DH's vacation time still not straightened out!!

[always quiet]

Last month, I had posted a rant about DH's employer. He has 5 vacation days left to use by Oct. 31st. All of a sudden, when they updated their computer system, they said that he took "3 vacation days in 1998 that he was not entitled to" (this is all word of mouth...nothing has ever been given in writing! ). He only worked for this company for 5 weeks in 1998, starting Nov 22nd. Before the end of that year, he did receive 3 paid holidays. I KNOW this is where the problem is coming from. The company had been sold and the new owners do not give holiday pay for the first 90 days...the old owners gave it from "day of hire". Naturally, when they put all DH's info into their system, it would kick it back, stating it is not their policy. He has spoken to the manager of the warehouse last month, and HR was to fax him a breakdown of all the time DH took. Never got it. Called again...this time, it was going to be mailed....still nothing!! DH has called HR himself, only to get voice mail...and never even the courtesy of a call back!! I don't understand how they can just take earned vacation time away, without even the decency of explaining things in writing!! I would love to call HR myself...I KNOW I can get this fixed in a matter of minutes!! Last time I called them for a mistake that the branch manager couldn't (or wouldn't ) fix, everything was straightened out in 5 mintues. Unfortunely, DH was told to "tell your wife NOT to call HR again. This is not her business!" Maybe if THEY would take care of things....................

Thanks for listening to me rant..........

 

[onecoolmama]

We are in the same boat. DH swiched jobs and we were told we would get the Vacation Time Check i two weeks. Well, it's been a month and still nothing. Dh called and they said the are still trying to "figure it out!"

The thing is, he started the new job off schedule. So He hasnt gotten a paycheck for a month. We had money to pay our bills, but it is still very frustrating!

Hang in there!!

 

[m&m's mom]

2 things.
First of all he definitely deserves an explanation. Might it help if his boss calls the HR dept directly? I know my manager has gotten a response from HR when I could not.
NEVER call your spouses place of work for ANY kind. This is between your DH and his employer. You are not the employee and with privacy concerns they most likely should not have spoken w/ you previously.
I work in an HR capacity and I know employees have been reprimanded over their spouses behavior. It also reflecys badly on your DH. Like he cannot fight his own battles.
Good Luck - He definitely deserves a response.

 

[always quiet]

Both DH and his boss have called. Or, should I say that his boss 'said' he called. At this point, I don't know what to believe. DH tried calling again today.....still went to voice mail. This is what got me so ticked off last time. Everyone was calling but no one got any response from HR! I got involved when a letter was mailed home (after DH had gone back to work) denying worker's comp pay because the employer never filled out the paperwork to mail it in to the insurance company! (his boss' responsibility!) We still have nothing in writing and the paystubs don't show how many vacation days he has left this year. By the 'pay to date', it shows he has used 5 days (and should have 5 days left)....just need to have someone straighten out vacation he didn't take 6 years ago!

 

[dzneelvr]

I can certainly understand your issues. As a former HR professional AND someone who survived several mergers, things like this are forgotten in the short term. What happens is that HR departmental information is only as good as the systems feeding into it and the data integrity is severely compromised on many occasions by lack of understanding between the company being purchased and the purchasing company.
Even if this is "fixed" it will take a LONG time and be careful that behaviors exhibited during this issue don't get out of hand or your DH could be perceived as a "problem-child" by the new establishment.
Mergers and buyouts are wonderful for the bottom-line; they can be a nightmare for the worker.
My advice is to move on. You've made enough noise and if it can be taken care of it will. most likely it won't. Your DH will have to decide if he wants to continue to work in an environment that allows such practices to occur. What your DH deserves and what he will get can be at different ends of the spectrum, after all, it is a business.

 

[always quiet]

So, are you basically telling me that DH should forget about these 3 vacation days?? How can a company take back time that he was able to take 6 years ago? That can't be legal . Believe me, I am not one to sit quietly by and allow people who I care about be taken advantage of or treated poorly!

 

[LindaG4458]

Having been through several company mergers working in payroll, there are agreements between them at the time of acquisition about personnel policies and jurisdiction. It is possible that the selling company agreed that policies of the new company would apply as of a certain date. Sometimes employees get more, sometimes less. (I was in one acquisition that gave all employees an extra week of vacation as of a date. Good deal!) Sometimes there is a new prohibition against carrying over longer than two years' worth of vacation. (At one company a friend of mine lost several weeks from prior years.)

What your husband has been told agrees with the policies of the new company. Unless he has pay stubs and can prove that he was paid for holidays, not vacation, I think he is out of luck.

Oh, by the way, my company had the husband of an employee march on the office because he was disputing something about her paycheck. He was removed from the premises by security/police. Don't do it.

 

[always quiet]

We do have paystubs from back in 1998 (thank goodness I am a packrat!). The holidays involved are Thanksgiving, day after Thanksgiving and Christms. The company still gives those dates as holidays only now you have to wait 90 days.

By the way, the property was sold over a year ago! They just got around to changing computer systems!