What would you do? Boss plans to leave after vacation time hits!

[DigitalCancer]

Done.

 

[xaeniac]

mind your own business; many times vacation is prorated; if not shame on your company and their bad. you could look like a fool if you do not have all the information or he decides not to leave.

 

[HN]

yeah, don't do it. imagine he never told you at all

 

[nageov3t]

it's a douchebag thing to take advantage of, imo, and it would probably reflect my opinion on him if ever asked, but I wouldn't like report him over it or anything.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I wouldn't mention a word to anyone. Let him and your employer deal with any fallout from this dick move. There's a good chance he's burning a bridge, no sense in you getting involved.

 

[BoberFett]

How's that your problem? If I were his boss, I'd tell him he's done on 12/31. We don't need him to work on the day of the New Years holiday.

 

[nageov3t]

How's that your problem? If I were his boss, I'd tell him he's done on 12/31. We don't need him to work on the day of the New Years holiday.

yeah... I feel like his boss/HR will probably bend over backwards looking for a way to not let the exploitation happen.

 

[Jeff7]

Plenty of companies wouldn't think twice about booting someone the day before profit sharing or bonus checks or 401k matches (where applicable) are paid out. It lets them milk the disposable workforce as much as possible.

yeah... I feel like his boss/HR will probably bend over backwards looking for a way to not let the exploitation happen.

Depending on the company, there might not be anyone there who can figure that out ahead of time.

 

[lxskllr]

The ethics of screwing a company out of money is slightly higher than betraying someone's trust, and leaking confidential information. IOW, I wouldn't think too highly of him, but I'd think even less of you if you ratted him out.

 

[jlee]

Do you get vacation after you've worked there a year, or do they give you 2-3 weeks the day you're hired? If he worked there his first year before getting any, that 3 weeks will already be earned.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I have a feeling it's not going to play out like that. In fact, I'd bet on it.

What's to keep the company from saying "Sorry. Your last day will be Dec 31st"? Or from just marching him out the door 15 minutes after he gives notice? The company is in the driver's seat on this one. Your boss isn't going to pull a fast one, no matter what you're thinking.

 

[kranky]

Don't say anything. The company has a policy, let them handle it.

Anyway, he's giving notice more than a month before his *expected* last day. They might choose to give him an early exit - especially since he's going to a company they do business with.

 

[PenguinPower]

Company policy is to pay all due vacation at the beginning of the year? Or is it to pay out accrued vacation? I think the latter is more likely. That being said, 10k is a drop in the bucket for all but the smallest companies.

 

[Imp]

Snitching out a trusted coworker/acquaintance because he's taking advantage of a poorly thought out company policy... to protect a company that can probably fire you at any time it feels right.

Or is this more "proving your loyalty" to grease the wheels. You know, so the bosses will reward your "loyalty" with the promotion you covet?

On the other hand, if he gives notice 11/22, why wouldn't the company realize his "play" and cut him down on their own?

 

[dighn]

sounds like a high risk low gain move to me. just use this knowledge to better position yourself for the promotion, without snitching.

 

[DrPizza]

Don't burn your own bridges with the guy.

 

[BoomerD]

It's absolutely NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS what he does. How the fuck do you not realize that?

 

[postmortemIA]

lol there's no way company will let his vacation roll over like that, his last day won't be the day he thinks it is going to be.

 

[Ruptga]

it's a douchebag thing to take advantage of, imo, and it would probably reflect my opinion on him if ever asked, but I wouldn't like report him over it or anything.

That exactly. There is no way that reporting it will help you, at best the company's response will be neutral and the guy won't know what you did.

Think of it this way, how much do you value your employer's money? If you really like them and are paid to your satisfaction, you may consider something that gains them a dollar and costs you a quarter to be at break-even. I don't know what that number really is for you, but it's an example. If so, how much damage could you do to your reputation with the company and with your (ex)boss, more or less than $2500 worth?

 

[Belegost]

Don't burn your own bridges with the guy.

Absolutely this.

OP, whatever your thoughts on his ethics here (and seriously if this is the sort of system where you work a year before your vacation time vests, then in my opinion he earned that) the fact is that he respects you enough to call you and offer you a position, and further offer you an opportunity to move with him now.

If you want to stay where you are and grab yourself his seat; let him know that, politely - just tell him you feel you're ready to step up in management, you appreciate the offer, and if things go sour where you are you'll give him a ring.

Life is variable, maybe things will stay great where you are, and you never talk with him again. Or your company could have a major upset, and you're facing layoff - in that situation having a contact like this could be a life saver.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

If he's worked with the guy for so long chances are his boss is also member here and has already read this

 

[heymrdj]

Absolutely this.

OP, whatever your thoughts on his ethics here (and seriously if this is the sort of system where you work a year before your vacation time vests, then in my opinion he earned that) the fact is that he respects you enough to call you and offer you a position, and further offer you an opportunity to move with him now.

If you want to stay where you are and grab yourself his seat; let him know that, politely - just tell him you feel you're ready to step up in management, you appreciate the offer, and if things go sour where you are you'll give him a ring.

Life is variable, maybe things will stay great where you are, and you never talk with him again. Or your company could have a major upset, and you're facing layoff - in that situation having a contact like this could be a life saver.

This, and judging his history with the boss on said vs given, the OP shouldn't be feeling too cozy that he'll have a new and improved job. OP with your experience, there's a million just like you probably willing to work cheaper than you. After all IT has been all but drilled down to cashier levels these days. Don't be overly confident that you're just going to walk into his job permanently. The company could put you there temporarily, but some other exec could be thinking of their own power move when this guy leaves.

 

[DigitalCancer]

So, I'll respond to a couple of concerns...

I wouldn't rat him out but I've been struggling with not saying anything. As I said before, he did this to me at the last job and I kept it quiet so he knows he can trust me, but, I just think he's doing a shitty thing to a company that pays him so well..just seems REALLY greedy to me.

He's giving a 6-wk notice so...I to am skeptical as to how they would possibly be willing to let go of the money...I mean, we're not doing 'bad' but our numbers have dropped a little (but still pulling in about $2mil/week, but after everything is paid its closer to around $1-1.5). We're not a big company...around 100 employee's total but we do a lot of high-end appraisals for some big name banks and in a typical day, our volume is about 5000 appraisals a day (our appraisers are contracted).

So, no...I do NOT want to burn bridges with my boss b/c after-all...I have a guaranteed position at the new place as a Network Engineer if I decide to go that route or it doesn't work out here for me.
He DOES already have the position at the new place so there's no way he's not going to take it and he's already signed contracts and everything over there. It's a tech consulting company and we deal with them because HE brought them in (he's dealt with them for about 10yrs I guess now) and so he wants me to keep their presence here by continuing to order from them AND he's going to try to get his boss to use him for consulting some of our security audits, at least until I become familiar with them.

To reply to everyone who said it was none of my business and they hold me in low regard for ratting..I wasn't thinking of ratting, was just asking about a moral dilemma with it. I've also thought about going into HR to ask hypothetical but...that sounds really bad b/c they would begin looking at me!

Anyway, at least everyone agreed with my thoughts...and also, to answer the other question concerning vacation, a lot of things have changed since we started as we managed to get a new controller hired to help with the finances and in the beginning we were accrual based but we stopped at the first of this year, so now, we get all of our vacation up front. BUT...when he and I came in, we negotiated for getting our vacation up front, me just because and him because he was in the process of adopting a child from China and so he needed his vacation time in order to travel a couple months after he brought me in, so, the vacation time for 1/1 2015 will NOT be earned.

I like the guy, he's been good to me and defended me when I needed it, but, as far as helping me excel my career...he hasn't really done that. He hired me to make himself look good is all...it's all self-preserving for him I think.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

What do you guys think...would you tell someone that he's planning to leave and take $10k of the companies money like that?

My advice?

Mind your own business. It is absolutely none of your business what your boss is planning and when he turns in his notice, his management can decide how to handle it. Do you really think they're stupid and won't figure out what he is trying to do?

A former employer of mine used to have a policy that once January 1 hit, you got ALL of your vacation time. Over the years, everyone planning on quitting would wait until after Jan 1 hit so they could get paid out for all of their vacation. To be perfectly honest, if that policy would have still been in existence when I decided to quit, I would've waited until January 1 too. At any rate, the company finally wised up and started pro-rating vacation time so people wouldn't take advantage of it. If your company doesn't pro-rate, they should start.

It's absolutely NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS what he does. How the fuck do you not realize that?

This.

I don't know the OP, but at a former job, we had a guy who was the department tattletale and would rat everything out to the boss (who was also his pal). Once I alerted my coworker (who was good friends with the tattletale and wouldn't speak to me for days after I told him until he saw I was right), we just were careful what we said around him. The best part was that one time, I got called into my boss' office and the tattletale was in there and my boss started chewing me out for writing "wrong" instructions in some migration documentation -- the area the tattletale was responsible for. I calmly took the document, looked at it, and said "I don't know what you mean boss. Kenny (the tattletale) wrote this entire section and forwarded it to me to paste in the master document." The resulting lulz were priceless.

NO ONE likes the department tattletale. There are times when you MUST report things (illegal or grossly unethical activities), but this isn't one of them and unless you want to be despised and set up for a huge fall yourself, you'll mind your business OP. People tattle on others to build themselves up and knock others down because in most cases, the tattlers don't have the skills the other folks do and have to compensate somehow.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Snitches get stitches.