My husband started in therapy and asked to come into work an hour and a half early one day a week so he could leave early that day to make his afternoon appointment and still work his 8 hour day.
They approved this originally, but now are saying he can't start early anymore. They are requiring that he take PTO in order to make his appointment. They are not allowing him to essentially make the time up by working early on that day.
This baffles my fucking mind. It makes zero sense to have an employee say “I want to work” and to then tell that employee “we prefer you don't work.”
What I really think they are saying is “we can't tell you to stop going to your counseling appointments, but we can control your actions by forcing your hand and making you use your PTO for it.” Essentially, this tactic allows them to exert some control by making him think extra hard about if he reeeally wants to use his PTO for this or not. “Making up the time is too easy, but using coveted PTO time, that's how we can coerce him!”
I think there might be some retaliation going on for conflicts between him and his boss. My husband thinks that they want him available to help in another department he often gets called to help with – if he isn't there, one of the higher ups have to help.
Their stated reasoning is that they can't find tasks for him to work on in the mornings, which is ridiculous. He said he has tasks to work on, he just will go out of his way to double check with them if they have anything they would prefer he work on. Otherwise, he refers to his task list. They really want him to be subordinate to his supervisor, but I can't buy that his supervisor can't pick out a task and leave him be for an hour and a half.
Whatever their reasoning is, having to use PTO instead of being able to make up the time is absurd.
The thing is, I see that he has a lot of leverage here. They are basically saying that his work is valuable, that's why they need him to be there. And I'm wondering if he can't use this as leverage somehow.
(When I was trying to negotiate from working 50 hours a week to 45 hours a week and they told me 'no', my doctor asked me what would happen if I just came in an hour late. If I'm so indispensable that you can't possibly be without me for an additional 1 hour a day, then go ahead and fire me and not have me for any hours a day.)
His employer has been trying to hire another worker for their team but has been unsuccessful. They got one interview so far and are having a hard time getting anyone interested. Imagine how awful it will be for them being down another person and trying to now hire 2 people.
So I am asking for advice for my husband on what he can do. Is there any way he can force their hand to allow him to continue making up the time by working early on the day of his appointment so he doesn't have to use PTO? (He needs the PTO because his mom is sick right now and he sometimes needs to take days off to help her.) Does he need to get a mediator?