So, I had the 26th requested off about a month ago. When I looked at the schedule for this week, I noticed that the manager had scheduled me to work that day, and gave someone else the 26th as a regular day off. Now that coworker is bragging to everyone who'll listen that they have a 4 day weekend, and didn't even ask for it. So much for "making sure requests are honored".
A "Requested" day off is just that, a request, defined as "an act of asking politely or formally for something." That being said, if you have seniority over that employee then you can take there schedule for the week and have the 26th off.