A few weeks ago, I asked for this Friday off (a period of 8 hours). However, today I found out that we’ll be able to leave at 2pm since it’s labor day weekend, which means my coworkers will only have to work 4 hours. I half-jokingly asked my boss if I could get four of my vacation hours back, but he brushed it off with a joke of his own…lame.
So what’s the deal? Is it fair for me to have to use 8 hours of my vacation time when my coworkers only have to work for 4?
It’s probably not fair, but that’s often just the way the system works. Can you get around it unofficially? Last year I took a day’s leave on Christmas Eve, which is always half-day only for us. My manager just allowed me to use the other half a day’s leave unofficially a couple of weeks later.
Not really fair but since you requested the day before hand you are most likely going to have to suck it up and use the full eight hours. The free time is for the employees that are working that day not for the people that already requested it off.
They do the same type of thing at our company on Christmas eve which is one reason I work it. Why use an entire day vacation when they let us go early anyway.
Same sort of thing happened to me when we had the black out five years ago. I called off work in the morning as we still had no power or water. I did not want to leave my kids with my mother under those conditions.
The next day when I went to work I found out that our company had no power either so as people arrived to work they sent them home and gave them each a large bottle of water that we use for the company water coolers.
They got a free day off and I had to claim a vacation day. Them’s the breaks.
All the half day people get is 4 hours of free time, the vacationing person gets to sleep in late, skip shaving, avoid rush hour, heck, they can even get their holiday travel started 24 hours early instead of 4 hours early. Not to mention that in my job, even if I get a half day offered, if there’s a critical issue, I’m staying until its done, which wouldn’t happen if I didn’t go to work at all.
Big benefits taking the day off vs. getting half a day. Some companies might let you get away with taking a half day vacation, but having to take a full day isn’t exactly highway robbery.
It really depends on how stringent your company is about tracking your time. If you were to leave the office for the day at 2:00p for an appointment, would they require you to use half a vacation day? If so, then I’d say you’re getting screwed. If not, then I expect you’ll make up the difference at some point.
I’ll go against the grain here and say no. You are owed 4 hours. An employer who wouldn’t agree is being a dick.
Our deparment usually lets us go 2 hours early prior to holiday weekends. Unfortunately, due to my partner’s work schedule, I end up taking the day off and miss out on the bonus.
My boss sent out an email prior to the 4th of July stating that we would not be getting off early and not to plan around it as it’s an occassional bonus not to be relied upon. On July 3rd we got an email stating that we could go home 2 hours early. The game was played because she was being nagged about it by people stating that they had made plans around being able to leave early for free.
So, it seems to be a gift not to be expected for those working that day.
I’m taking this Friday off to go up north to the shores of Lake Superior, so I’ll probably miss out myself on the 2 hour bonus…but on the plus side, our office is shutting down at 2pm all of next week because of the RNC.
We’re getting to leave 2 hours early. But only if you’re scheduled to work that day anyway. Why should you get the benefit of having the day off AND the extra two hours? It’s one or the other, not both. But at my company, if you do have to work the whole day (and you’re hourly), you get paid for hours worked plus the admin leave, and if you’re salary, you just take the two (or four, depending what they decide for any given holiday) hours another day.
No, you’re not being ripped off. The company doesn’t owe anyone those hours off. They might chose to give them to employees working that day, because the work load is light but they aren’t owed to you. It’s a perk for those who didn’t ask for the time off, because someone has to stay in the office that day, so people like you can have a long holiday.
It would be like me claiming I was ripped off, because after I left for my lunch break, someone brought in free sandwiches.
Great example! I agree.
Yeah - whenever my company would dismiss early on the day before a big holiday, you had to be at work that day to count it as a full day worked; if you didn’t work at all, you had to take the whole day as vacation.
Just something to plan for in the future if the company is in the habit of doing this - plan on taking your extra day after the long weekend (or whatever) instead of before.
No, it isn’t 100% fair, but in the grand scheme of things, not worth arguing about.