Re: Paid Time Off
Thanks for replying guys!! You all are very fortunate, Masha Allah!
I worked in retail sales as my first job 
Although I had very little vacation time, all employees were expected to “ask” for time off. Meaning, submitting a request and waiting for the approval/ denial from the manager/ available supervisor. If you were denied leave, it was due to “business needs”, aka “we haven’t met our numbers for the week/ month, and you need to stay to make it happen. We’ll talk about your vacation after.” Rinse and repeat.
Another paid benefit I once had to battle for… bereavement. Actually, I wouldn’t have cared if I had gotten paid for it or not, but I definitely wanted my records to show I was on bereavement leave and not sick/ unscheduled vacation time so I didn’t run the risk of being fired.
I was working for RBS when a very close relative passed away. My mother had to travel to Pakistan for the funeral/ care for her family while things were a mess, and there was no way she would be able to travel alone. The company allowed for 3 days bereavement leave (paid), +2 more days if travel is required, however it was at the manager’s discretion whether or not the extra two days would be paid for or not.
My manager first denied the bereavement leave. She said it wasn’t a close enough family member, which based on HR, they def were. Then she demanded I provide proof that I was traveling, and nothing less than boarding pass would go. But since we booked emergency tickets, we wouldn’t be getting our tickets/ boarding passes until we reached the airport/ gate. But I managed to get our travel agent to send the confirmation via fax, on their letter head. But this still wasn’t enough. She wanted a copy of the death certificate. She wanted to know for sure that I was going to attend a funeral/ care for family and not vacationing. At this point, I gave up. I told her I was leaving because I had a flight to catch, that I would come back with the death certificate if she really wanted it, and I also reminded her that I had already spoken to HR and they were aware I was leaving, so she couldn’t pretend I just vanished and was pulling some job abandonment stunt.
That was by far the worst I’ve seen. But it’s not surprising at all. A coworker working under the same manager was denied leave to attend a wedding in her family because she gave too short notice. 2 months is apparently short notice. The actual reason she was denied her request is because the manager had scheduled her vacation in the same time slot 
While working at MetLife, I had accumulated roughly 6 weeks of paid leave, about 2 carried over from the year before, and 4 for the new year. So in the new year, I scattered vacation time through out the year, and left some over, just in case. Again, had to submit for approval. My initial request was approved. Later, I got an email from one of the department supervisors explaining how some of the time I was requesting to use was carried over from the last year… But the company just passed a policy where you can only carry over x # of days into the next year. I dont remember the exact amount, but I do remember A LOT of unhappy team members
I can laugh at it now, because I was young and stupid. I just nodded and agreed.
I have soooo many horror stories regarding time off from work and getting a gazillions reasons thrown at you as to why it’s not a great idea. Some personal, some that i’ve witnessed others going through.
