Some people really know how to find their way around messy systems!

This guy shares how someone at work found a loophole in a leave schedule.

Check out the full story. 

The leave loophole

Back in the mid 90s I worked for a bank that had was in the process of being taken over.

The bank used to have both sick time and vacation accruals, but the new orders laughed at that and told everyone they’d be migrated to a new “time bank” system that would give 75% of vacation time, and 25% of sick time.

This is where it gets crazy!

Also, only 40 hours of your PTO was going to carry over to the next year – period.

This ticked off a lot of the long-term workers who had been with the company since the 1970s. Loads of workers lost literal months of accrued time off because of corporate penny-pinching.

Up until the takeover, sick time would carry over indefinitely – so if you had a surgery, or needed some other form of long-term care, you could take the time off you needed.

UH OH…

My coworker, Mary, had been with the company since the new corporate building was opened in 1971. Mary was well passed retirement age, but kept working because she liked her job, and it got her out of the house.

She wasn’t hurting for money either, her husband had retired from his union job all the way back in the 80s and his pension had them both well taken care of. But Mary, also didn’t like being messed around by inane corporate BS.

When the change in time off was announced, Mary noticed two things about the announcement. First: The policy would go in effect the next quarter, so there were still two months left before the changeover.

That’s INSANE!

Second: they would honor sick time for any medical leave that was approved prior to the changeover date – provided the worker had enough sick time/vacation available.

The next Monday, Mary filed for medical leave with HR. Her husband had fallen and broke his ankle – and the doctor required that he be in a cast for 8 weeks, with an additional 4 weeks of physical therapy.

As Mary was the sole caretaker for her husband, she qualified for medical leave to provide aid for him. Coincidentally, Mary had just enough sick time and vacation time to cover the leave.

Things finally got better!

Funny thing is, more than a few of the ladies Mary worked with knew both Mary and her husband – who was built like a workhorse and just as stubborn.

The idea that Mary needed to care for her husband was preposterous – let alone the idea that her husband would want Mary to take care of him.

Three months pass by and Mary returns to the office – to pack her belongings. It turns out that after confirming her medical leave was going to be paid out, she timed her retirement to coincide with the end of the leave.

GEEZ! That was interesting!

Sometimes it is true when they say what goes around comes around!

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user knows how things might be working now!

This user shares what a driver at their warehouse once did with all the saved up vacation!

This user knows how things work here!

This user shares something from the history!

This user knows America is insane for such rules!

Someone’s being really clever here!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.