When management refuses to bend the rules by a single day, they shouldn’t be surprised when you turn the tables on them.

What would you do if you had one extra PTO day and your employer refused to carry it over or pay it out, even with plenty of notice? Would you just let it go? Or would you find a way to use the system they’re so strict about to your full advantage?

In today’s story, one news employee finds themselves in this very predicament and opts for the latter. Here’s the full scoop.

Can’t carry over 1 PTO day? See you in February

I worked for a 24-hour news organization, so someone needs to be in the studio at all times.

As a staff monkey, I had things like PTO and vacation time, which I usually didn’t use too often, but we were allowed to carry over 5 unused days each year, as long as we used those days in the first quarter of the following year.

However, the end of the year is in high demand for off time because most people need to burn unused vacation time that they couldn’t carry over.

Management, wisely, makes sure everyone knows the policies and schedules December well in advance so there aren’t any last-minute coverage issues around the holidays.

He took his problem to management.

Since I didn’t use a lot of my PTO during the year due to built-up comp time and OT, I generally used it the week between Christmas and New Year’s and took about 10 days off around then.

One particular year, I had six days left, which was one extra day. But since I already took off the time between Christmas and New Year’s, there literally wasn’t a day left for me to use as a day off, as no one was left to cover a shift if I were to take off.

I went to the scheduler and management and asked for either a one-time exception to carry over the extra day, and I’d take it on January 2nd, extending off time by one day(no go—I didn’t do it with the required notice) or pay me one day’s wages for the unused time (also a hard no-go).

He had plenty of built-up time, so he planned to take a few months off.

Here’s the MC.

Since I had so much built up PTO due to working holidays or comp time for OT work, I had a ton of other days banked.

Combining my already booked holiday break with my 5 carryover days and the 10 new ones I got for the new year, plus some holidays that come in the early part of the year, I figured I was able to take enough time off that I would leave for my Christmas break on 12/24 and not return until the last week of February – nearly March.

Since I gave enough notice, they couldn’t deny me. They now have to cover about two months of my shifts.

Apparently, they were able to let him carry over that one day.

The next day, I put my time off in the system and emailed the scheduler a note saying, “Have a great holiday. I will see you in March!”

The day after, I received a call from the department’s VP asking me what they needed to do.

I said, “Let me carry over my extra day. I will use it on January 2. You have almost a month to cover one shift, and we’re all good.”

I got the carryover day and used it.

Wow! That would’ve been some vacation.

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit think about this situation.

This person thinks there should be one universal rule.

Here’s someone who’s confused.

According to this comment, it’s not MC.

Not that it’s right, but this makes sense.

That was well-played!

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.