You'll Have To Pry My Vacation From My Cold, Dead Hands

When I was negotiating my contract with ME (My Employer) four years ago, I asked for four weeks of vacation per year. I was told that the company had a strict policy of only three weeks for new hires, rising to four in their sixth year of service. I asked for an exception to the rule but was told no exceptions were allowed.

After being hired I received a copy of the employee handbook and found a clause in it which stated that if a new hire had at least 10 years of prior work experience and had four weeks of vacation with their previous employer then we were entitled to four weeks at ME as well. I pointed this out to my boss, who was also the one who'd handled my contract negotiation. He admitted that he hadn't been aware of that clause and had my vacation rate adjusted accordingly. I've been enjoying the extra week for the past three years now. Yippee!

Today I got an email from a fellow in HR saying that an internal audit had found that I was getting too much vacation and would be reduced to just three weeks a year. I quoted the relevant passage from the employee handbook to him, which led to my favourite exchange so far:

ME: So I am entitled to the four week vacation accrual rate.

HR: Then why didn't you get it?

ME: Clearly I did get it or you wouldn't be trying to adjust it now.

So we'll see where this goes. The manager who hired me has jumped in with his support and noted that it had all been approved by HR at the time, so I doubt there will be any problems. If there are, I still have one good line left up my sleeve:

"At this point I suggest you contact the legal department and ask them about the implications of negotiating a contract in bad faith."

While there would be some satisfaction in getting to play the bad-ass, my dislike of confrontation is stronger. A quick resolution with no ruffled feathers would be much more to my liking.

EDIT: HR found the original paperwork and all is well once more.