I moved out to the crossroads of America in hopes of a high paying job in an area with a low cost of living. This town is know historically for the industry I'm working my way into, and I thought it would be the perfect place to get some experience. I got a job at the biggest manufacturing company for this industry in the US. Getting paid a fairly high wage based on my education, I was immediately a target by the veteran employees. When I accepted the position I was told my pay was slightly higher than my teammates, in reality it was $7/hr more than my team lead. This made the work environment very hostile. Some of my coworkers had been there for 15-42 years and I was making more than them. This made me nervous and uncomfortable to be at work. I kept my head down and did my work, was “forced” to eat my lunch alone via glanves and shuffles, and went home right when the day was done. I decided then I was going to quit at the end of my 90 day trial. Within the first month I could see major money being spent on unnecessary equipment and fancy computer controlled machinery. Meanwhile the people who had been making the product for 20 years were leaving left and right.
Right around Christmas my coworkers partner went into the hospital, they died on January 1st. My coworker rightfully took two weeks off, all of their PTO after 18 years, and eventually was questioned to come back. They decided to leave the company, ineligible for retirement, they were forced to pay back all 10 days of PTO. The reasoning was they hadn't earned the PTO for the year yet. It was a decision made by a single manager who was brought in only 7 months prior. I was astonished but kept my head down. After the next month I submitted a one sentence two week notice to HR. The next day I was called in to the managers office and was fired. I'm now moving out of the area closer to home and for a small family company.
TL;DR Boss made someone pay back PTO after their husband died unexpectedly and they decided not to come back to work.