I've been currently working at a LTC facility since mid-January 2016. We are quite short-staffed. My boyfriend and I are wanting to go to Cancun in July. I plan on putting in my vacation request this week. My facility has been known to be stingy on accepting time-off requests... and I'm kind of worried. What if I've already paid for my vacation, and they decline my request?
I started a new job in February. I already had a week's vacation scheduled for March as well as a 2 week trip for May. I told them upfront that I would be needing that time off. They agreed. Granted, I didn't have any PTO to use for the week in March. For the May trip, I'll have accumulated about a week's worth of PTO. No big deal!
OP: (still there?) Somebody else already suggested that you ask co-workers to switch days with you. That is always a good route, as they will inevitably need/desire a favor in the future. Maybe you will luck out & be able to salvage your trip with some vacation days & the kindness of colleagues being willing to cover or swap with you.
RNDynamic,
I've held my tongue after reading so many of your utterly ridiculous replies but I want to chime in now. not that you haven't heard everything before from numerous others here and I certainly know nothing I say will do a darn thing, but still...
Those people are wasting their lives in a fairly meaningless grind.
Work to live. Don't live to work.
Although this is a nice theory (work to live, don't live to work) I think the majority of employees (not just nurses here) find that unfortunately, the world is not always as it should. Not all folks can work and turn a love/passion into a career and support themselves/family from it. If you can, then you should most definitely be grateful. Puppies & rainbows ARE wonderful but life is not always the way it should be. Or else, nice people would NOT finish last (not a one of them) etc etc.
What will you do someday, when you meet a person MORE aggressive than yourself & they want to make you the uncomfortable one? Also, just reading your post about WANTING to make your boss (maybe a jerk, but still a human) that uncomfortable by essentially bullying them into giving you what you want, well, how do you feel good about this? Would YOU like to be treated this way by others, because you're the boss and have the hard decisions to make and certainly cannot please everybody. Do you not believe in the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Or just cannot practice it because then you would be on the losing end, if you were nicer to your manager?
Yes, you get what you want and although it sucks for us 'nice' people now, to see you constantly get what you want & win, eventually, karma will come back to you.
I must admit though, when in need of a good laugh, you RNDynamic never let me down. For that, I thank you. And then I am thankful I have what most would call common sense. I am faily confident to say a decent amount of folks agree with me in saying that you are in significant need of AA: an Attitude Adjustment. I hope it doesn't take negative events in your life to bring that about.
I wanna make a few things clear. I have NOT paid for my vacation yet, so dw :)
Also, I read the facility's policy, and it said that one LPN and one RN can go on vacation as long as no other LPN/RN are gone the same time. I msg'd my coworkers to make sure no other vacay overlapped.
I understand I haven't accumulated enough vacation pay or what not, so I sent the request as a *unpaid* leave of absense (if that makes any difference).
Also, I asked the RN who has been working there 5+ years and he told me 3 months is a good enough time of notice from reading the comments, that varies from a lot of places! He actually told me, "tell them that you already paid for your trip, and as long as you made sure with the other LPNs, she should let you go" I'm going for only one week anyway.
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Wow, thanks for all the helpful feedback!
I wanna make a few things clear. I have NOT paid for my vacation yet, so dw :)
Also, I read the facility's policy, and it said that one LPN and one RN can go on vacation as long as no other LPN/RN are gone the same time. I msg'd my coworkers to make sure no other vacay overlapped.
I understand I haven't accumulated enough vacation pay or what not, so I sent the request as a *unpaid* leave of absense (if that makes any difference).
Also, I asked the RN who has been working there 5+ years and he told me 3 months is a good enough time of notice from reading the comments, that varies from a lot of places! He actually told me, "tell them that you already paid for your trip, and as long as you made sure with the other LPNs, she should let you go" I'm going for only one week anyway.
Anyway, thanks a bunch everyone for replying!
Good luck-we now have a policy prohibiting unpaid leave.If you don't have the time accrued you don't get to take it....
Yep, still here! I appreciate your reply. I know my post probably gave some people a "*****" reaction. I haven't paid for my vacation, and I should've re-worded that because my post made it seem like I already paid for it. If the decline my request, then they decline it. Nothing I can do about it. Of course I'll be upset, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes.
I did talk to my other coworkers, and all said it should be fine. (I work with really supportive nurses whom I genuinely care for)
Exactly my point. My work does to. They are expecting and planning on people taking vacations. So, if the week is not taken already, then it shouldn't be too late to request the time off unless one has already been scheduled to work.
It's never to late to ask for what's available, but that's different than expecting a certain week to be available. That's not usually what employers are planning for when they bring in travellers to cover vacations.
I've held my tongue after reading so many of your utterly ridiculous replies but I want to chime in now. not that you haven't heard everything before from numerous others here and I certainly know nothing I say will do a darn thing, but still...
Yes, you get what you want and although it sucks for us 'nice' people now, to see you constantly get what you want & win, eventually, karma will come back to you.
But you see, this poster is just trying to be the master of Tall Tales. In other words, none of that happened. He doesn't "constantly get what he wants & wins." It's pure fantasy.
It's never to late to ask for what's available, but that's different than expecting a certain week to be available. That's not usually what employers are planning for when they bring in travellers to cover vacations.
This is how is works at my current job. The vacation request book comes out in October for the FOLLOWING YEAR. Vacations for the next calendar year are approved or denied by the 3rd week of December. If people request the same week or get denied the more senior nurse gets it and you can resubmit a request. You can always request later on, but it's going to depend on staffing availability.
At my other job vacation requests are approved on a first come first served basis regardless of seniority. Obviously the summer months are taken very early on. Some people turn in their requests 2 years in advance!
Regardless of how one's employer does it though, it's bad practice to schedule and book anything that can't be changed before getting approval in writing.
from reading the comments, that varies from a lot of places! He actually told me, "tell them that you already paid for your trip, and as long as you made sure with the other LPNs, she should let you go" I'm going for only one week anyway. 
purplegal
432 Posts
Pretty sure whoever wrote this was not being serious, just saying.