Just a little background, in October 2020 I got a job at a local doctors office working in the medical records department. After winning the battle to work remotely, I have been working from home since December 2020. I’m a graduate student and this position allows me (or used to) the flexibility to study and complete my course work, and work part-time. The pay is shit at $17/hr and they offer little pay increase from year to year.
In the past 6 months, we’ve gotten a new manager. She doesn’t seem to be very fond of remote workers and is always trying to micromanage our time. The previous manager allowed us to pick our own work schedule and sign on/off at our leisure as long as we completed 40 hrs each week. This manager isn’t as accommodating.
A few weeks ago, I was spoken to about “leaving early” one day and finishing up the missed hour on another day. I was told my schedule needs to be consistent every day. Mind you, my coworkers have children at home and are constantly taking breaks for field trips, coffee runs, school drop offs, etc. I didn’t care to argue in fear of retaliation.
A few weeks ago , the company’s network was down for about an hour and I was told to take PTO during that time because I “wasn’t working” despite the tech issues being out of my control. Finding it odd that I would be required to take PTO while those in the office were paid while the system was down, I contact HR for clarification. While waiting for their response, my manager put in the PTO as sick leave. I again found that odd and reached out to HR a 2nd time. I never heard back from them, but almost immediately the PTO was changed to just “time off” and my manager sent me a contract that I needed to sign stating what my hours were each week, within hours. Mind you, my schedule had been consistent since she spoke to me about it the first time and again, multiple coworkers of mine do not keep to a schedule.
Fast forward to last week, I requested to work remotely for 10 days from California (I live in Maine) while my boyfriend is there all summer on business. They didn’t answer my request until a week later, and during that time I requested PTO for those days, just to be safe.
I was denied the ability to work remotely from CA due to “security and tax reasons”. I also work remotely for another in-state company during the summer working with health records and they had no problem with me working from CA.
ADDITIONALLY, my manager denied my PTO request all together and said that there “were all ready too many people out on PTO”. We have a huge department but if more than 3 people request leave on a certain day, then no one else can ask for time off. This is my first vacation since working there and I told them I would be taking the days off, regardless. I am still waiting for their response and pondering my next move.
I feel like from the start my manager wasn’t a fan of me but am I being dramatic? What should I do? Wait for them to fire me or cut my loses and quit?
TIA