A person on Reddit shared that their employer rejected a leave request which was previously approved during the interview process. The community on Reddit seemed to be divided with some advising to take the off anyway and some suggesting to obtain such agreements from employers in writing in order to avoid situations like these. The user narrated the situation and said, "My job just denied my vacation request even though I informed them about it during my interview."
The Redditor added, "For context, I have a cruise coming up in 2 weeks to Aruba. I already got my tickets and spent $700. I was hired at my job in October. During the interview process, I informed HR that I would need this week off of work in January. They said it wouldn't be a problem."
The post further read, "Just got my schedule for January and I'm scheduled to work that week. When I went to my manager, he said that they had a lot of work and I didn't have any vacation time. What should I do? I work at a machine shop making pretty good money. Besides this, everything else is relatively fine."
A person while responding to this said, "I don't think they can deny it. We hired someone in May 2023, and she disclosed she had a vacation. We hired her, knowing she would be gone for 3 weeks. She also did not have enough earned vacation and took some time off without pay. Did you go to your HR if your manager is refusing? This should be in writing and on your file. You were hired with the stipulation that you had a vacation in January."
Another Redditor shared their own similar experience and said that they ended up quitting the job. The user wrote, "I left a job before for the same reason. When I was hired I told them I'd need time off for my wedding and one specific weekend a year. When my wedding came around I had to push it off. (I was annoyed) When the specific weekend came around, they said nobody gets that off, and I quit."
A person asked if the employee had this in writing or if they remembered the name of the person this was discussed with during the interview process.
Another user suggested, "Always get confirmation in writing, whether it's email, etc. Always get written confirmation from your direct manager when you start too. They can't deny it - it wasn't up for debate."
Another wrote, "You gave them plenty of time to figure out how to cover your absence for this time. Take your vacation without any guilt. What if this was instead a family illness or emergency? Would they expect you to put work first?"
It appeared like the person took the advice of the community. While sharing an update later, the person wrote, "Took the advice and sent an email to HR and CC'd my manager. They said that this was agreed upon at the interview. I will have the time off work, unpaid. The manager doesn't seem happy about this though. Although things worked out, I will most likely be searching for another job."