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    Company forces lab employees to use PTO for a weather-related closure: ‘This cannot be legal. The company is deciding for us’

    A lab shuts down due to a winter storm, and management tells employees they must use PTO for the closure, even though no one could have gone in anyway.

    With so many stories that go exactly the other way around circulating in the last few days, this email landed like a shovel to the face. The company decides the lab is closed, then turns around and says everyone has to burn a vacation day for the privilege of staying home. It's not about being flexible or understanding. It's about shifting the cost of a weather closure onto employees, making them pay for something entirely out of their control. The logic is as thin as ice. If the business is closed by order or circumstance, and no one can work, then the time off isn't a choice. It's not like someone decided to sleep in or take a personal day. It's the weather, not laziness, that's keeping people away.

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    • Man using snow shovel on snow-covered road
      via Getty Images For Unsplash+

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    • The frustration isn’t just about losing a PTO day. It’s about the message it sends. Employees are expected to absorb the inconvenience, while the company keeps its payroll costs down. It feels like a bait-and-switch, where the promise of paid time off is quietly erased the moment it’s actually needed. The question of legality is fair, but the real sting is the sense of unfairness. When the option to work is gone, demanding PTO feels less like policy and more like a power move.

    • Work is forcing us to use PTO due to a weather-related closure

      I work at a lab that is in the direct path of the winter storm that's hitting right now into tomorrow.
      via StrikingOperator02
    • In an email sent out on Friday, management stated that if we are closed on Monday we must use PTO for that
      via StrikingOperator02

    • People don’t expect free days off, but they do expect fairness. Asking employees to use vacation time for a closure they didn’t cause is like charging someone rent for a house that’s been condemned. The storm doesn’t care about payroll, and employees shouldn’t be expected to either. The real issue isn’t the lost day. It’s the feeling that when the chips are down, the burden always falls on the same people.

    • My first thoughts are that this cannot be legal. The company is deciding for us that we will not be open, and therefore we have no option to go in.
      via StrikingOperator02
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    • They can't force us to use PTO when the option to work doesn't exist in the first place, right?
      via StrikingOperator02
    • Let me know if I'm way off base here, but this feels wrong. Edit: I am in New Hampshire (also dang why the downvotes?
      via StrikingOperator02
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    • Cyclist biking through falling snow on a quiet urban road
      via Iris

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

    • Some companies will always find ways to pass the cost of chaos onto their staff. The only thing colder than the weather is the expectation to smile and say thanks for the privilege.

    • It was a genuine question lol)
      via StrikingOperator02
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    • IntrovertsRule99 Would you rather the company didn't close and risked your safety? A weather related closing isn't their fault.
      via StrikingOperator02
    • StrikingOperator02 Original Poster's Reply No I totally get this. I don't want to give the wrong impression: I am grateful that they are closed and not risking our safety. My first impression was just that it seemed odd that when not given the option to work we must use PTO. Thank you for bringing up that point
      via StrikingOperator02
    • Gizmorum how can you post everything but the state youre in ?
      via StrikingOperator02
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    • StrikingOperator02 Original Poster's Reply I'm in New Hampshire, I didn't realize it was a state-to-state issue. My bad
      via StrikingOperator02
    • Say_Hennething Pretty good chance they can do this but possible that some states don't allow it. Have you asked if you can take the day off unpaid?
      via StrikingOperator02
    • verdugo734 The place I work for has shut down for impending hurricanes in the past. Managers and salaried non- exempt employees were paid for the days we were shut down. Hourly schmucks like myself were told we could either use PTO or take it as unpaid. The companies that owned us before this company paid everyone when we shut down due to hurricanes.
      via StrikingOperator02
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    • sephiroth3650 There is nothing illegal about them making you use your PTO for this. It's shitty. But it's legal.
      via StrikingOperator02
    • Next_Engineer_8230 Many companies do this. If you have the time to cover the day, you take PTO before taking it unpaid. There's nothing illegal about it. They don't have to pay you for work not performed.
      via StrikingOperator02
    • New_Olive5238 Well if you arent working, they are not required to pay you. So your choice becomes... they close and you dont get paid. Or they close and you use acrued PTO and get paid.
      via StrikingOperator02
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    • Valuable-Release-868 What they are telling you is if you want to be paid for that day, you have to use PTO. Otherwise whatever hours you were scheduled for will be unpaid. The fact that the office is closed is irrelevant. They could just close the office & not give you an option to get paid for those hours OR they could require you to make up the hours too. Perfectly legal move and the fact they gave you an option to get yours paid is actually very nice of them. The one caveat to this is - are y
      via StrikingOperator02
    • SimilarComfortable69 Is your problem with it because you want to take it off unpaid? What is your problem with it because you believe you should get paid for not working? It is an hourly position. And weather is an act of God of sorts. There's nothing that company could do to plan on that day being a bad day to work.
      via StrikingOperator02
    • dangerstupidkills Are you sure they're not just stating the company isn't paying it like it's a holiday? My company has done that in the past but only once. Every snow day since has been PTO or unpaid (my choice)
      via StrikingOperator02

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