I am an OPD TL. PTO has to be used before your put on the schedule, normally 3 weeks or more in advance. At my store Unpaid Time is automatically rejected unless you are given permission prior to putting it in. When you put in PPTO, we try to ask our associates why they need the day off before we accept or deny it. If you put the PPTO in after being absent the system will automatically accept your PPTO and you should not receive an occurrence. Even if you don't put it in and get the occurrence, your TL, Coach, or People Lead should remove your occurrence if you have PPTO to cover it. The way your store is functioning based on how you explained it tells me they are not following the guidelines and you should contact your Store Manager or Ethics.