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Asking for Advice: employer says I am not allowed to use earned vacation time

I’m looking for advice. I’m on mobile so apologies for any weird formatting. I’m feeling so burnt out at my job. I hate it and I hate the company that I work for. I’d like to leave, but am waiting to line something else up. As I said, I’m burnt out, depressed, and constantly struggling to find the motivation to do my work. I work from home right now which I’m sure doesn’t help my mental health. I can go a week or more without ever leaving my apartment. For all of these reasons, I was really looking forward to taking a little bit of time off this summer to go on a vacation at a national park with my family (who live in another state). Part of the reason for the trip is to celebrate some of my brother’s recent accomplishments. I asked for 4 days off about 3.5…


I’m looking for advice. I’m on mobile so apologies for any weird formatting.

I’m feeling so burnt out at my job. I hate it and I hate the company that I work for. I’d like to leave, but am waiting to line something else up.

As I said, I’m burnt out, depressed, and constantly struggling to find the motivation to do my work. I work from home right now which I’m sure doesn’t help my mental health. I can go a week or more without ever leaving my apartment.

For all of these reasons, I was really looking forward to taking a little bit of time off this summer to go on a vacation at a national park with my family (who live in another state). Part of the reason for the trip is to celebrate some of my brother’s recent accomplishments.

I asked for 4 days off about 3.5 months in advance. I was asking early 1). To give ample notice to my employer and 2). To let my family know whether or not I can make it so that they can move forward with their plans. Well, I found out that my request was denied. Apparently, there is a 3 month period during the summer where my company does not allow anyone to use vacation time unless it’s for a “major life event that cannot be rescheduled”. This period starts in April which does not really give me enough notice to use my accrued vacation time. My employment contract does not mention that there are months-long blocks of time when I am not allowed to use my vacation time.

I’m devastated and I don’t know what to do. I’m legitimately considering quitting despite it potentially setting me back by several years in terms of achieving my financial goals.

My state allows employees to use sick time to “care for the employees own physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition that requires home care, professional medical diagnosis or care, or preventative medical care”. State guidelines say that “preventative medical care typically is routine health care that includes screenings, checkups, and patient counseling to prevent illnesses, disease, or other health problems”. In case it’s relevant: I am currently taking anti-depressants.

Should I use paid sick time so that I can (hopefully) address some of these issues, or is doing so fraudulent since I’ll be leaving the state? Should I quit or just put up with it?

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