I Just Wanted a Vacation — and Triggered a Full HR Investigation
Most of us think asking for a few days off is simple: fill out a form, get approval, and start packing. But for one of our readers, a routine vacation request spiraled into HR meetings, policy reviews, and a discovery she never expected. Here’s her story—and why a simple vacation request turned into something much bigger.
The letter:
Here’s what happened. My company gives everyone the same amount of PTO, but for two years straight, I never took more than a long weekend. Every December, my manager would say, “Winter is our busiest season, don’t disappear.” So I stayed. Christmas, New Year’s, even my birthday — always “maybe next year.”
This year, I decided I’d had enough. I requested Dec 26th through Jan 5th, thinking it was perfectly reasonable. I had the hours, I was ahead on my projects, and I gave six weeks’ notice.
My manager denied it within five minutes.
His reason?
“We need people who are committed during end-of-year crunch time.”
I asked if someone else had already taken those dates. He said no — he just “preferred everyone stay available.” I asked how that made sense for paid time off. He said, “Some people use PTO wisely. Some don’t.” I was speechless.
The next morning, HR emailed me requesting a meeting about my “recent conflict over time off.”
I didn’t know we were calling it a conflict now.
In the meeting, I calmly explained:
• I hadn’t taken a real vacation in years
• My workload was fully updated
• My request was within policy
• My manager denied it without offering alternatives
HR asked him why he rejected it. He said, “It’s just not ideal for the team.” HR asked him to define “ideal.” He couldn’t.
Then HR pointed out something I didn’t know:
Four people in my department had their winter PTO approved — all after I submitted mine.
My manager looked… surprised.
HR approved my time off on the spot and said they’d be “reviewing department procedures.”
Investigation started.
A week later, HR finished their investigation and called me back in. It turned out there was no scheduling issue, no shortage, no real reason for the denial at all—my manager had been blocking my vacations simply because he didn’t like me. It was personal, not policy, and HR said it wasn’t the first time he’d targeted someone.
