AT&T Purportedly Nixes Retail Employee Vacations Between June 15 and July 12

[incognegro]

Try the military if you want to really be "owned."

[BigGuynRusty]

"Retail Employees"?
We call those "Temps".

BGnR

[$tevie]

Nobody in our Facilities Management department is supposed to take vacation at any time during the summer. A day here or a day there, but no weeks off for anybody. It's when they do all the cleaning, painting and repairs of the residential buildings and classrooms. It's just as much a job requirement as showing up on time and not stealing.

Making people come in sick, like MacArtist's wife's company, is a bit beyond the pale. I've heard of being required to bring a doctor's note to prove you were really sick,but to flat out say you cannot stay home doesn't even sound legal.

[incognegro]

I'm glad I have my new job - "summer hours" = every other Friday off.
The rest of the company gets half day Fridays all summer.

[Monster]

Monster Wife is looking forward to those half days incognegro.

[macphanatic]

The AT&T memo states that no vacation requests will be granted for that time period, but existing requests would be honored where changes couldn't be made.

MacArtist - If your wife's job is that important to the company and they have no one else to perform the function there is a bigger issue there. What if she threatened to quit? If they are publicly traded, there may be an entirely different and serious issue that needs to be addressed. Are others allowed to take a week or more at a time? If so, there is a huge HR and legal issue here.

Just because you are an employee doesn't mean that a company owns you. Companies that treat their employees like crap don't realize the impact that it has on their operations. That doesn't mean that you don't help out when asked, but that there is a give and take. If there is a company policy and you are made aware of it during the employment process, that is completely different.

[OWC Jamie]

I bet Randall Stephenson can take any damned day off he wants.


I have worked where they had a Dr's note rule. If the note required bed rest (at home) then you could be out sick. If there was no bed rest requirement your runny nose and coughing pleghm better be at the office. There were three sick days with a bunch of no Fridays or Tuesdays or Mondays (no making long Holiday weekends) rules for certain weekends. Violations just meant no pay for that day off.

No vacations are "allowed" here from Feb15 to May15 and June and July is heavily frowned upon.

[davester]

I think that Macartist's wife's company sounds like the most abusive of vacation leave. How can you take a decent vacation in only one week? I'd barely get unwound in that time period. If you travel to Europe you spend one day flying, about two days getting de-jetlagged, and one day flying back. That leaves only three days to have fun.

Time off from work is absurd in the U.S. In much of the rest of the world 3 to 4 weeks is the minimum vacation per the law, and people often take several weeks or more than a month for a vacation trip (especially europeans and australians). Personally I think that the short vacations in the U.S. are counterproductive since they don't allow time to de-stress and get a handle on life outside work.

[bazookaman]

[quote MacArtist]I asked her what would happen if she got sick for a whole week? She said they have forced people to come in before.
Well then. I guess its a good thing she works at a pharma co. so when everyone else gets sick b/c of their dumbass rules, they can be treated.

[MacArtist]

I worked for the same pharma company for 3.5 years in the Small Volume Parenteral area (378 Liter batches worth $1Mil).

It was a living hell. I saw people break under the pressure. If fact, I was one of them. The entire place is a pressure cooker where they have taken "lean manufacturing" to the extreme.

She has 10 years at the place.