Going on vacation from work can be tricky. Every company may have a different policy and they can change it up. That is why often, the whole responsibility of using the earned days off and not losing them falls on the employee's shoulders, so it is always important to be informed.
But even if an employee is informed of the policy, companies may try to use it to their own advantage. That is what happened to Reddit user NewBromance, who couldn’t use up his vacation time because after getting a new position at his job, it had a different vacation policy, but he wouldn’t be paid for it either. So after reading the contract closely, he found that the only way he would be paid was by quitting the job, which he did.
More info: Reddit
A Redditor told a story from 2015 when he was shifted from a temporary contract to a permanent one and found out he had to use his holidays immediately
Image credits: GCMCOnline
The Redditor titled his story “The time ‘read your contract’ backfired regarding holiday pay” and it blew up on the MaliciousCompliance subreddit, getting over 25k upvotes in under 24 hours.
The original poster (OP) was working in a call center for 2 years on a temporary contract. In 2015, he was offered a permanent contract and a new position as a team leader, which he accepted. Bored Panda reached out to the poster whose name is Daniel and he told us he is just a regular guy from North West England who is a hobbyist artist. If you are curious to see his work, you can check him out on Instagram.
It was because employees on permanent contracts were not paid for their vacation time if they didn't use it up before April
Image credits: NewBromance
Daniel handled customer service for a well known UK clothing retailer. His responsibilities were "mostly handling complaints about stores or parcels not arriving-usually via phone, email or social media." The new position of team leader had slightly better pay and it was more secure as it was on a permanent contract. But in that company, permanent and temporary employees had their holidays handled differently. Temporary contractors were paid for their holidays they didn’t use up before April, but permanent contractors had to use them or else they would just lose them.
Daniel got the new job in the second half of February and immediately asked for 3 weeks of vacation in March because otherwise it would mean he would lose half of his monthly salary for nothing.
The OP got refused his holidays, but the company wasn't willing to pay for it either
Image credits: NewBromance
Unfortunately, his holidays were refused the month they were supposed to start, but the OP wasn’t too sad about it as long as the company would pay for the days he collected. The manager said that wasn't how it was done and permanent contracts had stated in them that employees must use up their vacation time or they would lose their money.
The OP was frustrated because he was trying to do that exact thing but wasn't allowed to, but the manager didn’t seem to be concerned about it and wasn’t of any help at all.
Image credits: NewBromance
Daniel was determined to come out as a winner from this situation and started looking at his contract to find anything he could use against the company. And he did. Turns out, if he quit his job and gave a week’s notice, he would be paid for the unused holidays.
So the OP came to his job with an ultimatum: either he would get paid for the unused vacation time, be allowed to go use his holidays, or he would quit.
So he found out that he could quit the job with a week's notice and then he would get his earned money
Image credits: NewBromance
Surprisingly, the OP’s boss didn’t care that much about their loyal employee and dared Daniel to quit. The OP had the impression his boss didn’t believe that their employee would leave over such a matter. But he did and got his deserved pay.
After Daniel quit that job, he got a "sales job selling construction equipment which was another pretty mediocre job." He also added, "But currently I am again working retail."
The OP did just that and seeing that his boss still refused to let him go on vacation or pay him, the employee just left
At the end, he got his paycheck and left a company that didn't care that much about loyal employees
Image credits: NewBromance
We asked how the boss reacted when he realized Daniel wasn't joking about quitting and he told us, "To be honest the boss' reaction was pretty laid back in the end. It was clear he wasn't going to budge and neither was I. The exit interview was more of a formality, I doubt the person interviewing me then really cared about one lowly staff member leaving!"
We are interested to know if you would consider it a win? Although NewBromance got his hard earned money, he didn’t have a job anymore. On the other hand, is it a big loss if the company is so unwilling to seek a compromise for an employee who worked there for 2 years? Tell us in the comments how you view the situation!
People in the comments agreed that the OP did the best thing he could in that situation
Image credits: algy888
Image credits: d1sass3mbled
Image credits: schannoman
Image credits: 3opossummoon
Image credits: Consistent-Ad-5209
Image credits: RedTedBedLed
Image credits: eyehatestuff