Taking unpaid vacation (employee, unemployment, employers, find a job)

[movingtrustates]

So for the company i work their rules allow you to take paid vacation after you have worked for 1 year.
I have been with this company for about 8 months.
Im not asking for paid vacation i just asked my manager to let me leave for 10 days with no pay. He said that he cannot guarantee that i will still have the job when i come back.
what are my options? Lets say i come back and they dont want to take me back, can i file for unemployment or not?

[fishbrains]

I would guess that the company does not allow unpaid leave. If you take it anyway, they might view this as job abandonment, and you would probably not be eligible for unemployment.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by movingtrustates

what are my options? Lets say i come back and they dont want to take me back, can i file for unemployment or not?

Your options would be to work until you get your year in, or find another job.
You would more than likely not be getting unemployment.

[Rabrrita]

You can always file. Prevailing is another thing.

In order to prevail, you would need to show that they terminated you while on approved leave and it was not related to any misconduct, quit or job abandonment. So, make a formal request In Writing asking for X period as unpaid vacation. You are not asking for an unpaid leave of absence or anything that even hints at you wanting to take any unpaid break from working. You are asking for your unpaid vacation. What this does is establish that you are not just taking a break for some reason, but taking a vacation where you have no paid time available with the intention of returning to work on a specific day and with the approval of the company as unpaid vacation. Makes sure that if they do approve it, you have that approval in writing.

If they send back an approval with anything that mentions the possibility your job may not be available when you return, or they use the phrase unpaid leave of absence, or any other phrase that sounds more like you are taking a break from employment, you probably will be denied benefits.

[yellowbelle]

Paid or not, it's an inconvenience to the manager. He doesn't care whether you're getting paid. He cares about covering for the 2 weeks you won't be there. Unless you're a rock star employee they can't live without, you might as well pack up your things on the way out. I'm guessing by the horrid vacation policy, your company treats people as disposable? Just a guess...

If your company has a policy that defines job abandonment, you are not likely to win an unemployment case. They may ask for documentation of why you were not at work for those 10 days (such as medical emergency, incarceration, etc.). Since you're just planning a vacation, you're likely out of luck.

[Hemlock140]

We would never agree to that unless it was negotiated at the time of the job offer. We allow PTO after 6 months, however, and accumulate PTO time from day 1, so the person would have over a week available after 8 months. If your boss puts that in writing (yes but cannot guarantee your job when you return) then I think "job abandonment" could prevail and lose you the UE. I find it interesting that with all of the posts complaining of how hard it is to get a job, someone would consider risking theirs for a vacation after only 8 months working.

[chichilover78]

Originally Posted by movingtrustates

So for the company i work their rules allow you to take paid vacation after you have worked for 1 year.

I'm curious what industry you work in, because that is a [bleep] policy. I've never heard of a job making you work more than 6 months before getting PTO time. Do you get sick time before a year is up, at least?

[joe from dayton]

Originally Posted by chichilover78

I'm curious what industry you work in, because that is a sh*tty policy. I've never heard of a job making you work more than 6 months before getting PTO time. Do you get sick time before a year is up, at least?

I've worked multiple places where vac didn't start until you had a year in. Sick leave accrued from the beginning, but vac required a year of employment.

[chichilover78]

Originally Posted by joe from dayton

I've worked multiple places where vac didn't start until you had a year in. Sick leave accrued from the beginning, but vac required a year of employment.

I would never take a job that made me wait that long. I guess employers are just doing whatever they can get away with since it's much harder to find a job right now than it is to find an employee.

[joe from dayton]

OP, I guess your choice is to either work or to abandon your job. What does the employee benefit site/people/book say about the issue? If you cannot get express permission in writing to be absent from work for ten days, assume that you will be terminated for abandonment.