Have You Ever Had Your Company Take Away Time Off?

[jobhunter]

Word on the street is that our company will be reducing our compensated time off next year. They have cut our profit sharing, no raises, we've had layoffs, 'promotions' have been given out with no raise, just a doubling of work, lost some paid holidays, etc. None of that is surprising--I have seen this in other workplaces and the economy sucks.

But this is one I have not yet experienced--a vacation/sick time (it's all one pool of days) cut across the board. Has this happened to you? How was it handled?

And I know we should all be grateful to have jobs--and they are telling us that every time they cut something and/or someone and double our workloads. I routinely take work home until 11 pm at night. So this is still hard to hear. We already get quite a bit less than many in this area and working this hard will burn you out easy.

I keep waiting for them to ask us for payment for the privilege of working here!

 

[ReneeA]

I work in a hospital, and paid time off was cut in 2009. Employees used to get 7.60 hours of bankable time off for every 80 hours worked. As of this year, It's 6.64 hours of time for every 80 hours worked. They also had a hiring freeze and pay freeze as well.

I am contingent and not eligible for bennies right now so it doesn't affect me yet (I accepted a full time position that starts in Jan). The nurses I know that have been there a long time were not happy at all.

 

[Judy from Boise]

In my hospital, no raises in 2009, strict FTE control, and a 5% decrease (13 days) of PTO cut.
Thank the federal govt.

 

[XYSRUS]

Yes..

 

[PlaneJoy1]

Yes - the first time was to take away the 6th week of vacation for anyone that had accrued that much time each year (employees with 25 years of service). It was across the board. The second time was to take away the 5th week of vacation, but those who had already reached that mark in year of service would be grand-fathered and keep their 5th week.

Of course plenty of other cuts had been make along the way, and still are being made each year. I wonder when it will end!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

This just happened at the company I work at. In addition to that, before when an employee accrued 2 years' vacation time, he/she was paid for anything over every six months. Now employees will lose vacation/sick time not used. We also could purchase an additional week's vacation, which was nice because we had that week's time up front, and if we didn't use it, we'd get the money back at the end of the year. That was also cut out, so 2010 will be very different for a lot of us. I'm not complaining, though. It's just the way it is.

 

[HOGFAN]

not yet, but Im sure its coming. Small price to pay to keep a job, IMO

 

[disney1990]

In my hospital, no raises in 2009, strict FTE control, and a 5% decrease (13 days) of PTO cut.
Thank the federal govt.

 

[momof1princess]

my DH was scheduled to be on vacation next week, but his company canceled it and he now has to work. he's very upset about it, but i'm just grateful he has a job.

 

[diznee25]

No, my company hasn't cut out Paid Time Off. Which is good because we only get 10 days per year and that's to use for vacation and sick leave.

However, we didn't get raises this year, no Christmas bonuses, and we've had to work (mandatory overtime)50 to 60 hours per week during Nov. and Dec. to get projects done.

Even in spite of all that, I am greatful to have my job, and the overtime has allowed us to have a good Christmas, so there's always a silver lining. Sometimes you have to look really hard to see it.

diznee25

 

[Handbag Lady]

My sister's work cut their accrued vacation completely earlier this year.

If they had time in their banks, they could use it. But, no more would be added.

So, if you needed a day off, you just took it off without pay. They started running into trouble with, you guessed it, people taking time off without pay. Imagine that.

They started having issues and had to go back to some form of accrued time off.

 

[Mr. Pig]

Here too. They lengthened the number of years you need to get 3 and 4 weeks of vacation and eliminated 5 weeks unless you already had 5 and were grandfathered in. Then several weeks later they took away the fifth week for those grandfathered (like me). Don't know why they just didn't do it all at once . I think they are doing little things at a time so people don't get too upset.

 

[Tess]

The sad part is, once the cuts are made, you won't see the benefits given back when the economy or corporate/company profits improve.

I hate to be cynical, but I think a corporation/company sometimes uses the economy as an excuse to make cuts it has wanted to do for some time but couldn't without creating morale issues and employee ship jumping. As nearly every post has said, they don't like the cuts, but are grateful for the employment.

 

[Darcy03231]

I worked for a company that did it. It went from 10 sick days a year to 5 "personal days".

 

[Karalea]

My company actually gave each of us an extra week's paid vacation this year. They knew they weren't going to be able to pay bonuses and since we were slow, they figured we might as take advantage of it.

But like I said, no bonuses and we used to get 2 a year - one in June and one at year-end. Also, no raises since 6/08.

I'm not complaining. They still pay 100% of our health insurance and contribute to a profit sharing plan for us.

 

[HM]

No, but we have six manatory furlough days we have to take, no raises (usually only a small inflationary is given), and no free book account (used to get $125 free books each year)...work at a publisher.

 

[DebbieB]

My company used to give an extra weeks vacation for each 5 year anniversary year starting with 20 years. So you would get an extra week for your 20th year, 25th, etc. They took that away a long time ago, right when I had 19 years. They also took away 3 holidays (Presidents Day, Good Friday, Columbus Day) and made them 3 "floating holidays". A couple of years later they reduced it to 2. Then about 5 years ago, they took away sick days, floating holidays, family care (3) and threw them all into PTO. We got an extra 10 days PTO compared to the previous vacation time so it works out if you are not sick or don't have family care needs (they figured 5 sick, 3 family care, 2 floating holidays). For illness, the first 5 consecutive days are PTO, then it goes to short term disability.