Boss denied leave for a 16 working day Europe trip that was booked 5 months in advance before project timelines changed. What should I do?
Hi everyone, I (27F) WFH here in India for a Middle Eastern company as a Digital Marketing Specialist since +2 years. Currently Im the only one working in Marketing for this brand.
My husband and I booked a 21 day Tomorrowland + Europe trip for July 2026 back in January 2026. At that time, my company’s brand launch was supposed to happen in April, so I thought taking leave in July wouldn’t be an issue.
In Feb, while applying for my Schengen visa, I found out the launch had been pushed to August. I wasn't told about this directly, rather I indirectly found out about it. I spoke to my boss immediately, explained that this has been our dream trip and we've been saving for it since 2 years, and asked for leave 5 months in advance.
He denied it because I’m the only marketing person and July/August will apparently be the most critical phase before launch, specifically for Marketing.
The thing is, this trip was already postponed once last year, and after this trip my husband and I want to start trying for a baby. So there's no way I can postpone this trip, and neither do I want to. Also the Tomorrowland tickets were already bought, which costed us approximately 2.5L INR (We need to buy this before applying for visa and these tickets sell out really fast).
I tried everything to convince him after he said no.
- Taking my laptop (which I dont want to, but had to offer)
- Being partially available (for meetings and trainings)
- Proper handover/training someone temporarily.
- Reason with him that why was I the only one who didn't know about the delay in launch.
Still no.
Now I’m stuck between:
- Secretly working remotely from Europe,
- or resigning soon (maybe May) so they have enough notice before launch as I don't want to leave unethically.
The job is otherwise great: high-paying, fully WFH, comfortable. My boss is like a typical Indian manager though, and does resent me a bit as Im the only one who works from India, but he trusts me too. I've also tried applying to other companies but the salary scale does not match or they don't want people that WFH.
What should I do? Im in a dilemma as I don't want to regret leaving this high paying job for a trip, but I also don't want my work to have so much power over my personal life. At the end of the day, you work so you can enjoy life right?
Is there some 3rd option that I have? Also I can't take an emergency sick leave at that time because my boss already knows my leave dates and it would be really shady to do that.
Please help your girl out😭 Thank you in advance!
TL;DR:
Booked expensive Europe trip before company timelines changed. Boss denied my leave even though I applied 5 months early and offered compromises. Trip is important personally. Unsure whether to secretly work remotely, or resign.