My last pre-FIRE company was based in the fine state of Georgia. They tried to institute a use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy. I noped the fuck out on them, pointing out that I was their person in CA, and in CA, that's not legal, and they had to follow CA rules for CA employees. I made a lot of new CA friends when the company finally wised up. Later, one of these friends was let go after many years of excellent performance. I think his downfall was that he made his job look too easy, he was that good. During the severance negotiations, he said, "And of course, you will be paying me all of my back vacation pay..." "What?" they cried. Yup, in CA, the onus is on the employer to keep track of all vacation monies owed. We were part of a company that had been purchased and absorbed by the current parent company. Nobody kept any records back then. If you took time off, you just told your boss and arranged for someone to cover you. There were no official records. My friend got quite a nice severance package in the end. Serves those fuckers right.
This sounds familiar. Long ago and far away, my CA company was acquired by a company in NC. The NC company had a use-it-or-lose-it policy. Our HR informed them of CA law.
So, they couldn't do that with us. Eventually, they adjusted the vacation policy a few times. They allowed people in NC to "carry over" 40 hours (basically, otherwise everyone was taking vacation in June before the July FY start). They instituted a "cap" on everyone, where you would not accrue more hours. I never got close to that cap.
Sometimes, I liken various company cultures to an abusive boyfriend or marriage. They make you thing that there is something wrong with you, but you are afraid to leave. My group at that company was fine, actually. I trained my boss early on with my policy of "I will work extra when needed, but I will not do it just because. And, if I end up working overtime for 3 weeks straight and need time off, I WILL NOT take vacation. This is a 2 way street buddy."
Note, this was not the norm in the other part of the company. They were hard core. My best friend would tell me about how she'd be putting in 100+ hours in 2 weeks, and by Friday wanted to take a few hours off for an appointment or to go play with her nieces, and her boss would have her take vacation when she asked. It took a few years, but I told her "you know, the online timecard system does not care when you work. As long as it says >80 hours in a 2 week period, you get paid. Your boss isn't looking that closely, and you are salaried."
Years later, I ended up working with a guy from HQ. This is how hard core HQ was in that group that my friend was in. They referred to us as something like "COMPANYX Beach division". Because most people at our office worked 45-50 hours, not 60-75+ hours a week, we were considered slackers.
