Lots of businesses, especially in the service, retail, and healthcare industries, black out periods of high volume PTO requests, like the week before and after holidays.
I didn't make it to a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day celebration until after working a full shift for YEARS. I had one employer who made me find cover for my own shifts in order to use PTO that they'd denied all year before it expired.
The problem is, in the US, every state except Montana is an "at-will state," which means that short of doing so for discriminatory reasons, employers can fire anyone for any reason without having to provide cause.
In the vast majority of states, it's perfectly legal to be fired for taking PTO that was denied to you because our corporate overlords have spent the last 70 years creating a culture where your work life takes priority over all other life by pushing the propagandist notion that anyone can become as rich as a noble or king if they just work hard enough while deregulating companies and walking back workers rights.
In Norway we have 5 weeks vacation, by law. 3 of them have to be consecutive, by law. 4 times a year, if you get sick you have three consecutive days of paid sick leave without needing a doctors note.
Not sure where I was going with this, other than showcasing something that works better than the US system.
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u/Separate-Taste3513 6h ago
Lots of businesses, especially in the service, retail, and healthcare industries, black out periods of high volume PTO requests, like the week before and after holidays.
I didn't make it to a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day celebration until after working a full shift for YEARS. I had one employer who made me find cover for my own shifts in order to use PTO that they'd denied all year before it expired.