Qfyilyi

I requested time off for Christmas way back in October, and some of it was approved October 18, so I bought plane tickets (which are now non-refundable) for a trip during those days and expected to work the rest of the week on the days that were rejected. When I got my schedule today, I saw I’m supposed to work the days that had already been approved to be off not the one’s that had been rejected and now my boss is trying to make me work Christmas Eve as well because one of my coworkers requested time off during the days that had already been approved for me but I’m now supposed to work.

I know they’re legally allowed to revoke time off, but when I was hired on almost exactly a year ago, I was told that time off is first come first served and to request time off months in advance to guarantee that another coworker can’t “steal” previously approved time off. My boss also asked that we put on the calendar what days we ask off when we ask them off, and my coworker hadn’t put anything on the calendar when I did back in October so what’s the point of requesting time off in advance if your coworker can still “steal” the days you already got approved?

I’m a technician at a Walmart Pharmacy where it’s common to borrow employees from another store if necessary and my boss was supposed to hire another technician a month ago but decided against it even though we’ve been understaffed for months now. So, we shouldn’t have had this issue in the first place because we’re supposed to have another person who could cover the other shift.

I already spoke to my boss about the situation and what I was told when hired on, he didn’t consider finding a compromise and told me to talk to my coworker about trading shifts even though we both wanted the entire week off and got less than half of what we requested. My coworker was hired on a few years before me and it seems that seniority is taking precedence here, so if I was told from the beginning that time off was based on seniority I wouldn’t fight this at all.

You should talk with your boss again. Mention that the policy you were given, hopefully in writing, but sounds like not, was first come first serve. You have already bought airline tickets and you will NOT be at work those days. Walmart is notoriously process driven, I would expect they have written policies regarding this.

It sounds like you hold the better cards here. He is already short staffed and firing or disciplining you would make him further short staffed. Additionally it seems that you are in an in demand field and should be able to find other work. You may want to start looking now so you can either be prepared to be let go or be pro-active and turn in notice as soon as you return from the holidays.

I was in a similar position once (except in this case the coworker who was supposed to cover me was in an accident a week before my vacation was supposed to start). My boss asked me if I could postpone the trip.

Like you, I had non-refundable tickets and some pre-paid non-refundable hotel reservations. So I said I'd postpone if they'd cover my out of pocket costs... and they did. We had a corporate travel agent and they were able to get the flight changed with a change fee, and convinced one of the hotels to let me rebook for free, but the other one wouldn't budge on their "no-refund" policy, so my company found a nicer hotel and booked me there instead -- and they threw in a week of extra vacation time to help make up for the inconvenience of rescheduling my vacation on such short notice.

Your employer may not be willing to go the extra mile for you like this, but if they allowed vacations to be double booked, they ought to at least cover your non-refundable costs.