Dental clinic limits employees to 2 unpaid days off every 5 months and tells them to make up missed patients, causing nearly entire staff to resign at once: ‘Are you seeing this?’

Author image for Cata Holmes
Cata Holmes • Writer
Aug 15, 2026 5:15 PM EDT

When management tightens the rules too far, employees might decide the easiest schedule to clear is their entire calendar.

Two unpaid days off every five months was already a tough sell. Telling employees they'd also have to work extra hours to compensate for using them made things worse. With no PTO, health insurance, or paid holidays to soften the deal, the dental hygienists made their own policy change: they signed resignation letters and left them together on the boss's desk.

This type of decision that comes more from management is caused by how crazy the job market is at the moment. The same way that hiring managers take twice as long to give a response, leaving candidates waiting for weeks, managers can play around with PTO and lack of benefits since they know how hard it's to find a new job.

It's very sad, but it's the reality. I don't know what happened that changed the whole spectrum when it comes to work and looking for a job, so now we have managers who are extremely selfish and can even remove the normal amount of PTO, as if it's a normal decision. But they not only left the employees with only two days off, but they also told them to make up for those missed appointments… meaning, work double.

But I'm glad to say that there's light at the end of the tunnel because most of those employees quit on the spot. And that's a great sign: they are letting management know that those rules are insane, and that no job market is as crazy as continuing to work in a place where rights are forgotten and people aren't allowed to go on vacation. The story shared by u/pathces-rob is a great example of standing up for your rights and claiming what you deserve.

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  • Dental professionals perform a procedure on a patient inside a clinic while wearing masks, gloves, and protective equipment.
    via Unsplash+ (via Jonathan Borba)

    Dental professionals perform a procedure on a patient inside a clinic while wearing masks, gloves, and protective equipment.

    Scene shown is a visual representation.

  • Oh my oh my... things are starting to get rocky in this dental clinic.

    A few weeks ago, the clinic I work at (a dental clinic in a very expensive area in CA) had a staff meeting, and we were told that we would only be allowed two days off every 5 months. That's it.
    via patches-rob

  • Isn't this illegal?

    And no one at the clinic has any benefits either. No PTO, no health insurance, no paid holidays, nothing.
    via patches-rob
  • Then they added that since we (the hygienists) have our schedules booked far in advance, if we use those two days, we'll need to start early or stay late to make up for the patients we "missed."
    via patches-rob

  • Woho!! Happy to read this!! Go team!!

    This morning, the other hygienists and I all submitted our resignation letters. We wrote them, signed them, and put them on his desk in a little stack. He
    via patches-rob
  • came back from some errands he was running, and apparently sat there reading each one. My coworker said she saw him throw the stack toward the office manager and say, "Are you seeing this?"
    via patches-rob
  • Fortunately, hygienists are in insane demand in CA right now, and all of us have interviews or offers lined up elsewhere.
    via patches-rob
  • Dentist wearing blue scrubs stands inside a modern dental clinic beside a treatment chair and professional equipment.
    via Unsplash+ (via Yungus Tug)

    Dentist wearing blue scrubs stands inside a modern dental clinic beside a treatment chair and professional equipment.

    Featured likenesses do not identify those mentioned.

  • Of course, readers couldn't believe what they were reading. Besides asking the OP a bunch of questions about how it's possible to work at that dental clinic, others were happy to read how the conflict was resolved and were even excited about the employees having interviews and other job opportunities.

  • Square_Award_7944 That's how businesses fail. Often it isn't about money, it's about respect or lack there of.
    via patches-rob
  • shemovesinmystery Wow. Guess the manager will have to come in early and stay late to make up for all the patients that will be "missed" with you all leaving! Congrats for knowing your worth. Best wishes to you!
    via patches-rob
  • edkane100 No healthcare, no pto? What is he smoking because that is ludicrous. Guess he can run the office all by his lonesome or cycle through different employees in and out as they collect a couple paychecks until they move on to something better. Dentist are weird like that. I know from experience.
    via patches-rob
  • cecsix14 That's insane. I would've never guessed this type of treatment was legal in a place like California. Like I guess family vacations were just out of the question?
    via patches-rob
  • Exciting-Sand-2222 Most people don't quit jobs, they quit managers.
    via patches-rob
  • Tzukiyomi Man is a complete moron. Good on you all.
    via patches-rob
  • Unique_shopping_2003 He's in the FO stage of FAFO.
    via patches-rob
  • WhoCares450 la it fun to make up stories and have discussions about fictional work problems?
    via patches-rob
  • Smiling dental professional poses inside a dental office with treatment equipment and a digital teeth display in the background.
    via Unsplash+ (via Filip Rankovic Grobgaard)

    Smiling dental professional poses inside a dental office with treatment equipment and a digital teeth display in the background.

    Individual pictured is a model used for illustrative purposes.

  • Harbinger_Kyleran This story is suspect. If hygienists are in such demand why was the entire staff working in such terrible working conditions in the first place? Just doesn't add up.
    via patches-rob
  • _gadget_girl So glad that he got the reaction he deserved.
    via patches-rob
  • NeartAgusonoir Two days off...and I'm you work every day? Or as in you can only request off two days that normally are work days? Bc the first is illegal in CA. And if I remember correctly employers in CA still have to provide s ck time. Which, if so, all yall should call out and use sick days
    via patches-rob

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dental clinic employees PTO overworked-employees quitting
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