Does this sound remotely fair to you?

[grace0418]

And, yes, I know the world's not fair but I need to rant.

We just got an email from our company announcing that the office will be closed on Monday, July 3rd. Great, right? Really generous and, well, just plain sensible considering how little work will be getting done that day.

Oh, but one caveat.

If you have already made plans and scheduled ANY time off for Friday, June 30 or Wednesday, July 5 (including an hour off for a doctor's appointment), you will be forced to lose a paid day off for July 3rd. Everyone else gets the day off free and clear. And no, you do not have the option to work July 3rd rather than losing a day off.

This seems completely unfair to me. Especially since my company has the most abysmally putrid benefits with so little time off that people regularly come in sick as dogs to avoid losing what few precious days they have. We have those stupid "pooled time off" benefits, which is just a fancy name for "we want to screw you out of time off but make it look not that bad by combining sick days, vacation days, and personal days into one low, low number."

So even though I had planned to work July 3rd because I have a friend visiting July 5-7, I have no choice in the matter unless I cancel my plans on July 5th. ARGH! But anyone in the company who just happens to be taking the same number of days off as me on a different week gets a bonus paid day off. What the fuck is that?

At the very least they could've announced this idiotic arrangement a little earlier in the year. Like before people bought non-refundable plane tickets.

[Blue-Jay]

1. That's odd.

I know that it's standard practice to lose a paid day off if you call in sick on either side of a holiday, but I've never heard of losing pay/time if it has been scheduled and approved in advance. Check with your HR representative (or equivalent) to double check that policy. I suspect that whoever sent the email was a little unclear on procedure. Either that, or you're getting jobbed.

[grace0418]

2. It was our HR person who sent the email.

I asked her to clarify as well by suggesting that maybe those who would rather not lose an additional day could be allowed to come into work. Nope. We're just SOL.

[grace0418]

3. ***PLEASE READ***

I'm trying to decide if I should send this. What do you think?

Good Afternoon ________,

Thank you for getting back to me. Let me start by saying that I really appreciate _______'s generosity in granting the hard-working employees of _______ an extra holiday this year. It was an unexpected and delightful surprise.

However, because this reward is only being granted to some of the employees (i.e. those who aren't taking any time off on June 30 or July 5), it leaves the rest of feeling a bit stung. Many of us have already made our vacation plans (booked flights or bought event tickets or scheduled family activities, etc.) and cannot change them to meet the criteria outlined without considerable hassle and/or expense. Even if we could easily change our plans, it doesn't seem quite fair to me that someone who might be taking the same amount of PTO just a few days earlier or later than I am should get a bonus holiday while I have to give up a PTO, with no option to make up that day.

I don't mean to be a thorn in your side about this, but is there any way _________ might reconsider either extending this generous bonus to everyone or allowing us to work on July 3rd? I would really appreciate the consideration, and I think it would really make a lot of people very happy who are currently feeling as if they've been punished.

Thank you so much for your time.

Regards,
_________