“I’ll work two extra hours a day Monday through Thursday and take Friday as annual leave” ... A bold demand from a new hire in their second week [What do you think?]

[Financial News] A new employee who has been on the job for less than two weeks has announced that they will work overtime on weekdays and take annual leave on Friday, sparking a heated debate online.
A story from an employee identified as A, who is responsible for training new hires, was posted on major online forums recently. A shared a recent experience, saying, “Tell me whether I’m the one being unreasonable or whether it’s because the new hire is from today’s generation.”
According to the post, A told B, a new hire in their second week, “I’ll conduct a mid-project check-in next Friday.” B then asked, “I’m planning to take annual leave that day, so could you move the check-in to another day?”
When A explained that B was not yet eligible for annual leave because they had been at the company for less than a month, B replied, in effect, “I’ll work an extra two hours every day from Monday through Thursday to make up eight hours, then take Friday off.” The plan had not been discussed in advance with the team leader, who heads the department.
A again explained that this was not allowed under company rules, but B would not back down, saying, “I’ll talk it over with the team leader.” A said, “Annual leave isn’t a savings account, so I was so taken aback I couldn’t say anything,” and added, “I’m at a loss about how to guide them going forward, and wonder whether I’ll end up being reprimanded for failing to manage them properly.”
Online commenters reacted critically, saying, “The problem is the attitude of working it all out on their own and announcing it without consulting a senior colleague,” “You can’t just work extra hours whenever you want; the employer has to approve them,” and “It’s a good thing this came to light during the probationary period.”

Could the approach B described—accumulating overtime hours and taking a particular day off—be allowed under the rules? Under labor law, this is clearly distinct from annual leave.
Under Article 60 of the Labor Standards Act, employees with less than one year of service earn one day of paid leave for each month they work with perfect attendance. Statutory annual leave is a right granted in compensation for working over a set period; it is not something employees can generate by arbitrarily accumulating overtime.
However, similar flexible working arrangements may be possible under workplace rules or an employment contract. If a workplace has adopted a flexible work-hour system or a selective work-hour system, it may be possible to extend working hours on certain days and reduce them on others within a set settlement period, creating a four-day workweek.
In addition, under Article 57 of the Labor Standards Act (the compensatory leave system), paid leave may be granted instead of wages for overtime, night or holiday work. But this requires a written agreement with the employee representative and prior approval for overtime work; leave must also be calculated to reflect the 1.5-times premium pay rate.
A labor-sector source noted, “Adjustments to working hours and the use of leave are governed by workplace rules and legal procedures,” adding, “The law does not recognize an individual employee’s right to work overtime at their own discretion and convert it into leave without following the company’s formal approval process.”

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