How many of the people on the board have had a long planned and approved vacation cancelled at the last minute by their boss? (Due to expected heavy workload)

If so, does the company owe you cancellation costs (used Priceline) ?

That's a good question. Even if you didn't use Priceline, most airfares these days are nonrefundable. How can you make plans in advance if you can't be sure you won't have to cancel them?

Well, the way the economy is today, the question is - can you afford to quit your job or get another good one easily? If so, then you have some leverage and can pretty much demand whatever you want under these circumstances (including thumbing your nose at your boss and going on vacation anyway). If getting a different job is difficult or not desirable - I guess you can ask for cancellation costs, but if your boss laughs at you, you're screwed.

I would NEVER work for a company that demanded I cancel my vacation after they'd already OK'd it. Completely unacceptable. However, if they *asked* me and agreed to pay any extra cost of rescheduling it (plus maybe even throwing in a nicer hotel or something), I would probably do it.

Andrew

I think if your vacation is pre-approved, it's reasonable to request your boss for the money back, esp the cancellation is due to the heavy workload.

But of course you should talk to your boss on a nice good manner and tell him honestly about your situation. Timing is important too. If you can prove the cost to be refunded, show to him. Apart from monetary refund, it is also better to offer some alternatives to boss such as an extra day of leave for your boss to consider.

If you are so afraid to ask, bring this topic in form of joke to test the response of your boss.

Hope these will help you.

Some companies have a policy that all vacation time, even if "pre-approved" is subject to cancellation based on their discretion, and that there will be no compensation. So you know upfront that there's always a chance that it could happen.

Wasn't there a thread recently about some guy whose wife was already at the airport and he had just been informed that his vacation was being cancelled?

I am a government worker. I plan my vacations about a year in advance, normally take a month off each year (all at one time), and always make sure I have the boss's thumbprint before booking.

In the past 6 years, my boss has postponed my annual vacation twice and cancelled it outright once.

Each time, and according to the policy of the organization, I have been fully reimbursed for any losses. In my view, this is what a good employer ought to do.

I should note that, each time, I was consulted on the decision to cancel or postpone, and fully agreed with management that, under the circumstances, the decision was right. (Yeah, I'm that indispensable!)

How many times has your boss cancelled his / her trip? Probably never!

My husband runs a company and we have had to cancel vacations at the last minute quite a few times over the last two decades. It usually is a bad time with a heavy workload and or someone quits and he has to fill in etc. We have always been lucky with airfare and hotels but since everyone has to have a tight belt these days, we might not be so lucky. We never plan anything more than 2 months in advance and never have. Stinks sometimes with inconvienent flight times.

We also own our own company and have had to cancel our own trips at times for various business reasons, but we NEVER would expect our employees to cancel their vacations that we had okayed, unless something very unusual came up and then we would reimburse them and also give them some extra perks when they do go. Good employees and employee morale are good for our companyand for us. Also remember, no one cares as much about your company as you the owner does and that is understandable.

The real question is DO YOU NEED THIS JOB? if the answer is no, then demand your vacation. When your return be ready to clear out your work space, and start rewriting your resume. My experience with employers lately is that they knew the job market is tight and they will take advantage of this. This appears to be what is happening to the original poster. My brother in law just lost his job over a similiar incident, he wanted to take a week off on short notice ( he worked for the elementary schools) at the beginning of the semester. His boss said no way, you just had the whole summer off, he mumbled something about forgetting more than his boss ever knew. Unfortunately his boss heard the comment and terminated him on the spot. He is a programmer in Seattle with a bad attitude, and a high IT unemployment rate. Not to mention that he is a moron, who has been fired from his last two jobs...My response to his email was "Would you like fries with that?" Anyway, good luck in whatever you do. I personally would not enjoy my vacation if I had to worry about my continued employment or enslavement to my crappy job..

I worked for a corporation that was so beurocratic that getting reimbursed for a cancelation fee whould have been eqivalent to an amendment to the Constitution. The boss would consider you a pain in the ass and he can't do anything about it anyway.

If you don't pick your battles Wisely you're going to priceline yourself out of a job.

I scheduled a two-week vacation about six-months in advance. When I came back from the approved vacation, my said I took too much time off (huh?) And the boss made note that I took too much vacation time on my performance review.

Nora, who has a ton of vacation time but is afraid to use more than 3 days at a time.

I have been asked to reschedule an approved vacation, but my company paid the difference in airfare for both my husband and I (went up significantly from when I had booked) as well as giving me additional vacation time because instead of leaving on a Sat I had to leave on a Tuesday (and thus lost the weekend which was 1 day that Ii didn't have to take vacation time for).

Husbands company has done the same with paying for any additional costs associated with rebooking - the only problem is when you are vacationing with others, there is no compensation for missing days with them!

You must have missed my sarcasm in the post. Is this better? You MUST be a government employee as no one else could leave a position for a month no matter how much vacation time they get.