Some managers seem to view time off as a privilege instead of a right.

One employee learned this the hard way when her boss ruthlessly scrutinized every hour of PTO she took.

But when HR was dragged into the matter, this boss learned a valuable lesson in minding her own business.

Keep reading for the full story!

My new boss doesn’t like how much holiday I’m taking and has reported me to HR.

I won’t share screenshots of the emails for obvious reasons, but our conversation was as follows:

My boss: “Hi SML, I notice you’ve taken a lot of PTO recently. I’ve approved this for now, but when you are back, we need to discuss why you are taking so much time off. Thanks, boss.”

The employee tries to explain, but her boss presses her further.

Me: “Hi boss, this is nothing new, and I have done this every year. I tend to use up some annual leave in the first few months of the year, and then some more in the last few months of the year. Please let me know if you are unhappy with this. Kind regards, SML.”

Boss: “How much PTO do you have?”

Me: “I assume you mean annual leave? I have the company standard 31 days, plus an extra 3 days as negotiated in my contract. I also have 4 days carried over from last year. As of 31/03/25, I will have 27 days left for the year. I plan on taking 11 days in August, 8 days in December, and the remaining 8 days as and when needed.”

Her boss isn’t happy about this at all.

Boss: “That seems excessive. We don’t have that much PTO, so I’m unsure where your numbers are coming from. I have referred this to HR because I think this isn’t right.”

Me: “Okay, fine. I was due to come back on Wednesday; please put me on leave for the rest of this week. If HR agree my holiday terms are correct, I expect the extra 3 days to be gratis.”

Boss: “I don’t know what you mean, but fine. I’ll see you on Monday morning.”

So the employee went to HR, and luckily they took her side.

I then spoke to HR. We had a polite conversation, as when I joined this company, we negotiated a salary match but an extra 3 days of holiday.

HR were pretty unimpressed that they were going to be getting a report and told me, “SML, enjoy the week off. Wish I had a boss who’d give me free holiday like that.”

The boss herself is located overseas and has absolutely no idea about employee rights.

Apparently other employees have had problems with this same boss.

When I spoke to my colleagues, letting them know I’d be off for the rest of the week, one of them told me that the same boss also referred a friend of hers to HR because she wanted to take her full 52 weeks of maternity leave in one go.

Again, apparently that wasn’t acceptable — to which HR said, nope, she’s good to go. See you in a year. Bring baby photos.

This boss seems to have a habit of meddling where she doesn’t belong.

Reddit is sure to get a kick out of this one.

Managers usually aren’t as taken as employees are when it comes to generous PTO policies.

Just because she’s the boss doesn’t mean she gets to control everything.

This boss’ excuses were just plain false.

There seems to be a huge disconnect between America and Europe when it comes to time off.

If you’re going to question someone’s PTO, you better check your own math first.

When you play silly games, be prepared to lose!

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