You can do it , but most management doesn ' t understand why this is actually acceptable and even advantageous . Go into your PTO portal at the end of your shift today , and put PTO in for the day you just worked . Then immediately go to a member of management , and ask them to approve it . If they say no , explain to them that you ' re going to get that PTO money automatically in February at the autocashout date , OR you ' re going to use that PTO for an actual paid day off before then . The PTO money is YOURS . It ' s ALREADY YOURS . You earned it . It ' s set aside . It doesn ' t come out of store revenue or payroll or anything . It ' s a separate fund that already exists exactly for this purpose . There should be signing in your personnel office that says pretty much the same thing . And the more PTO that they willingly give you , the less you have to be paid out later . Like , I plan on taking as little PTO as possible , so I get a big fat February Payout Check . and also will be paid for every single day until then . To me , that ' s like double dipping . I get paid for the days I didn ' t take off , and then BAM , I get paid the time that I COULD have taken off too . Keep in mind , though , this isn ' t Holiday Bonus Pay , this is just you cashing out money you already have inside the company . It ' s the logical equivalent of me taking 80 dollars from my savings account and moving it to my checking account today .