The instruction was to cap paid leave at forty days. But a migration could legitimately create sixty valid days because each grant retained its own two-year life.
The objection was simple: “Employees can hold at most forty days. This transition could give some people sixty. Keep it at forty.”
The premise confused a common outcome with the underlying rule. Each granted entitlement remained valid for two years. Forty days often appeared because two annual grants of twenty days overlapped—not because every other valid right could be deleted.
For a September hire, twenty-day grants made on March 1, 2019, March 1, 2020, and April 1, 2020 could all remain valid during part of the transition. If unused, the employee could temporarily hold sixty days of rights.
The HR director did not challenge the instruction. I was left with three constraints that appeared incompatible: never take away a valid right, never violate the law, and somehow make the balance look no greater than forty.
For a time I genuinely thought there might be no solution.
CHAPTER 03 · PART 04 · EPISODE 2 / 6 STORIES · 35 STORIES TOTAL