Had a boss that refused to give me full time cause that would cost company more money, but would harass me if I ever called out. Would remind him that he refused to make me full time and didn't give me a raise that year so I sure as hell wasn't driving through a blizzard to come to work a night when I hadn't been scheduled until 15 minutes before he called.

In the US there's basically no legal requirements for paid leave so there's also little to no protection for it

I’ve had companies write clauses in their employee manual which states you must apply and get approval for using your paid vacation days a month in advance. When you sign the contract, you agree to these rules.

The thing is, where I live, there is no requirement to receive approval, and you really only need to give one day of notice (which has precedent in court). The use of these days off if the employee’s legal right.

The really shitty thing is that companies can legally write illegal clauses in their contracts, they just can’t enforce them. However, if an employee is young and doesn’t know their rights, they will just follow the rules blindly (I know I did).

Also, leave only accumulated for two years here, so you have to use it or lose it.

So the moral of the story is to educate yourself on your local labor laws.

Sometimes managers do guilt trip.

Shitty manager: "Oh you're taking a few days off to go to a funeral? Now Sarah has to work overtime... :-("

A dumb employee would then try to reduce your PTO time to make it work, because they're too stupid to realize that it's the manager's responsibility, not theirs.

Oh, and the manager is paid significantly more than them.

Yes, yes we do. I've recieved them personally

Your leave resets? That sounds illegal.

I've worked in a small company's small team of 3 devs before, it would not have been great for the company if two or all of us went on a holiday at the same time.