Rant/Advice: Citi FTE on H1B- Manager denying federal holiday benefits, toxic culture, afraid of retaliation and layoffs.
I am an FTE (Full-Time Employee) working in a support team at Citi on an H1B visa. I need to vent, but I also desperately need advice on how to handle a highly toxic situation without ruining my visa status.
Our company officially provides federal holidays as part of our total compensation package. However, my manager is refusing to let the team actually use them. They insist that “not everyone can take off on holidays” due to support coverage.
Instead, the manager’s current rule is that we must work TWO federal holidays just to get ONE day of comp off. What makes this even more frustrating is that the external vendors supporting our team are allowed to take their full time/comp off. What is even the benefit of being an FTE here if vendors get treated better? The culture has become completely toxic.
I want to go to HR, but I am terrified. My team is small, and if HR investigates, my manager will immediately figure out it was me.
With Citi doing weekly layoffs right now, there is zero job security. People are getting fired instantly with no second chances or explanations. If my manager decides to retaliate against me with a bad performance review or marks me for the next layoff wave, my H1B status is ruined and I will be forced to leave the country.
Has anyone else dealt with a manager overriding corporate benefits at Citi? Is there any safe, truly anonymous way to flag this to compliance or HR without my manager finding out? Being bound to a visa makes me feel trapped.