I put in a request for time off for a particular week off over 6 months ago. Stupid me, I assumed that since at no time in the 6 months was I told that I could not take this time off, I went ahead and made travel plans. I work for a small company (6 employees and an office manager) so it should be fairly simple for the OM to process time off requests. About 2 weeks before my time off, I overheard another employee talking about being off one of the days I had asked off for, so I asked the OM for written approval of my vacation request..Finally, 7 days from the day I was supposed to leave on my vacation, I received documentation that i was DENIED a portion of my vacation week. all travel plans had been made, from airfare to hotel reservations.. boarding for the cats, and arrangements for my parents to keep our daughter( we were planning a romantic getaway to celebrate our 10 year anniversary)...all made and CANCELLED because our week-long anniverary vacation was reduced to 2 nights at a B&B about 2 hours from where we live. ( Ever try making last-minute plans during a hoilday??? ) I could find nothing in our employee handbook that talks about a time limit for processing time-off requests. I find it hard to believe that employees have to abide by certain rules and regulations in order to ask for time off, but employers have none to follow as far as denying/approving requests. Any advice? 
