I have worked at my company for several years, putting in 50+ hour weeks at time, coming in on weekends, and answering the phone for work questions when I was home.

Finally, I decided I would use my vacation time. I personally spoke with my boss and she agreed that I could take 10 vacation days. I was elated! This was the first week in May and I booked tickets for our family of 5 to Europe. Some of my family lives there and we had never been able to visit. The tickets were for July.

In late June, my boss informed me that because of “business needs” our department would no longer be able to take more than 5 Vacation days in a row. Ever. The same applied to Personal time.

I was told that either I change my tickets or that I would not have a job when I returned. Changing my tickets was expensive and cancelling the trip was out of the question. We had already spent all of our savings. My family was understandably upset.

When I go on vacation next week, I will not have a job to return to.

This post was submitted by J.