Thread regarding Follett layoffs

Follett innovator of the year award, how to _uck your employees over and over again. Death by a thousand cuts.

So no earned vacation (PTO)? That makes no sense. For FT employees would that be even legal?
I know we're lucky because Follett even lets us have a job but come on!
You know the family doesn't even need this heartache - they could shut everything down and they'd still be rich. They only keeping the company around to give us peons a sense of worth by having a (low) paying job...
Now shut up and get back to work!

The company would implode under collectivization, and while that would be awful I feel years of bitterness and anger would pay off in seeing the family face the prospect of their precious dividends going bye bye. That's the kind of schadenfreude I can get behind.

Every year we lose PTO. But, previously if Follett laid you off you received payout of unused vacation/PTO days.

This is the last year you need to worry about losing your unused PTO. Going forward, with the new flex PTO you get zero PTO so there is nothing to lose, and more importantly nothing for Follett to payout.

Follett is very innovative. Unfortunately their only innovation news ways to cut benefits and pay to employees.

So, again, you can reach out and see if you can get enough associates together for a class action lawsuit against Follett for stealing your earned benefits OR perhaps the family TL and BF will show what outstanding people the family is and they will make all those that were denied the ability to take their PTO due to staffing shortage whole by paying the PTO.
If the family screws over a large number of associates by stealing their PTO perhaps noting that on social media might be useful!

Contact the new follett Service Center! According to some, they'll work on the problem a long time and they're polite. TL and his goon squad don't work particularly hard and they're not that polite.
See, this is the problem with you people! They give you a GREAT, FANTASTIC new tool and you won't use it. The follett Service Center has got to be the answer!

In case some don't get humor. This is what follett is about. A new service center that tries really hard is an outlier. It is the exception the proves the rule. follett, TL and the whole family are bad people. Yes, being c-appy to employees for 8 years running make you a bad person.

Responding to 2dcx+19V79OEP
Of course we reach out to the RM, and other stores. Do you think other stores within distance have people to spare? And the RM? Well mine worked from home, never left the house for the entire year, so that was no help. Thinking back, the only time a regional covered a store was when the manager quit and there was no option,and all we did was hear about it,day after day. My RM made sure to get in all due vacation of theirs, that's for damn sure.

The cannot steal your earned benefits.
If you could not use your PTO because of staffing issues that the company did not address they can't come back and say if you didn't use them you lose them.

Let's see if TL and BF step up and make a company wide announcement that they will pay all earned PTO that couldn't be used because that's the right thing to do.

Not prohibited. However, employees must have a reasonable opportunity to take the vacation and notice of the policy. Employers are also free to determine whether to permit carry-over of unused vacation days year to year, and if so, how many days may be carried over. (Ill. Admin. Code tit. 56, § 300.520(e).)
Illinois is not a non-expired state, however, they do have a ‘reasonable opportunity’ clause regarding pto. So did the company not provide this to SM?

This won't help you now. Send your PTO statement to you state legislatures. Tell them that PTO (vacation) is an earned benefit that you were precluded from using due to COVID (and a terrible employer). Ask them to make PTO non-expiring, by law.
California and Illinois have non-expiring PTO. Once earned, you keep until it is used. If you have a positive balance upon leaving the company, the untaken PTO is paid to you.
If nothing else, ask for a moratorium on cancelling PTO not taken due to the pandemic (and pandemic short staffing). Or, unionize!

@2dcx+19V79OEP Many RMs don’t care and not everyone has an abundance of nearby schools for help

I am s.m. and worked alone for many months, 60 hrs a week at least many weeks. Once I was able to get a staff member it was only due to rental check in. Last summer I was able to take 1 week. No time in August, September, October brings inventory and text returns, took 2 days in November. No way can you take time in December, or January, and we started late so goodbye February. Hello March. Oh,and throw in a few cases of Covid that had the tiny staff I have out for extended times.Do you think I can eat up 2 1/2 weeks before eoy?
No payroll to cover, no other manager to borrow. We should be allowed to bank it this year.

Regional Managers do not care! In February, we told the RM that we needed coverage for me to take vacation and he still hasn't responded or let us hire anyone. Another store manager was only allowed to take a half day on Fridays but then told she had to come in on Saturdays. These are two different regions/groups.

You clearly didn't reach out to schools that have coverage or work with your regional manager.

So, close the door and lock it and take your earned PTO.
See if they fire you.
If they fire and and enough people then you would have a class action going for you.

Oh the family would like that!

Go to the state the Company gives zero you know whats. No, really, the spreadsheet assasins have already mapped this one out.

If you couldn't take your PTO because of THE COMPANY'S STAFFING POLICY they should pay you for those days.
I would send a letter to Corporate HR and if they don't respond then I would reach out to my state's regulatory body.
Pocketing your benefits because of their policy's is not acceptable or legal. The family has screwed over too many people already (thank you vendors, we'll pay net never!).