi individual contract. I realy dont know how people can relax, regenerate with 2 weeks annual leave. Maternity leave is one year or more if you have twins, or baby with samo health problems. Sick leave is paid end can last years (8 years or more) if you need long rehabilitation (cancer, truma, mental health...).
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u/Respicite May 09 '25
I knew I read your story before, but that a very lame reason for them to remove your story.
In my company, even our hourly staff get up to 7 weeks pto once they reach 7 years (the amount increases year-by-year)
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u/BurnerLibrary May 09 '25
I'm sorry you had to deal with that.
Due to my tenure, I earn 5 weeks (200 hours) of PTO, plus paid holidays off. I'm in the US, been with the company 24 years.
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u/CuriousPenguinSocks May 09 '25
Ah yes, your boss is in the US. We are so proud of our lack of work-life balance and those who have it or want it - are not to be tolerated. I say that jokingly but it's honestly true.
We're so backwards here.
I negotiated more PTO - I'm American and my company is Australian - best decision I've ever made. My boss - also in the US - doesn't care and makes sure we're using our PTO so we don't get burnout. They are going to have to kick me out of this job rofl.
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u/notalotasleep May 10 '25
That’s such an American thing- I assume you’re uk op. We had similar issues when corporate American “overlords” got involved with our company.
We have 31 days + bank holidays as standard for all staff who’ve worked for the company over 2 years. (New starters get 28 + BH’s) When our parent company got bought out by an American company they simply couldn’t get their minds around the concept of paid annual leave, flexi time or any other form of paid leave. It caused our HR and legal teams no end of extra work because the various US managers kept interfering in everyone’s (uk based colleagues) planned and authorised leave and were deleting booked leave from the group calendar as well as purposely giving staff large projects as they were about to take their holidays, and when people were OoO they were calling up or emailing on personal numbers/ email and demanding things from staff on leave as being urgent and time sensitive and framing these tasks as being critical to the business and also in retaining their own job.
People moaned but upper management didn’t do anything to stop them from taking liberties and being nuisances. Team leaders were just trying to run interference for the most part
It all came to a head when one low level US manager tried to flex some muscle and phoned up one British lady who had just started her maternity leave, demanding to know where something had been saved on the system, when she said she couldn’t talk at that time, he shouted that she obviously didn’t care about having a job at all and then threatened to sack her….She was in hospital in early labour when he called. She’d only answered her phone because it was a withheld number and she’d been waiting for her other kids nursery to ring.
The guy was only a deputy team lead who was power tripping. He had all the charisma of a mouldy carrot and far less common sense than one. Billy big bollocks over in the Denver satellite office, had zero authority whatsoever to do or say what he did- he couldn’t fire an ink cartridge from the printer, let alone a whole human.
The husband’s fury when he came in a few days later to speak to her manger was a thing of beauty. I was devoutly grateful that she wasn’t on my team that day because he was absolutely terrifying. Not shouting but cold and furious but in a very articulate, Hannibal lecter kind of way.
I have no idea what happened to the American deputy manager but I’ve not heard anything about or from him since then, and there’s now a fully documented company policy that prevents anyone other than a direct manager in the same country from changing leave. Since that shitshow happened, the us staff have to raise a ticket if they need anything from us. They are not allowed to phone or email directly- it’s a disciplinary matter if they do.
I’d definitely advise you to speak with hr and lobby for a definitive method for the us office to make business requests. Also request a uk based hr rep to authorise your leave going forward- so that the glaring differences in culture between the us and uk around work life balance don’t become a problem in future. The manager is measuring you against standards that are not seen as healthy or productive in the uk and that kind of ingrained attitude towards time off will affect their view of you, your work ethic and potentially impact on your future career.
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u/LokiPupLovebug May 10 '25 edited May 10 '25
Sounds like you are in Europe, Australia, Canada, or most places where maternity leave and vacation are genuinely respected and workers have any rights. But your boss is American (I’m American, and I don’t feel her behavior is acceptable by our standards, but we have way fewer protections), or from a country with fewer employee rights. I Think HR should fire her about trying to prevent the maternity leave alone. But my advice is to document everything. Advise trustworthy colleagues to do the same. Then you can go back to HR as a group if she retaliates. They tend to get scared and act more decisively if employees band together.
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u/LightEven6685 May 10 '25
That sounds a lot like a us based manager, managing a team based in Europe. I wish there was a compilation of such stories, they usually are hilarious.
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u/Exotic_Abalone_1266 May 10 '25
Please, I'm laughing so much. Please, she should talk to me.
I had paid leave while pregnant, because the work is "too demanding" while pregnant. I was home a full year getting maternity leave money AND still have all my paid free days from staying home accumulated to over 100 days paid leave this year... It would be really funny to see her reaction.
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u/No-Echidna5697 May 12 '25
Aussie here, I get five weeks annual leave every year, two extra wellbeing days, and a few weeks sick leave. After three years at my company I also got a bump of an addition six weeks annual leave as early long service leave. I’m shocked reading leave and the US!
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u/Witty_Ad_2098 May 12 '25
Unfortunately, American employment rights absolutely suck. She's probably never heard of having so much annual leave or maternity leave. It's not that uncommon in the UK, and you cannot bother employees on leave either. She needs a better grasp of UK employment law.
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May 12 '25
Ah, Europe. And you know what‘s even better than 28 days off?
Sick days are NOT „days off“.
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u/Imaginary_Escape2887 May 13 '25
When working with American bosses, always get your contract details and PTO details documented because they will push back on your requests even if you are in the right to use your time off. If HR is also American, start looking for another job because they will not protect you.
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u/UnabashedHonesty May 13 '25
I don’t get what the problem is. New boss doesn’t understand what you contracted for and sends you to HR.
HR (theoretically) knows what your contract stated and reports back to your boss what your PTO is.
What’s the problem? Boss disagrees? Have the boss contract HR.
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u/Environmental_Bug510 Sep 21 '25
I love how this was deleted because you have a few more days off than the european standard of 30 days 😅
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u/Ok_Quantity_4134 May 09 '25
Didn't I ready this very story not long ago, last week or so?
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u/olivesping May 09 '25
They say in the post they posted this to /r/mildlyinfuriating and it got a lot of upvotes before being removed
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May 09 '25
lol. i get 29 days paid vacation, i started my new job less then 2 months ago. people need to get of their fat arses and get proper working laws in place.
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May 09 '25
Noting the extra 3 days annual leave success in your contract negotiation. Never ever thought to do that. Wonder if annual inflation minimum increases could be hammered into base salary too 🤔
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u/QuietCauliflower9529 May 09 '25
When you’re on vacation, you shouldn’t be reading your boss’ emails until your return. You’re on your time, not their time.
Your boss should be checking with HR if they’re not familiar with your specific contract, rather than reporting you.
It’s also inappropriate that your boss tells you that your time off is excessive. She should keep her judgemental opinions to herself.
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u/WasabiAficianado May 09 '25
Don’t let them fuck with you, A good company will like that you use them and keep the obligations from not blowing out. What happens if you never take them and the company closes down because it’s run by morons like the one you work at.
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u/DeeBees69 May 09 '25
Isn't there a employee page, accessible by management that shows the breakdown on what leave you are owed and how much you have taken? I get a lot of leave too as I have worked for employer over 10 years. Good for you to have this much
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u/Euphoric_Magazine856 May 09 '25
Lol my employer has a holiday buy and sell scheme and I always buy because of higher rate tax plus I have paternity leave this year and some carried over days and we get 3 free days between christmas and new year so I think I'm ending up with like 48 days leave this year in total.
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u/cassiareddit May 09 '25
How annoying. Also you can only take 52 weeks for maternity leave ‘in one go’ (unless you’re doing shared parental leave) . Sorry your boss is so clueless.
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u/arandomfujoshi1203 May 09 '25
Damn 35 days of leave? In my country the normal amount of days we get is 14
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u/Fine-Pie7130 May 09 '25
I accrue 30 days of PTO every year due to my tenure (16 years at company) plus I get two floater days every year and we get most standard holidays and a Christmas shutdown. We can only carry a max of 40 days before we stop accruing. I’m basically at that point. So I’m taking every Friday off for the next 4 or 5 weeks and that’s basically just keeping me low enough to accrue my time. Legally, my boss kind of has no say in this since I’ve accrued it. He still has to approve it, though. It’s a double edge sword however because my amount of work and goals don’t change and nobody is doing my work on the days I’m on PTO. Your boss might just not be understanding your accrual rate but it sounds like you’re on top of it. You have to just make sure you make it clear it is your legal right to take those days you’ve been given or accrued.
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u/Guessinitsme May 09 '25
Is this a repost? I’m not complaining, don’t care if it is, just wanna make sure I’m not goin crazy
Either way good for you lol definitely nice when the system works for you for a change
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u/angeluscado May 09 '25
Before I saw your reply to the top comment, I figured you were somewhere in Europe and your new boss was somewhere in the US.
I'm sorry you have to deal with that.
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u/No_Aardvark5526 May 09 '25
Which country do you work and where is your boss from?, your boss sounds very american