So I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to do, but here goes:

So I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to do, but here goes:

I work in an incredibly misogynist and conservative office, run, of course, by older white men who probably object to not being able to call us "girls." I have a Masters Degree, many years experience in the field, and the most important question they had in my interview was "How fast can you type?" (Spoiler - I took the job primarily for the salary, and yes, I am looking elsewhere).

It's been a veritable "Mad Men" environment forever. They think we're still in (at the latest) 1982. But I trudge on, waiting to move on.

Here is my problem:

Part of my job is to record the absences of staff. When I was hired, half of that responsibility (one department) was given to that department's administrator, as I was given additional duties from another department. I am the backup for that administrator, so when they are not there, I record those absences as well - so I can see all their records (I also record the absences of the administrator themselves).

One employee came to me to tell me that their supervisor wanted an increase in hours, and they had told this employee to come to me. I contacted HR to find out how to go about that and began the process (this is a union job for which this increase is allowed).

When the paperwork got to the first approval signature, MY supervisor asked why I was doing it, why the other department administrator wasn't doing it, and essentially took it away from me. I replied that this employee was directed to come to me, and the justification for the increase had been emailed to me, so I assumed it was my job. I forwarded the other department administrator the paperwork and went about my day.

In a conversation WITH the other DA (who, for clarity, has never particularly liked this employee), I was told "they didn't come to me because they knew I wouldn't approve it. I won't approve it because they're out 2 days a week. They aren't able to get their OWN job done. They don't need more hours - they need to come to work and do their job." This was said in front of my supervisor.

So out of curiosity, I look up this employee's absence record. Since July, they have taken 8 days off - 7 vacation days and 1 sick day. All of these days have been rightfully earned, and if they don't take the vacation days, they will lose them.

They have taken no other time off.

My dilemma - if this employee is not getting their own job done, it's not because they're "not coming to work." It's because the job is too much for someone to work a normal schedule and take off the time the company has deemed entitled to them.

Aside - I do not believe this is the case. The employee has gotten numerous satisfactory evaluations. Part of the problem is that the company used to play fast and loose with time, and the new DA is holding the SOME employees to the letter of their contract and playing favorites with others.

The problem is that he is ALSO a white man, and no one above him will actually check his denial to see if he's being legitimately fair or not - they'll just accept his decision.

I wanted to say something to my (our - we report to the same person) supervisor, to let him know that the denial did not have anything to do with this employee's work - were we stating that employees are not allowed to use their vacation time?

Since I'm no longer directly involved in the process, I have been told by mentors to keep my mouth shut - if the employee approaches me, tell them to file a grievance.

I will probably do that. I just hate seeing someone get screwed unnecessarily.