I've worked for this big-name retail chain for the past seven years. We were “essential” during the pandemic, so with the combination of burn out from that to now with hours being cut & being short-staffed, naturally I have found another job with a company I've been wanting to work for for years.
While waiting for my background check & onboarding, I decided to look into if my current (soon to be ex) employer pays out PTO. I can't say I'm surprised, but it definitely was worse than I expected. They use a formula of your starting accrued PTO for the fiscal year x a percentage (if you resign the first quarter, it's 0%, second is 25%, third is 50% & last is 100%), then take that number & subtract it by any PTO you used. The result is almost always going to be under zero, or at least not even close to what you earned.
I have 83 hours in PTO, two weeks worth of work I worked hard for, that according to a memo from corporate I “can't use as part of a two weeks' notice”. I put in a request for it regardless, & by the time I'm due to be back, I should be getting ready to start my new job & am going to quit. Considering that I've been written up twice for things I never did, been told there's no chance for advancement for me, that my pay is basically capped, & then being told I'm “not myself” because I'm sick of being treated like garbage, I've got no qualms leaving my boss short-staffed & desperate. Not my problem. I just hope the rest of the team (good people) realize they're worth more than the expendable robots this company thinks they are.
tldr; corporate uses a math formula to screw people out of paying PTO & doesn't allow employees to take it as part of their notice, which is complete garbage when they can fire us on a whim.