Posted this in r/jobs but wanted to post here too
I started working at my current company about six months ago. The company allots 10 days of accrued PTO for new hires. Before I accepted the offer, I had a very clear conversation via email (so I have this conversation in writing) saying that I had two trips in the summertime that were already planned and paid for, so I would need to take 14 days of PTO total for those trips. The recruiter explicitly stated that they would be okay with me taking those days off, and that even though my PTO balance will show as negative in our onboarding/HR system, it will be fine because we agreed to this before I got hired. The balance will reset to 0 at the beginning of next year. I have already gone on one trip (4 days of PTO), so I am already in the negatives. But to my understanding, this should all be fine.
I leave for a trip next week where I will be taking 10 days of PTO. My supervisor approved it forever ago. Everything was fine until I was informed by my boss that I would be “too far” in the hole and will need to take some of my trip as unpaid. I told him that I was told that I could use those days for PTO when I got hired on, and that the recruiter and I came to a mutual agreement on that before so I accepted the job offer. He apologized for any misunderstanding that may have occurred in the hiring process, but was still firm on not using PTO for my some of my trip. I asked specifically how many days he would recommend taking as unpaid, and he said 7 out of the 10 days as unpaid. That means I’d only be getting paid for 3 days of my trip.
This is bullshit, right? I was promised 14 days for my two trips, and even when I sent him proof of the email where I was told I could have those days off, he is ignoring my side of the story. I’m not going to fight it since we don’t have an HR department (and I’m trying to find a new job right now anyway), but I am definitely pissed. I even contacted the recruiter and told him about my situation. He told me in person he received the email but neglected to actually respond to it. Advice? Thoughts?