How does your employer do vacation time?

[Chelley00]

We are having some issues with someone where I work and vacation time. It's a pretty relaxed office but we do have an admin manual. Our policy is salaried employees earn two weeks vacation after one year of employment.

We have a person hired in December who hasn't yet earned any vacation time. They informed the boss that they already had a spring break trip scheduled when they were hired and were granted permission to take the time off paid. Now there is another vacation scheduled in October. There is some debate going on as how to handle it.

My question is, where you work, are you allowed to take vacation time if you haven't yet earned the time? Would your vacation request be denied or would you be allowed to take that time off as unpaid?

 

[Handbag Lady]

We are having some issues with someone where I work and vacation time. It's a pretty relaxed office but we do have an admin manual. Our policy is salaried employees earn two weeks vacation after one year of employment.

We have a person hired in December who hasn't yet earned any vacation time. They informed the boss that they already had a spring break trip scheduled when they were hired and were granted permission to take the time off paid. Now there is another vacation scheduled in October. There is some debate going on as how to handle it.

My question is, where you work, are you allowed to take vacation time if you haven't yet earned the time? Would your vacation request be denied or would you be allowed to take that time off as unpaid?

You can't do anything about the first one as it was agreed upon hire that this person would be given the time off, paid. They don't need to retro-accrue anything for it.

For the second one, they would only be given the time off paid at whatever was accrued. We accrue time off, so by then I think I would have about 2.5 days accrued so that is what I would be paid. The other 2.5 days would be allowed off as unpaid as long as the supervisor agrees and that the job itself is covered.

However, if one takes too many days off unpaid around here, they are the first to be laid off or even termed for annoyance alone.

 

[alc571]

In our office, you're given 2 weeks vacation pro-rated in your first year and then 3 weeks starting when the calendar changes to January. So, in your case, the employee would get two weeks pro-rated to the end of the December they started and would then get three weeks starting Jan 1.

That being said, if someone were to take more than their allotted time in the first year, they would either have to take the time unpaid or work overtime to make up the time lost.

 

[lovesmurfs]

We are having some issues with someone where I work and vacation time. It's a pretty relaxed office but we do have an admin manual. Our policy is salaried employees earn two weeks vacation after one year of employment.

We have a person hired in December who hasn't yet earned any vacation time. They informed the boss that they already had a spring break trip scheduled when they were hired and were granted permission to take the time off paid. Now there is another vacation scheduled in October. There is some debate going on as how to handle it.

My question is, where you work, are you allowed to take vacation time if you haven't yet earned the time? Would your vacation request be denied or would you be allowed to take that time off as unpaid?

The first vacation was a condition of hire, not accrued time.

She would probably need to be paid out accrued vacation if she quit in October, right? If that's the case, then whatever she's accrued would be what she's due. The rest of the time would be unpaid, IF the time off is approved. In a small office, one person taking lots of vacation can be hard on the other staff.

I'd recommend putting something related to this in the manual. It's really hard to go a full year with no time off.

On initial employment, we're allowed to use the first year of vacation ahead of time, but if we quit before the end of the first year, we have to pay back whatever we've used that we didn't accrue.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

I work in a large corporation. Vacation days accrue January to December, prorated the first year of employment. You are permitted to use days before tgey accrue and you are permitted ti carry over a certain number of days. It's all spelled out in the manual, and time off must be approved by your manager.

 

[Janepod]

I work in a large corporation. Vacation days accrue January to December, prorated the first year of employment. You are permitted to use days before tgey accrue and you are permitted ti carry over a certain number of days. It's all spelled out in the manual, and time off must be approved by your manager.

That's how it has been everywhere I've worked.

OP, are you the decisionmaker here?

 

[Mac4life30]

When I first started we did not accrue vacation. We simply were given the amount we were entitled to in January and we used it as we wished. That changed a few years ago and we must now accrue it before we can use it. It is up to your manager to allow you to take time off if you don't have it. You of course would not get paid for it

I for one don't care for this accrual policy. Pretty much it means that in the month of January or February your not going anywhere.

 

[Praying Colonel]

We're not allowed to "go in the hole" on time off, unless it's for emergencies like deaths in the family.

 

[aprilgail2]

We have to work 90 days this year to qualify for next years vacation- youget 2 weeks until you are there 5 years then you get 3 weeks. After 10 you get 4 week and after 15 you get 5 weeks. It is picked in seniority order so the senior guy picks their 5 weeks and it rolls on down to the junior guy who basically gets told you can have the second week in Jan and the first week in Dec LOL. We can't take the time unless we have it but you can put your personal days (you get up to 7) all together and make a week together.

 

[HannaBelle]

I work for a small business with a less then generous PTO/vacation allotment.

You must work 1 calendar year before earning 1 week of vacation and you will continue to earn 1 week per year until your 5th anniversary date. At 5 years you will earn 2 weeks per year. Everyone earns 4 PTO days per year, one per quarter plus 6 paid holidays. It is use it or lose it, you cannot save it up or cash it out.


You must work 90 days before earning your 1st PTO day and holiday pay. If someone wanted time off and they did not have any vacation days or PTO, they would not be paid. If a holiday falls in the 1st 90 days of your employment, you do not get paid for that day.

You have to request time off and it is coordinated with other people in the office so we are not understaffed.

Everything is spelled out very clearly in the employee manual.

 

[Tozzie]

Where I work you get all your days in January yet you accrue them during the year, if you leave and have used all the days up you owe the money for the days off.

We can't take unpaid leave for vacation and you can't dip into next years vacation however overtime is earned as either cash or time so you do have the oppourtunity to make up time.

We also get 4 days berevement leave for certain relatives should they pass away.


You state you have a guide, however are supervisors permitted to grant requests outside the guidelines? The next question would be has a request like this been granted to others in the past?

I have a question as to when did this employee have an epiphany and tell the supervisor about the planned vacation and when was the vacation booked. I am a supervisor and I used to be the person who had to grant or deny requests and you can't imagine the people who would buy plane tickets or a cruise and assume I had no choice but to grant the request, did this employee do that because if they did I would be inclined to deny the request.

 

[chamonix]

We are having some issues with someone where I work and vacation time. It's a pretty relaxed office but we do have an admin manual. Our policy is salaried employees earn two weeks vacation after one year of employment.

We have a person hired in December who hasn't yet earned any vacation time. They informed the boss that they already had a spring break trip scheduled when they were hired and were granted permission to take the time off paid. Now there is another vacation scheduled in October. There is some debate going on as how to handle it.

My question is, where you work, are you allowed to take vacation time if you haven't yet earned the time? Would your vacation request be denied or would you be allowed to take that time off as unpaid?

There's a big difference between paid and unpaid time off/vacation. Paid time off is a perk of your employment--she hasn't earned that yet (according to the system you mentioned). Seems you don't have an unpaid time off policy. In that case, she can take any time off the Powers That Be will allow her. They might want to make a policy on that if its causing friction in the workplace.

 

[PongoBoy]

I work in a small office and we don't earn any time until you've been there one year but as long as no one else wants time off they will allow time off without pay.

 

[DebbieB]

My company gives 20 days PTO per year up to 5 years. You earn 2 days per month, if you can take more than you earn but have to pay back if you leave and are over. For example, if you take 5 days in March and then leave before completing March, they would take 1 day out of your final pay.

 

[tvguy]

We are having some issues with someone where I work and vacation time. It's a pretty relaxed office but we do have an admin manual. Our policy is salaried employees earn two weeks vacation after one year of employment.

We have a person hired in December who hasn't yet earned any vacation time. They informed the boss that they already had a spring break trip scheduled when they were hired and were granted permission to take the time off paid. Now there is another vacation scheduled in October. There is some debate going on as how to handle it.

My question is, where you work, are you allowed to take vacation time if you haven't yet earned the time? Would your vacation request be denied or would you be allowed to take that time off as unpaid?

You don't say if that is paid time off, and I suspect there may be a good chance you don't know since that is between that worker and the company. I wonder if they just put it is as vacation on the schedule, since this person WILL be gone, even if they aren't getting paid.

At my place, getting time off without pay is actually easier than taking paid vacation time since you are saving the company money.

As for vacation time, my place, your time is available to use anytime after January 1 of the year. You get 2 weeks for the first 5 years, 3 weeks until your 10th anniversary, 4 from then on until 30 years, when you get 5 weeks.
It is first come, first serve

DW place you earn it evenly over the year, but can take it in advance of earning it. 3 weeks for the first 5 years, 4 after 10 years, 5 after 15 years. Who gets time is based on seniority, if you put in your request by November 1 over the previous year (although this year they started asking for requests in August)......so the most senior person makes their first pick and everyone else makes their first pick, then everyone make second, then third, fourth and fifth as needed. You can not use seniority to bump someone unless it is the same pick, so a senior persons second pick can not bump a less senior persons first pick.

DW always takes Christmas week, which upsets some folks, but it is the only holiday she takes off. Holidays are just normal work days in our business and she works all the rest. And since she has at least 10 years seniority over everyone else, including her supervisor, nobody can bump her.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We get a certain number of PTO (paid time off) days, and that number of days increases the more years you are with the company. I don't know how many days you get your first year, but I think it's 16 or 18. I've been there 14 years and I get 26 per year. At 20, I get 30.

Those days are available the first day of calendar year. Not sure if there is a probational period for new employees.

PTO is used for vacation or sick days. We also get 8 holidays (also paid).

Of course, this is a large, privately owned company with about 15,000 employees.

 

[tasha99]

I work for a therapy company that staffs nursing homes. We start with 20 PTO days per year and I think it goes up to 30. You can't use them in the first 90 days, but they start accruing from day 1. The only holiday off is Christmas, but we get time and a half for most major holidays. It's a "work the mission" sort of job-- full time hours tend to range between 30-50 per week depending on the census.

 

[sasywtch]

The way it works for state employees here is we earn from the date we start then use. If we don't have, we are docked.
It's been so long since I started but I think it starts with 8 or 10 hours a month for vacation and 8 hours a month sick leave. The vacation, you cannot use until after you have been there 6 months.

Each department and some offices within have different policies on when you schedule. I've worked for some you could schedule a week off the week before and some where they have set months you have to request time off for future dates. I have seniority so don't have a problem.

I think I am earning 14 hours a month vacation now and 8 hours sick leave a month. We can accummulate up to 600 hours. If you are over 600 hours on the books, you have to use it that year to get it back down to 600. I have a friend right now who has to take a day off a week for the rest of the year to accomplish this. We were doing a lot of overtime for time off instead of pay so she got a lot of hours that way.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

We get PTO at my work which covers both vacation time and sick leave. We accrue a certain amount of PTO every pay period even if you just started working there; how much you accrue depends on how long you have worked there and whether you are PT or FT.

When I started working for the company I was PT so I think I got 3 hours every pay period. I have now worked for the company for over 11 years and have FT status so I make over 10 hours every pay period. I think the max amount of PTO I can have in the bank right now is 300 hours (but this also depends on length of employment and your status).

If you have more than 40 hours of PTO in the bank, you can't take time off unpaid and if you have any PTO in the bank you have to use it if you call in sick. If you have no PTO and want to take time off unpaid, it would just depend on whether they could get a replacement for you.

 

[Chelley00]

OP, are you the decisionmaker here?

I do the payroll but when I asked if her time off in October was to be paid, no one can decide. I decided to research some other companies to present information to the "powers that be".

If we pay this person for the October vacation, then that leaves them with no vacation time at all until December 2014. We do not do accrued vacation time....you get vacation time at one year anniversary. Sick leave does accrue (and they've used all their accrued sick leave already)

There is another week marked off the vacation book for spring break so either something needs to be unpaid or they need to deny the time off. They are just iffy about denying vacation time to someone.

If this person gets two weeks paid vacation in the first year without earning it there are going to be some very unhappy employees. It's a small office so people already know what's going.