Isn’t it illegal to deny it? It’s your right to take that day off for paid holiday.
While most companies phrase using PTO as a request, it isn’t. The reality is you’re notifying them that you’re using it.
I am to understand that there are very significant hurdles that a company needs to clear to deny your PTO, and even if they do, they need to propose an alternate, equivalent day within a reasonable time frame that is acceptable to you.
Call in sick.
Start searching for a new job posthaste.
Next time deliver your request in writing and request their answer in writing too. This is one of those issues that the ministry of labour will actually help you.
Start looking for another job, things aren’t gonna get better.
Ahhh, welcome to employment in Japan.
A: “I’d like to take a day off on X”
A-hole: “Hrrrm, we’re gonna be busy that day. Can’t you do it another day?”
A: “Really? You, the guy who has no idea what we’re going to be working on next week, much less next month, knows that we’re gonna be busy the very day I want to take off? Amazing prognostication, Nostradamus. Well, that’s why I’m giving you a month’s notice, so you can find coverage.”
A-hole: “But, I told you. We’re going to be busy that day. It’s busy season then. Please reschedule.”
A: “It’s literally ALWAYS busy season because you incompetent managers have no concept of promoting and prioritizing efficiency. Fine! I’ll move it to the next month. Now you have two months to plan for coverage.”
A-hole: “Yeah… we’re gonna be busy then, too. Can’t you reschedule it?”
Management will ALWAYS deny requests and play the “we’ll be busy” card. If you reschedule, “we’ll be busy then, too”. Basically, PTO is a phantom. It exists in name only, but they will fight tooth and nail to not give it to you (and guilt you into thinking YOU are the problem). These tactics tend to work on the Japanese staff, so they try it on the foreign staff as well, but we usually throw up enough stink that they end up begrudgingly relenting. Be firm. “I’m taking this day off. I’ve given you sufficient notice per the contract. It’s up to you if you want to find replacement or reschedule critical work.”
I see a mini-resurgence in Covid cases. Add in that 2 months from now is start of flu season. Be a shame if you caught Covid a day or so before that requested day and had to stay home.
At the school I worked at all the teachers new one rule .
NEVER request a day off, always just call in sick that day.
Miraculously the school always survived when a teacher was sick but it was doomsday if someone requested a day off lol
If you want to do this the right way, request these days off in writing and save the refusals. Make a show of trying to negotiate an alternative day off, and keep all correspondence that shows that they are refusing to give you any PTO. After you have established a clear pattern of refusal, you’ll have better grounds to take this to a union or to the labor bureau.
Or you can just call in sick – but you should realize they are establishing patterns as well, so if you always call in on Friday, or before a holiday, they are going to note that – and it won’t look good for you.
If it’s just one day, honestly, I’ve learned to just call in sick.
Tell them you were just providing your availability, not requesting. They have plenty of time to make arrangements.
Just say , sorry my family is coming in and I won’t be there . Two months is more than enough notice.
Other statements are good. If you are not a direct hire and have a contract agency or boe contact that knows and respects your rights communicate with them and they’ll likely chew out the school for you
Welcome to teaching English in Japan.
Always call sick on the day of. This is the reason.
That sounds like a management problem.
Tell them you need to see the schedule for these supposed parent meetings in two months’ time, so you can see which day some parents are not coming in.
Quite frankly though, it’s amazing that they are able to schedule that far ahead, they are lying.
This is a ‘tell them, don’t ask them’ situation. They can’t fire you. If they try say anything, tell them to get fucked. They don’t care about you, so you don’t need to care about them.
Call in Sick. Usually in Japan it’s best to tell them in advance for courtesy about PTO but It’s not a request. It’s given from the government. They cannot deny you it.
It’d be hilarious if you’re an ALT, OP.
“Need you to meet with some parents” in that case means “need you to stand around in formal wear and do nothing.”
Plain and simple. They’re breaking the law. Fuck them. Take the day off.
Does anyone have a link to this law that says the company can’t deny a day off! It would be helpful to show future bosses.
I was denied a day off for a funeral. Fuckers.
It’s illegal, unless they made good faith efforts to try to find somebody to replace you and couldn’t.
That’s some micromanaging, controlling asshole BS. I wouldn’t be surprised if the parents “cancel” last minute and you never hear about a rescheduling.
Like the person below says, don’t request a day off, just call in sick. I’d add mention something disgusting if they insist on knowing what it is.
Interestingly everyone is saying you’ll never get paid hols in Japan. I’ve always gotten mine except for 1 time at Nova. I told them that if they refused they would have to find another teacher. Got the hols.
**Ok… DON’T LISTEN TO ANY OTHER COMMENT EXCEPT MINE.**
Paid leave is a **right**, not a privilege.
It is part of an employee’s compensation, and it is something that is earned by employees.
Some basic vocabulary:
時季指定権 (jiki-shitei-ken, or the “right of an employee to designate the period.”)
時季変更権(jiki-henkō-ken, or the “right of an employer to ask an employee to consider another date.”)
拒否権(kyohi-ken, or the “right of an employer to veto an employee’s designation”)
Please note that “**jiki-shitei-ken**” means the right to ***designate***, not request. You are designating to your employer when you are taking your paid leave; you are not requesting.
The labor standards act states the following:
>An employer must grant paid leave under the provisions of each of the preceding paragraphs at the worker’s requested timing; provided, however, that if granting the leave at the requested timing would interfere with the normal operation of the business, the employer may grant leave at a different timing instead. > >使用者は、前各項の規定による有給休暇を労働者の請求する時季に与えなければならない。ただし、請求された時季に有給休暇を与えることが事業の正常な運営を妨げる場合においては、他の時季にこれを与えることができる。
However, “the employer may grant leave at a different timing instead.” is a bit of a misleading translation. An employer may ***grant*** paid leave at another time **if the employee agrees to it**; however, an employer does not have right to veto (kyohi-ken) the employee’s designation. An employer only has the right to request the employee to take this or her paid leave at another time (jiki-henkō-ken) provided that certain conditions are met.
Violating the labor standards act law is punishable under Article 119.
“Article 119 Any person who falls under any of the following items shall be punished by imprisonment with work for not more than six months or a fine of not more than 300,000 yen”
“(i) A person who falls under any of the following items: Article 3, Article 4, Article 7, Article 16, Article 17, paragraph 1 of Article 18, Article 19, Article 20, paragraph 4 of Article 22, Article 32, Article 34, Article 35, the proviso to paragraph 1 of Article 36, Article 37, Article 39, Article 61, Article 62, Articles 64-3 to 67 inclusive, Article 72, Articles 75 to Article 75 through Article 77, Article 79, Article 80, paragraph 2 of Article 94, Article 96, or paragraph 2 of Article 104 of the Labor Standards Act.”
**Just go ahead and take the day off**. Tell your employer that if you don’t receive your compensation as usual, then you’ll file a claim for unpaid wages at the labor standards office.
There are some circumstances in which an employer can deny PTO, but it’s rare. This is directly from my union’s website.
>*My company demands that we give two months’ notice to use our government-guaranteed paid leave. Can they do that? How much notice must we give them?* > >Let’s look at case law, in particular the Supreme Court ruling on March 18, 1982, in a case brought by a worker against his employer, Denden Kosha Konohana Denwa-kyoku, a telephone and telegraph company. > >The plaintiff had called up 20 minutes before his 9 a.m. shift and told the graveyard shift worker that he wouldn’t be showing up that day and that he was taking paid leave. The employer refused to pay his wages that day, so he sued for them. The company’s work rules (shūgyō kisoku) stated that notice must be given “in principle before the end of the employee’s shift two days prior.”Japan’s highest court determined that such a stipulation was gōriteki, meaning logical, rational or reasonable. > >So, requiring two days’ notice for paid leave was ruled OK. But that does not mean that requiring two days’ notice will always be considered gōriteki. The judge took a good hard look at the circumstances of that particular workplace. This judgment applies only to that company. The courts could conceivably judge that even requiring a day’s notice is not gōriteki, or that requiring a week is indeed gōriteki, on a case-by-case basis. > >But by no stretch of the imagination would two months’ notice be considered acceptable by a court in Japan, since it would dilute what is so great about paid leave, that it reflects the will of the worker. Any company that demands two months’ notice to take paid leave is failing in its corporate responsibility to ensure smooth operations.
“Haha, wow, that’s crazy! Welp, see you when I get back!”
Or
“I see, well I’m just letting you know I won’t be here, so you can either cover me or don’t. Either way I don’t care. Deuces, biiitch.”
I have a friend who was denied to take a leave on her WEDDING DAY. Lol and in my company, I was also asked to still come to work the same day despite being hospitalized in the morning.. and some people still defend Japan and their crazy work culture 🙄 leaving this country soon. Can’t wait.
Take that leave, OP. Just say you’re sick when the day that you requested comes. Fuck them. I doubt that the whole school/company would collapse without you there for one day.
I call in sick all the time. Once or twice every two months.
The law is that you are entitled to take all your paid holidays but that they can request you change the day when it “interferes with the normal operation of the business”. What this means is that they can request you not take time off on particular days where your absence will “**significantly and unavoidably negatively impact the business”** (my phrasing based on my understanding). Think of “negatively impacting the business” primarily as losing money; for teachers this is mainly losing students, losing the respect/trust of parents and students.
It is arguable whether being away on a scheduled parent-teacher consultation day falls into this category, but if you usually talk with 10-20 parents on your own, then it would be easy to argue that it does. This is assuming the meetings were on a schedule that the parents had been provided with. If you usually do little, maybe sit next to a Japanese teacher and nod, then it would be hard to argue that your role was so important that your absence would damage the school. As for scheduling, it’s hard to say without knowing what event it is, but they are expected to take reasonable steps to avoid any issues.
What kind of day is it? Is it a parent-teacher’s day that has been on the schedule since April?
I think that the reason is also important. It is very easy to tell parents you are away at your brother’s wedding, but not easy to tell them you went surfing.
Back in the day, I was denied vacation time when my mom visited. I protested that tickets had been bought, and was told nothing could be done. As other commenters have stated, there is another option.
The deadline to call in and sick was 8:30am, I believe, so every morning at 8:25 I called HQ three days in a row and said, “Hi this is SenbeiDawg from Hellhole branch. I’m very sick…in Kyoto…with my mother…have a great day.”
When I got back I respectfully gave souvenirs to the branch manager, along with my resignation. Her face was priceless. She had no words.
Never request – state as a fact (your contractual right) that you are taxing x day/s off. Never say you are “thinking to” or “planning to”. End of story.
say you will be having massive diarrhea that day.
When I was a teacher there was a general rule we all agreed to amongst the teachers. We don’t ask for a day off, we TELL them we’re having a day off.
Not a lawyer but I recall hearing that while your paid holidays are your rights, when to take them is up to negotiation with your employer.
36 comments
[deleted]
Isn’t it illegal to deny it? It’s your right to take that day off for paid holiday.
While most companies phrase using PTO as a request, it isn’t. The reality is you’re notifying them that you’re using it.
I am to understand that there are very significant hurdles that a company needs to clear to deny your PTO, and even if they do, they need to propose an alternate, equivalent day within a reasonable time frame that is acceptable to you.
Call in sick.
Start searching for a new job posthaste.
Next time deliver your request in writing and request their answer in writing too. This is one of those issues that the ministry of labour will actually help you.
Start looking for another job, things aren’t gonna get better.
Ahhh, welcome to employment in Japan.
A: “I’d like to take a day off on X”
A-hole: “Hrrrm, we’re gonna be busy that day. Can’t you do it another day?”
A: “Really? You, the guy who has no idea what we’re going to be working on next week, much less next month, knows that we’re gonna be busy the very day I want to take off? Amazing prognostication, Nostradamus. Well, that’s why I’m giving you a month’s notice, so you can find coverage.”
A-hole: “But, I told you. We’re going to be busy that day. It’s busy season then. Please reschedule.”
A: “It’s literally ALWAYS busy season because you incompetent managers have no concept of promoting and prioritizing efficiency. Fine! I’ll move it to the next month. Now you have two months to plan for coverage.”
A-hole: “Yeah… we’re gonna be busy then, too. Can’t you reschedule it?”
Management will ALWAYS deny requests and play the “we’ll be busy” card. If you reschedule, “we’ll be busy then, too”. Basically, PTO is a phantom. It exists in name only, but they will fight tooth and nail to not give it to you (and guilt you into thinking YOU are the problem). These tactics tend to work on the Japanese staff, so they try it on the foreign staff as well, but we usually throw up enough stink that they end up begrudgingly relenting. Be firm. “I’m taking this day off. I’ve given you sufficient notice per the contract. It’s up to you if you want to find replacement or reschedule critical work.”
I see a mini-resurgence in Covid cases. Add in that 2 months from now is start of flu season. Be a shame if you caught Covid a day or so before that requested day and had to stay home.
At the school I worked at all the teachers new one rule .
NEVER request a day off, always just call in sick that day.
Miraculously the school always survived when a teacher was sick but it was doomsday if someone requested a day off lol
If you want to do this the right way, request these days off in writing and save the refusals. Make a show of trying to negotiate an alternative day off, and keep all correspondence that shows that they are refusing to give you any PTO. After you have established a clear pattern of refusal, you’ll have better grounds to take this to a union or to the labor bureau.
Or you can just call in sick – but you should realize they are establishing patterns as well, so if you always call in on Friday, or before a holiday, they are going to note that – and it won’t look good for you.
If it’s just one day, honestly, I’ve learned to just call in sick.
Tell them you were just providing your availability, not requesting. They have plenty of time to make arrangements.
Just say , sorry my family is coming in and I won’t be there . Two months is more than enough notice.
Other statements are good. If you are not a direct hire and have a contract agency or boe contact that knows and respects your rights communicate with them and they’ll likely chew out the school for you
Welcome to teaching English in Japan.
Always call sick on the day of. This is the reason.
That sounds like a management problem.
Tell them you need to see the schedule for these supposed parent meetings in two months’ time, so you can see which day some parents are not coming in.
Quite frankly though, it’s amazing that they are able to schedule that far ahead, they are lying.
This is a ‘tell them, don’t ask them’ situation. They can’t fire you. If they try say anything, tell them to get fucked. They don’t care about you, so you don’t need to care about them.
Call in Sick. Usually in Japan it’s best to tell them in advance for courtesy about PTO but It’s not a request. It’s given from the government. They cannot deny you it.
It’d be hilarious if you’re an ALT, OP.
“Need you to meet with some parents” in that case means “need you to stand around in formal wear and do nothing.”
Plain and simple. They’re breaking the law. Fuck them. Take the day off.
Does anyone have a link to this law that says the company can’t deny a day off! It would be helpful to show future bosses.
I was denied a day off for a funeral. Fuckers.
It’s illegal, unless they made good faith efforts to try to find somebody to replace you and couldn’t.
https://www.fukuoka-roumu.jp/qa/chingin/qa3_12/
That’s some micromanaging, controlling asshole BS. I wouldn’t be surprised if the parents “cancel” last minute and you never hear about a rescheduling.
Like the person below says, don’t request a day off, just call in sick. I’d add mention something disgusting if they insist on knowing what it is.
Interestingly everyone is saying you’ll never get paid hols in Japan. I’ve always gotten mine except for 1 time at Nova. I told them that if they refused they would have to find another teacher. Got the hols.
**Ok… DON’T LISTEN TO ANY OTHER COMMENT EXCEPT MINE.**
Paid leave is a **right**, not a privilege.
It is part of an employee’s compensation, and it is something that is earned by employees.
Some basic vocabulary:
時季指定権 (jiki-shitei-ken, or the “right of an employee to designate the period.”)
時季変更権(jiki-henkō-ken, or the “right of an employer to ask an employee to consider another date.”)
拒否権(kyohi-ken, or the “right of an employer to veto an employee’s designation”)
Please note that “**jiki-shitei-ken**” means the right to ***designate***, not request. You are designating to your employer when you are taking your paid leave; you are not requesting.
The labor standards act states the following:
>An employer must grant paid leave under the provisions of each of the preceding paragraphs at the worker’s requested timing; provided, however, that if granting the leave at the requested timing would interfere with the normal operation of the business, the employer may grant leave at a different timing instead.
>
>使用者は、前各項の規定による有給休暇を労働者の請求する時季に与えなければならない。ただし、請求された時季に有給休暇を与えることが事業の正常な運営を妨げる場合においては、他の時季にこれを与えることができる。
However, “the employer may grant leave at a different timing instead.” is a bit of a misleading translation. An employer may ***grant*** paid leave at another time **if the employee agrees to it**; however, an employer does not have right to veto (kyohi-ken) the employee’s designation. An employer only has the right to request the employee to take this or her paid leave at another time (jiki-henkō-ken) provided that certain conditions are met.
Violating the labor standards act law is punishable under Article 119.
“Article 119 Any person who falls under any of the following items shall be punished by imprisonment with work for not more than six months or a fine of not more than 300,000 yen”
“(i) A person who falls under any of the following items: Article 3, Article 4, Article 7, Article 16, Article 17, paragraph 1 of Article 18, Article 19, Article 20, paragraph 4 of Article 22, Article 32, Article 34, Article 35, the proviso to paragraph 1 of Article 36, Article 37, Article 39, Article 61, Article 62, Articles 64-3 to 67 inclusive, Article 72, Articles 75 to Article 75 through Article 77, Article 79, Article 80, paragraph 2 of Article 94, Article 96, or paragraph 2 of Article 104 of the Labor Standards Act.”
第百十九条 次の各号の一に該当する者は、これを六箇月以下の懲役又は三十万円以下の罰金に処する。
一 第三条、第四条、第七条、第十六条、第十七条、第十八条第一項、第十九条、第二十条、第二十二条第四項、第三十二条、第三十四条、第三十五条、第三十六条第一項ただし書、第三十七条、第三十九条、第六十一条、第六十二条、第六十四条の三から第六十七条まで、第七十二条、第七十五条から第七十七条まで、第七十九条、第八十条、第九十四条第二項、第九十六条又は第百四条第二項の規定に違反した者
**Just go ahead and take the day off**. Tell your employer that if you don’t receive your compensation as usual, then you’ll file a claim for unpaid wages at the labor standards office.
There are some circumstances in which an employer can deny PTO, but it’s rare. This is directly from my union’s website.
>*My company demands that we give two months’ notice to use our government-guaranteed paid leave. Can they do that? How much notice must we give them?*
>
>Let’s look at case law, in particular the Supreme Court ruling on March 18, 1982, in a case brought by a worker against his employer, Denden Kosha Konohana Denwa-kyoku, a telephone and telegraph company.
>
>The plaintiff had called up 20 minutes before his 9 a.m. shift and told the graveyard shift worker that he wouldn’t be showing up that day and that he was taking paid leave. The employer refused to pay his wages that day, so he sued for them. The company’s work rules (shūgyō kisoku) stated that notice must be given “in principle before the end of the employee’s shift two days prior.”Japan’s highest court determined that such a stipulation was gōriteki, meaning logical, rational or reasonable.
>
>So, requiring two days’ notice for paid leave was ruled OK. But that does not mean that requiring two days’ notice will always be considered gōriteki. The judge took a good hard look at the circumstances of that particular workplace. This judgment applies only to that company. The courts could conceivably judge that even requiring a day’s notice is not gōriteki, or that requiring a week is indeed gōriteki, on a case-by-case basis.
>
>But by no stretch of the imagination would two months’ notice be considered acceptable by a court in Japan, since it would dilute what is so great about paid leave, that it reflects the will of the worker. Any company that demands two months’ notice to take paid leave is failing in its corporate responsibility to ensure smooth operations.
“Haha, wow, that’s crazy! Welp, see you when I get back!”
Or
“I see, well I’m just letting you know I won’t be here, so you can either cover me or don’t. Either way I don’t care. Deuces, biiitch.”
I have a friend who was denied to take a leave on her WEDDING DAY. Lol and in my company, I was also asked to still come to work the same day despite being hospitalized in the morning.. and some people still defend Japan and their crazy work culture 🙄 leaving this country soon. Can’t wait.
Take that leave, OP. Just say you’re sick when the day that you requested comes. Fuck them. I doubt that the whole school/company would collapse without you there for one day.
I call in sick all the time. Once or twice every two months.
The law is that you are entitled to take all your paid holidays but that they can request you change the day when it “interferes with the normal operation of the business”. What this means is that they can request you not take time off on particular days where your absence will “**significantly and unavoidably negatively impact the business”** (my phrasing based on my understanding). Think of “negatively impacting the business” primarily as losing money; for teachers this is mainly losing students, losing the respect/trust of parents and students.
It is arguable whether being away on a scheduled parent-teacher consultation day falls into this category, but if you usually talk with 10-20 parents on your own, then it would be easy to argue that it does. This is assuming the meetings were on a schedule that the parents had been provided with. If you usually do little, maybe sit next to a Japanese teacher and nod, then it would be hard to argue that your role was so important that your absence would damage the school. As for scheduling, it’s hard to say without knowing what event it is, but they are expected to take reasonable steps to avoid any issues.
What kind of day is it? Is it a parent-teacher’s day that has been on the schedule since April?
I think that the reason is also important. It is very easy to tell parents you are away at your brother’s wedding, but not easy to tell them you went surfing.
Back in the day, I was denied vacation time when my mom visited. I protested that tickets had been bought, and was told nothing could be done. As other commenters have stated, there is another option.
The deadline to call in and sick was 8:30am, I believe, so every morning at 8:25 I called HQ three days in a row and said, “Hi this is SenbeiDawg from Hellhole branch. I’m very sick…in Kyoto…with my mother…have a great day.”
When I got back I respectfully gave souvenirs to the branch manager, along with my resignation. Her face was priceless. She had no words.
Never request – state as a fact (your contractual right) that you are taxing x day/s off. Never say you are “thinking to” or “planning to”. End of story.
say you will be having massive diarrhea that day.
When I was a teacher there was a general rule we all agreed to amongst the teachers. We don’t ask for a day off, we TELL them we’re having a day off.
Not a lawyer but I recall hearing that while your paid holidays are your rights, when to take them is up to negotiation with your employer.
[file complaint](https://www.amazon.com/Realistic-Beginners-Lifelike-Hands-Free-Stimulation/dp/B08JL9Z97C/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=dildo&qid=1696198673&sr=8-1)