'They paid thousands for 4 unused vacation days': Employee sues boss for gaslighting them about their remaining annual leave

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    r/ Management Says I'm Losing My Unused Vacation Days Because of a New "Unpublished Handbook Rule" Okay, I will Comply with the Rules of this New Unpublished Handbook, But These Four Paid Unused Vacation Days Will Cost You THOUSANDS!!! r/MaliciousCompliance 4 hr. ago Honest_Star7348 M I worked for a company with great pay and benefits. One of which was vacation days. I worked there for years without any performance or attendance issues. I was also an employee who would not work overtime. I give
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    Each year, I'd pre-planned my vacation days. We had to put our plans on a calendar for approval, and I wanted to receive my approval before confirming my plans, so I did everything as early as possible. I had no vacation request problems for years and did not hear of other employees having issues with their vacation time/pay. Then, one year, all of a sudden, after using all but four of my vacation days, management said I had no additional paid vacation time. I reviewed our online handbook, gathe
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    My direct manager said he checked, and I didn't have four additional vacation days. That wasn't good enough, so I asked him to forward it to his manager. His manager said the same thing: that wasn't good enough. Eventually, my concerns reached the center manager. The center manager called me into a meeting. I again presented my findings, showing I had four unused vacation days left. He then began discussing changes to our vacation policy while making eye contact and smiling. He turned his comput
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    I politely said, "Okay," and walked out. I removed my four days from the vacation calendar. I then began "chatting" with other employees to see the number of days they had taken for that year and the number of days they might have left. Conversations like, "How was your vacation? How long did you stay? Are you choosing a different place to spend the rest of your vacation days?" Asking these and related questions allowed me to calculate the number of vacation days they used or had remaining. I di
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    I waited a couple of months and filed a lawsuit while working there. Other employees did not know about my lawsuit, at least not from me, but I'm sure management knew. The lawsuit (discovery process) revealed an email chain. The email chain showed the center manager directly asking Human Resources about my four unused vacation days and Human Resources CONFIRMING I had four unused vacation days. The center manager used a fictitious "new handbook" to cover his and other management actions, denying
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    Shortly after that, we settled, and they paid THOUSANDS for four unused vacation days. I had to resign (of course), and the center manager (and other management) lost their positions, retired, or quit. All I wanted was my unused, paid vacation time. But what I received was much more!
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    AbbyM1968 • 4h ago Well, good for you. "Losing" paid vacation time is wage theft. Question: Who would/could have been paid the extra (unpaid) money? Your supervisor? His/her boss? HR? The CEO? The fallout was satisfying as well. I hope you have gotten a really terrific job to replace the unfortunate one. (Or will get, whichever) 413 Reply ↑ Share
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    Scion_of_Perturabo 3h ago ● I know a lot of times, in the US at least, management is offered bonuses for keeping certain costs down. Many years ago, there was a manager at a grocery store I worked at that recieved a specific budget to buy grocery bags in a month and then whatever was left, she got keep as a bonus. So we became the store famous for needing to "borrow" boxes of bags at the end of the month from other stores around us. 41 ↑ Share Reply
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    Honest_Star7348 OP 2h ago Thank you! I don't know. That is the million-dollar question. Why would they go to such lengths of cover-ups over four vacation days? Very satisfying. You're so kind. I moved on to bigger and better! 41 凸 Reply 1 Share ...
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    THIS Gypsy-Danger-TMC 3h ago But why did they single you out ? Reply ↑ Share - 4 1 ↓ Zoreb1 3h ago Maybe because he wouldn't work overtime? Just a guess based on the available information. 41 ↓ Reply ↑ Share
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    Honest_Star7348 OP · 2h ago I don't know if I was singled out. I talked to a few people, but there were hundreds of employees. I didn't hear chatter about anyone else experiencing this, but it could have been happening to others who didn't speak up. 413 Reply ↑ Share
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    esleydobemos. 3h ago This is r/ProRevenge territory - 4 1 ↓ 凸 O Reply ↑ Share mizinamo. 3h ago Yup; I see no compliance here, just revenge. ↑ 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share
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    Devilzhour 3h ago Three things I've learned as management: 1. Don't mess with someone's pay 2. Don't mess with someone's time off 3. Don't lie, if you can't discuss something tell them Solves most issues and makes for a happier workplace. = 4 1↓ Reply ↑ Share ... talrogsmash • 2h ago Don't let your bosses know these are your thoughts or you will be next. Good luck and thank you for retaining your brain on your way up the corporate ladder. 41+ Reply ↑ Share
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    Honest_Star7348 OP• 2h ago Yes! Yes! Yes! Things were smooth sailing until they messed with my time off and lied about it. I honestly thought they were angry about me calling them out on their mistake, and instead of admitting it, they doubled down. As time passed, I'm sure it's much deeper than I know. 413 Reply ↑ Share
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    SteakNotCake • 4h ago Always pays to document everything! Management will take advantage of everything/one they can. - 4 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share Honest_Star7348 OP 2h ago Yes. I read their policy and handbook and keep documentation of everything because of my experiences. 413 Reply ↑ Share
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    TotalNonsense0 • 3h ago Was there any reason given for the decision to do this? What possessed them to screw you out of the days in the first place, to say nothing of coming up with such a stupid lie? - 4 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share Honest_Star7348 OP 2h ago ● I don't know. Because of the terms of our settlement, they didn't have to answer the "why" of things. I don't know if they were used to pushing people over, and they take it. It might have happened to others, and they didn't speak out. It was the di
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    Starfury_42 3h ago · Many years ago I left a job and had about 300 hours of unused vacation on the books. I worked a mix of full/part time so I'd accrue based on the hours I worked and tended to use the hours on my part time weeks. The boss was "unhappy" the hit his budget was going to take when I got paid out. - ↑ 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share Honest_Star7348 OP. 2h ago I'm sure he was. That is a huge chunk of change, and you wanted all 300 paid hours! 41↓ Reply ↑ Share
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    Islasuncle 4h ago - ● Why did you have to resign? 413 Reply ↑ Share krakatoa83 • 3h ago Usually when you settle a lawsuit with a company part of the agreement is that you resign. Probably in the best interest of both parties due to hard feelings, retaliation, etc. 41 ↓ Reply ↑ Share
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    Bont_Tarentaal • 2h ago My company messed with my manager's overtime. He told them to stick it and quit. They also messed with mine. I'm on my way out as well. Got a couple of promising leads coming up, as soon as the ink is dry on a new job contract, I'll also quit. They will have lost two loyal employees. I don't feel sorry for them. 0 4 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share Honest_Star7348 OP 1h ago ● Oh, wow! Did he check with the state laws to see if what happened is illegal? What about you? Reply I understand
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    AccurateComfort2975 Good! Did you go on a good trip and send them a postcard with 'thank you' on it? Ⓒ 4 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share ● 3h ago Honest_Star7348 OP 1h ago Haha. Even better. I returned to school for a degree in Paralegal Studies; as I walked the stage at graduation, guess who gave me my degree (as a guest speaker)? It was one of the managers who lost his job. Lol 4 1 凸 Reply ↑ Share
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    Mentally Insane8 • 2h ago ● The manager was like: nah, don't wanna give Honest_Star7348 4 vacations day to rest, he is not gonna do anything about it. Narraitor voice: he did. - ↑ 1 ↓ Reply Honest_Star7348 OP 1h ago 4 1 凸 Share HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! YES! Reply Share
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    TominatorXX • 2h ago Why of course did you have to resign? - 4 1 ↓ 41 Reply Share Honest_Star7348 OP 1h ago ● It was the terms of our settlement. Often, if an employee settles with a company, they must resign. I could have fought for my position if I'd refused the settlement and gone to court. It wasn't worth that, to me. 41 凸 Reply ↑ Share
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    Surreal-Detective 37m ago That's amazing congratulations on this amazing outcome lol I loved reading this Reply 1 Share - 4 1 ↓ 凸 ● Honest_Star7348 OP 23m ago 凸 ● Thank you so much! I'm glad you loved reading it. 41 Reply ↑ Share ...
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    crazybee 31m ago ● Could you not have gone directly to HR? Usually they are less likely to screw around with this kind of stuff. - ↑ 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share Honest_Star7348 OP 24m ago I tried. There was a chain of command rule we had to follow. 4 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share
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    O Contrantier. 2h ago I can't understand why you had to resign. I mean, you probably wanted to, but making it a requirement for the lawsuit sounds illegal. 41↓ Reply Share Honest_Star7348 OP• 2h ago It might have been illegal. It was the terms of our settlement, so I just rolled with it. Lol ↑ 1 ↓ Reply ↑ Share

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