When we have a job we love, we want to do it as best as we can. If it’s a profession you have been thinking about having when you were little and then went to get an education to be able to pursue that career, you care about finishing tasks and going the extra mile to make sure everything’s done.

Sadly, not every employer will acknowledge your hard work and may even stab you in the back disregarding all the loyalty you’ve shown. This happened to Reddit user radicalbamboozl who was told they will not be paid for the PTO they accumulated after they gave in their 2 weeks notice.

More info: Reddit

This employee learned his lesson to never give notice before quitting in order to not lose any more PTO

Image source: Ruben Schade (not the actual photo)

The Original Poster (OP) radicalbamboozl worked for a big-box retailer in the US in their corporate IT department. He remained in the company for over 2 years and was a hardworking employee who did everything he was asked.

He was with the company during the pandemic and witnessed how it suffered greatly because they lost hundreds of their overseas colleagues who were quite important for the company to function.

He worked for the company for 2 years and was doing his best without disobeying management

Image credits: radicalbamboozl

It meant that the department was understaffed so the employees who remained were given a 3-times bigger workload from that point and sometimes they had to take later night shifts which led to working to the point of burnout.

The saddest part is that the company didn’t care that they were overworking their employees and didn’t even compensate them properly. The OP said that he received a raise every year which was less than a coffee would cost and when he earned some bonuses, they didn’t look that impressive after taxes.

The OP knew for a fact that the company was able to afford bigger salaries and bigger bonuses because the executives would tell the employees themselves how well they are doing with the sales increasing by 200 percent.

During the pandemic, he was working overtime, longer shifts, and had a bigger workload because the company lost a lot of important employees

Image credits: radicalbamboozl

Luckily, this year, radicalbamboozl got an offer to start another job as a first-year apprentice. The new job offered a 36-percent bigger starting salary and guaranteed raises. Not only that, it was a job with a Union offering other benefits such as pension.

After getting the offer, the OP gave in his 2 weeks notice at his current job as a courtesy and asked if he would be paid his PTO. Over the time he spent at the company, the OP accumulated 80 hours of paid time off but hasn’t used them, so logically, he was expecting to be paid for them.

To his surprise, the company informed the employee that he won’t be paid for the hours he didn’t use for time off. In the comments, he revealed that this was completely legal as it was written in the employee handbook. What is more, in the state of Minnesota, where the OP works, employers are not required to pay employees for the accrued PTO, so the redditor couldn’t do anything but appeal to his company’s conscience.

He tried to remind them of how loyal he was and he probably mentioned how hard he worked when there was a lack of employees in the company, he pointed out that he was giving them notice when he wasn’t obliged to, but the HR was heartless.

Recently, the OP got a job offer that he decided to take and gave in his two weeks notice

Image credits: radicalbamboozl

The OP realized one thing from his experience, which was to warn other employees that before leaving a job in advance, they should make sure they take their PTO and quit on the last day because his honesty didn’t pay off.

While you may think that the OP is entitled to his payment, in the US, companies aren’t even required to provide their employees with paid time off at all by federal law. No state laws require that either and about half of the states permit the use-it-or-lose-it policy.

When companies do have a PTO policy, on average, employees get 10 days a year, according to the U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics. The longer the employee stays at a company, the more PTO days they will get: on average extra 3-4 days every 5 years.

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For comparison, European Union countries are required by law to ensure every employee has at least 20 paid vacation days every year. Countries like Kuwait, Malta, Panama, Ukraine and many others provide even more paid days off and they also require employers to pay for public holidays.

As he later realized, it was a mistake because the company’s policy was that if you don’t use your PTO, you lose it and he wasn’t even allowed to use it after announcing his resignation

Image credits: radicalbamboozl

Image source: Tim Regan (not the actual photo)

With such a system, it is no wonder why the OP would want to hide the fact he is quitting a job. People in the comments felt really sorry this happened to him and suggested not coming to work the last two weeks or calling in sick to use up the PTO.

Did you know that some states don’t require employers to pay unused PTO when an employee is quitting their job? Do you think this was OP’s mistake for not informing himself about it? How do you feel about how paid time off is handled in the US? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Other Reddit users were sorry this happened to the OP and were reminded once again how companies don’t really care about their employees

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