The company I used to work for was one of the worst when it came to vacation or any other leave. At the time i left i was earning 6 weeks of vacation per year, but using it was always an issue.

When my second child was born i took a week off to be in the hospital and to help at home. Two days into my time off i was receiving calls about another employee leaving that week (he had given over a month notice), asking me to spend some time working with him so i could take over his workload.

The year before i left I had to have surgery on my arm and hand and decided to use some vacation time (3 1/2 weeks) instead of short term disability. Within a week (before the sticthes even came out of my hand) I was receiving phone calls asking when i would be back. When i did return not 1 thing i was assigned had been handled by anyone else and my workload had increased again due to the purchase of another product (but no people).