would you cancel vacation that was scheduled for 9 months? (income, good, programs)

[hopefulone]

Originally Posted by mitsguy2001

I realize that this is fantasy, but I feel that if an employer absolutely needs to force an employee to cancel an already approved vacation, the following rules should be followed:

1. Before anyone is asked to cancel a vacation, everyone else who is qualified and able to should be working as much overtime as possible.

2. If multiple people plan to be out of the office, but only a few of them are needed, they should first ask whoever's vacation can be most easily rescheduled to cancel.

3. If someone is forced to cancel a non-refundable vacation, the employer should have to refund ALL costs that the employee loses, as well as the difference the employee would have to pay to reschedule a comparable vacation in the near future.

4. The employee who cancels his/her vacation should be immune to layoffs or firing (other than for gross misconduct) for an agreed upon period of time. It's all to common that an employee is forced to cancel a vacation, the employee cheerfully complies, and then the employee is fired a week later.

5. If there is a "use it or lose it" vacation time policy (which I do not agree with, but that's beside the point), and an employee fails to use all of his/her vacation time due to cancelling a vacation, he/she should be exempt from the policy, and be given (employee's choice) of either being allowed to go over the limit for an agreed upon period of time, or to get paid for the unused vacation time.

I know those rules are fantasy and probably no company follows them, but I'm just stating my opinion.

I agree and especially with #3.

[beera]

That's a tough one, overall no I wouldn't cancel my vacation. Specially if I have the approval. I usually keep all approval for vacation in writing. If there was a union I would speak to them as well.

[Tober138]

Originally Posted by mitsguy2001

I agree, since there are so many variable involved, such as the employee's position, their workplace culture, the personality of the boss, the reason why they are being asked to cancel their vacation, how difficult or costly it would be to reschedule the vacation, whether or not the job can be done remotely, etc.

Exactly, as well as the person's position in the company, the nature of the company, heck...the OP does not even mention why they are being asked to cancel their vacation in the first place; the way it reads it almost sounds as this is a last minute decision being made by their boss on a whim. But for many people on this thread, those individual factors specific to the situation do not seem to matter - they'd rather just call the boss a psychopath without knowing all of the specifics.

I can think of a number of hypothetical scenarios where the end result is that "the boss" is being unreasonable. I can also think of other situations where I can see this being a legitimate need for the company. I can also see a fair number of scenarios that fit somewhere in the middle, as well as a number of ways that such a situation can be handled in a manner that satisfies everyone.

[mitsguy2001]

I think the other factor at play here is the fact that with the current economy, I feel that employers are expecting rank and file employees to act like high level executives, but without giving these employees the compensation or perks that high level executives would normally get. Also, they are expecting rank and file employees to make a lot of sacrifices, but not give any loyalty in return. It's a shame.

[ragnarkar]

One more thing, not sure if this is too far-fetched.

It could be a different story if the OP is a licensed professional. And maintaining that license could fall on being faithful to one's employer. Disobeying the employer's last minute request to cancel the pre-approved vacation could be construed as Misconduct or Insubordination, and the employer can report him/her to the Licensing board.

[mitsguy2001]

Originally Posted by ragnarkar

One more thing, not sure if this is too far-fetched.

It could be a different story if the OP is a licensed professional. And maintaining that license could fall on being faithful to one's employer. Disobeying the employer's last minute request to cancel the pre-approved vacation could be construed as Misconduct or Insubordination, and the employer can report him/her to the Licensing board.

I'm a licensed professional engineer in New York state. Could I really lose my license for insubordination, for refusing to cancel a vacation that I already paid for? I'm not saying you are wrong, just that I have never heard that before. My understanding (and I could be wrong) was that I would only lose my license if I was convicted of a crime (other than a traffic violation), if I fail to pay my membership fee, if I fail to earn enough professional development hours (PDHs), or if I have unpaid child support.

I could see your point maybe if I refused to cancel a vacation due to a catastrophic emergency, such as Hurricane Sandy or 9/11 and was needed to do emergency work. But I can't see losing my license if I refuse to cancel a vacation because of poor planning on my employer's part or if a client suddenly changes a deadline for no reason other than "because they can". To be honest, at this point, our clients change deadlines and scope so frequently that my employer really needs to plan for that.

Furthermore, even if (and again, I don't know if this is even correct) one could theoretically lose a professional license for refusing to cancel a vacation, has anyone ever heard of any cases of this actually happening?

I will remain adamant about one thing: if an employer ever requires that an employee cancel a non-refundable vacation after it has been approved and paid for, I feel that the employer should reimburse any costs that the employee lost, and they should pay the difference for that employee would have to pay in order to enjoy a comparable vacation in the near future. I also feel that they should not be allowed to lay off or fire that employee (other than for gross misconduct) for an agreed upon period of time. I realize that this is fantasy and that most employers won't ever do either of those things. But I'm just stating my opinion.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by frizzo100

If you were granted vacation time more than 9 months ago and had already spent over $5000 on airfare and hotels that can not be refunded, had your spouse schedule her vacation, had arranged for other family members to vacation with you, would you cancel this just because your boss wanted you to stay at the last minute?

No I dont think anyone should........ The BOSS granted the time,HE HAS NO RIGHT TO CANCEL IT!!!!! (Unless he is gonna pay the employee the $$$$$ they spent on travel arrangements,etc)

[palomalillie]

A boss who wanted you to cancel your vacation at the last minute, when you had it planned for 9 months and he knew about it, is a psychopath.

[Attrill]

The premise is ridiculous. Your boss will let you leave, but ask if you can just check in "for a few small things" while on vacation. You will then be answering emails all the way to the airport, writing up a report on the flight and overnight once you arrive, and then have a 6AM conference call that goes until 10AM. Repeat this schedule for your entire vacation.

Personally I think 3 months is plenty of notice for a vacation. If something comes up that can't be handled without bugging the person on vacation then the problem is poor management - no one set up to cover tasks, not making sure things were handed off, or poor staffing of the company in general. Those are things that are basic to the job of being a manager. I say that as someone with a lot of management experience, those are things that I am responsible for. It is what I am paid to do.

[Blue Wave]

This happened to me once. I told my boss several months in advance that I was going to take a 2-week long vacation and he approved it. The project I was working on was supposed to wrap up right around when my vacation time was scheduled. Well, I worked my tail off and finished up a couple of months early, so my boss rewarded me by throwing another project at me at the last minute and told me that I would need to cancel my vacation (the one I had already planned and he had approved) since the new project had a very tight deadline.

I immediately started a stealth job search and put in two weeks' notice, with my last day in the office the day before my vacation. My boss started yelling at me, and it took a great deal of self-restraint to not burst out laughing. I haven't missed that place for a second.