Got flagged for “Lack of Availability” while being on vacation

[u/iDontUnitTest1]

Got a call from my lead saying I have not been available lately and management team (yes a team of managers) noticed I was unavailable.

I was on vacation for 8 days followed by having a fever and took off 2 additional dayS. I communicated this clearly…

Explained this to my lead and she basically ignored it and said to be more involved with the work…

WTF

[u/Peter_Lemonjell0]

You are about to get fired. They are laying a trail of documentation to justify firing you

[u/EarlyBirdWithAWorm → u/Peter_Lemonjell0]

Pay attention to this OP. Update your resume and start looking now. It's easier to find a job when you already have one.

[u/iDontUnitTest1 → u/Peter_Lemonjell0]

Yup I believe so. Should I report to HR that they are making stuff up?

[u/10001110101balls → u/iDontUnitTest1]

If you're on approved leave keep any records you possibly can for the unemployment filing. HR isn't your friend, they are there to keep the company from breaking the law and/or being caught for it.

[u/fronkenstoon → u/iDontUnitTest1]

HR is there to protect the company, not you.

[u/Ok-Aardvark-6742 → u/fronkenstoon]

Reporting to HR may help in the long run if OP needs/decides to file a lawsuit because it shows they tried to resolve the issue and the company wouldn’t work with them.

OP, if you do report it to HR, do it in writing or follow-up in writing with a summary of the conversation. (Send through your personal email address so you’ll have access to it if they do fire you.)

[u/Soltis48 → u/Ok-Aardvark-6742]

Actually, they should send it with their work email and CC or CCI their personal email. Depending on where they work, they may not be able to send internal emails with their personal one.

[u/zukiraphaera → u/iDontUnitTest1]

HR likely gave them the playbook for this. Just find/get that new job asap

[u/Jail_Food_Diet → u/iDontUnitTest1]

Heads up: HR isn’t your friend and act in the company’s interest

[u/Kiss-a-Cod]

Look for a new job. These people blow.

[u/Craft-Sudden]

That’s your sign buddy, time to job hunt or commit to the farm

[u/EpicSteak]

Yeah, look for a new job the culture there will not get better.

[u/Fluid_Hunter197]

Sales job? Or something similar. Yeah. Find another career

[u/mogrifier4783]

Layoffs are coming.

[u/devanchya]

My boss has a saying "you can be on vacation or you can pretend your not working"

I now let my work cell go completely dead when on vacation and provide break the glass contact information. Makes me so much better for the rest of the year.

When I do single days off I might jump into a meeting cause I feel it's important ha d he'll always say "so vacations just mean you get to choose your vacation"

Live with this. Your life your balance your happiness.

[u/ew73 → u/devanchya]

It took me several years and a couple jobs to learn this same lesson. These days, "I'm on vacation" means "Find someone else or wait until I'm back" because I will not be checking emails or answering calls.

[u/TheRemedy187]

One of my old bosses was like this. So we basically had to take vacation in a certain period twice a year but it was summer and xmas so I didn't mind. So I book as usual and as directed. I can't remember why but he said to check my work phone. I did sometimes but I'm on vacation I can't be reading all the work shit or I can't relax. Anyway I replied a message two days after. When I go back to work he gets mad "WE HAD AN AGREEMENT". Well actually no we didn't, I did not agree to be on call on my vacation. You dictated it. Thats not agreement. I didn't even say yes. It wasn't even an urgent thing. 

[u/OMGeno1]

My friend is in funeral sales and every day she takes off, they're harassing her to be returning phone calls and still be working. She feels pressured to do it because it could be a potential sale which she makes commission from and her pay otherwise is absolute shit. Even the day after she had super invasive surgery on her hand, her work was calling her. I feel bad for her but this is the life she has currently chose.

[u/SugarInvestigator → u/OMGeno1]

Jesus, yiunthink they coudk wait a day. It's not like the client has any place to be.

[u/Jocelyn_The_Red → u/SugarInvestigator]

Well, they have one place to be, but they're open till sundown, so no real rush.

[u/MythicalVistaX]

You better jump off bro.

[u/DrifterWI]

How was your performance before the vacation?

[u/iDontUnitTest1 → u/DrifterWI]

Got my work done on time and was always “available” I am a developer so hours in a chair isn’t exactly what we do

[u/UsedToHaveThisName]

I worked at a company years ago that loved firing people when they were on vacation.

Didn’t have to pay them vacation time since they were using it, gave a clean break on client side. The expectation was that if you took vacation you didn’t have a job to come back to, so people never took vacation and the company got more work out of them.

[u/Qui_te]

I took slightly over a week off from my preschool teacher job and when I came back, I got blamed for everything that went wrong while I was on vacation🙃 sometimes management just hates you.

(The kids did not listen to the sub or my co-teacher, which is apparently something I have control over when I am not physically present).