What's far and just?

As you all know, Florida had a visit from a little, swirling friend named Ian. I took a few 1/2 days off (vacation) leading up to the storm to prep for it. I worked until lunch Tuesday (it hit, essentially Tuesday evening). No phone, no internet, no power (still waiting), no running water (still waiting) after the storm. I was able to log into the intranet to look at my vacation days and see that he used three of my vacation days for me for Wed - Fri. I don't know, seems kinda petty to make me use vacation days in a situation like this, and when the whole area is in a state of emergency? Am I being petty? If so, don't be shy.

A little back story, in case it changes anything. I put in my notice 18 months ago or so because I needed to move out of state and corporate policy didn't allow work from home. I never asked to work from home, they offered it to me to keep me. 

Yeah, that's not right.  

In reply to DrBoost :

Seems pretty clear cut to me.  Did you work those three days?  ( I think you answered no )  If no, then you shouldn't be paid for working those days.  Either use vacation (paid time off) or take the days unpaid.

In reply to Indy - Guy :

Yeah, I lean that way. On some level, it seems just that cut and dry. On another level, it seems petty. I think it's mainly because when there's an ice storm in MI (where I came from) and we lost power for a day or three, nobody was taking vacation time. 

I think that's where my hang-up is.

Indy - Guy said:

In reply to DrBoost :

Seems pretty clear cut to me.  Did you work those three days?  ( I think you answered no )  If no, then you shouldn't be paid for working those days.  Either use vacation (paid time off) or take the days unpaid.

 

Kinda the way i see it too.

It was definitely a dick move for your boss to unilaterally assign your vacation time. Discussing the options with you would've been less dickish as would've assigning unpaid time off unilaterally instead.

All depends on the atmosphere and mentality of the management.  Are they in the wrong for making you take vacation, no, but is it petty, yes.   I would personally not work for a company that treated its employees this way. 

I was in Houston for Hurricane Ike and spent about a week at home, vacation was not required.   Also spent time in Kansas and Missouri with other employers and had many ice and snow storms,  vacation was never expected to cover these.  This was factory wide policies and covered salary and hourly.  The hourly employees also were paid for their standard work shift when they were told to stay home due to Hurricane, snow or ice.   These were very safety focused companies that valued their employees and their safety.  

Interestingly, my current employer has an unlimited vacation and sick day policy, but I find myself taking fewer vacation days than I did when I had a set number of weeks.  

Saying that was vacation time is legitimate. But just because it's legitimate, doesn't mean it's not a dick move.

If your company is not applying the same standard for people facing snow storms in MI and hurricanes in FL, that is  wrong. You may or may not have a leg to stand on with that though. That is likely either a state labor law thing, or complaining is just going to get the company to screw over everyone instead of just you.

Your boss could definitely have handled that better. He could have spoken with you and come to a mutually agreeable solution. That might ultimately have been the same, but it would have been your choice instead of his unilateral decision.

I doubt you've got any real recourse, but you're legitimate in feeling dicked around if you are weighing whether or not this is a company you want to stay with or not.

The right thing to do depends on who you are...

As an employee, the right thing to do is to give the employer an honest day's work for an honest day's wages.  Anything less is theft.

As an employer, the right thing to do is to treat your staff with dignity and respect. Creating an opportunity for staff to deal with emergencies without a financial penalty is an excellent gesture of kindness if you are able to.

The problem is that we look at problems from the other person's perspective. We blame them. "My boss should have given me extra time off because there was an emergency" is an unreasonable expectation, and is outside what was agreed to when hired. 
 

Focus on the good YOU can do. (ie: give an honest day's work for an honest day's pay without resentment or regret). 

We didn't get hit as bad as you guys but we were required to dip into our PTO if we took the day off. Previously they've sent us home without us having to use PTO. Your case is different because it's not affecting the whole office. They're probably looking at it as a single employee issue not a company issue. 

If fairness, he might have assumed you needed the income rather than taking it unpaid.  On the other hand, if we get inclement weather, my employer regards it as a paid day off where I work...

I would ask about an Unpaid time allowance / Leave of Absence where benefits carry but you don't get pay.  If you aren't' financially able to handle that then your only option is whatever form of PTO you have available.  

That said, Assuming you are Salary and don't' receive overtime I bet your company hasn't batted an Eye when expecting you to work 50+ hours in a given week on a special project, or as is more typical now Continuously.   If that is your work experience and after talking to your manager you still have to take vacation, I would suddenly no longer be available after 40 hours.. 

My former company was really good at interpreting fair labor laws when it benefited them.  We've had a few storms that knocked our office power out. One time in particular  They said we had to take vacation, so I went to the office and sat on my arse all day doing nothing.  No internet, no server etc.  The funny thing is any time a storm hit corporate in Raleigh they all tucked tail and ran.  I seriously doubt they took vaca.  

I blame it on the fact that too many companies have no ability to allow employees "unpaid time off". Whether it be pointing the finger at insurance or FMLA or whatever, American companies seem to hide behind policy and regulation when tasked with providing employees with a good work/life balance.

I don't need paid for my time off, but I won't be denied vacation because of an Act of God. 

They didn't do anything wrong in my book. Like others have said, it could have been handled better. The issue is with Michigan weather vs Florida weather. I think I'm intentionally going to wait a few weeks for this to pass and talk with HR. The reason I'm going to wait is I want it to be clear that THIS storm isn't my concern. It's life, going forward. The next storm, and the one after that. 
As far as 'an honest days work for an honest days pay', I am salary. When I'm on the road a 60-hour week is normal. An 18-hour day is a regular thing. I don't get any additional consideration for that. I'm sure I've given them a years worth of time in my time here. 
When the salary-employee status always ends up with the employee giving, and the company always taking, it gets old. 
Again, not that they are taking here, but the inconsistencies are where I think I'm struggling. 
I can't take vacation time until hurricane season ends. I guess on Dec 1st I'll schedule my 5 weeks and let the cards fall where they may LOL. 

Will you get some of that time back in the way of easy days when Michigan has the snow/ice days and you are clear in Florida?

Did you get through the storm unscathed?  We were worried about ya. 

What does it say in the employee handbook? Do they define vacation days? 

I'm looking in my handbook, and ours states this: 

Emergencies can prevent employees from reporting to work and may require the closing of a worksite. Employees should contact [phone number] for current worksite status. The Continuity Office and local site management will attempt to notify employees of any site closures via an automated text messaging system to provide on-going notifications to all employees regarding campus status. In order to get these site-specific automated updates, you must have a cell phone number listed in [System]. If a [company] facility is closed due to an emergency, employees who work at that facility will be paid their regular hours for that day (no shift differentials) provided the employee has not previously elected to take a vacation day, personal choice holiday or sick leave (if applicable). However, if no emergency has been declared and the site remains open, but an employee is unable to report to work, the employee will not be paid for the time off, unless state or federal law requires otherwise.

They also define what vacation time is: 

The Company provides vacation benefits to eligible employees to enable them to take paid time off for rest and recreation. The Company believes that this time is valuable for employees in order to enhance their productivity and physical wellbeing. 

Your situation does not meet the definition here. Does your company have something similar? 

This doesn't directly address your particular situation, but I would be absolutely shocked if I was docked vacation time because of a power outage and I couldn't work around it in a reasonable manner.  Especially because I'm salaried. I'd be looking for a new job if they treat me like that, or I'd be sticking to 40 hours of work a week, and taking the rest of the week off. 

If work is out of power?  Work's problem.

If I'm out of power and work has it?  My problem.

I think there is a pretty big split here between blue collar/lower white collar and upper white collar work environments. 

A hurricane almost blew away parts of your house and the entire state is under a state of emergency. Dozens died on the barrier islands.

If work tried to pull some BS about my vacation days I'd be gone. But I know a lot of people are ok with that kind of treatment...

Duke said:

If work is out of power?  Work's problem.

If I'm out of power and work has it?  My problem.

 

This.

Actually, there was another approach you should have taken...

You should have called in and asked if they wanted you to report, but reminded them that driving there might be dangerous, and you were concerned.  
 

That would have made it a possible worker's comp claim and an OSHA violation if they had told you to report to work.  That would most likely have prompted them to tell you to stay home (on their dime).

In reply to John Welsh :

Thanks for the concern. I appreciate it. As far as I'm concerned, we came through unscathed. Not literally, but the damage is maybe $50K, not $500K. Our house is livable, and we are safe and sound. Is there more I could ask for? I mean, I guess I could want electricity and running water, but seriously, it could have been so much worse. We are grateful.  

I don't ever see getting those days back as the servers I work from are in a few different places, it'd have to be an outage that encompassed at least Fenton and Auburn Hills.

In reply to mtn :

I'll find the handbook and look that up. I'm sure ours is nowhere near as nicely worded as yours. 

In reply to SV reX :

I'm work from home. 
I'm not upset, really. I do have some heartburn because when I had power outages in MI it was never an issue. My reason for posting was to get whatever degree of attitude adjustment I need. 

This is of course, very different than than an ice storm that knocks power out to 20,000 people. This is a state of emergency where many houses aren't livable, and municipalities can't provide power, water, and emergency services (fire, EMS). It does seem pettey on their part, but I can deal with that. 

Absolutely petty but not illegal. Just make sure they keep the same energy this winter when they have to close for ice storms etc.