How much time off do you get for your job? UPDATED

[MushyMushy]

Let me preface this by saying, yes, I'm lucky to have a job. Yes, I'm aware of this.

But I've been struggling with the issue of time off. I work for a non-profit and am under special funding for my position (adult educator). I had 5 paid time off days to use until next September and had to use 3 of them because of strep throat. The thing is, I can't get an answer from my company as to what happens when I use up my other 2 days -- I've asked my supervisor, I've asked other supervisors, I've asked HR and they are all very vague about it (the thing is, I think they don't really know the answer).

I already know I have to take 3 days off in the next two months for doctors visits and the thing is, they won't let me take those days without pay. So I'm looking at the rest of this year into September without being able to take days off for illness, personal or vacation. I still don't know what the consequences will be if I do go over -- will they fire me? Reprimand me? Nobody will tell me. Or nobody knows.

Are any of you in a situation like that? Or is your company pretty good about paid time off?

 

[ajk912]

Oh boy, that sucks. I am sorry it's like that, that does seem low. You would think you would be able to take a day off without pay here and there as needed.

For me, I work from home so I work as much or as little as I want. I don't get paid much, but that's the tradeoff. I only worked 27 hours in December..obviously not very motivated.

My DH accrues time off and I am not really sure how that works, but it seems like he is always taking PTO. Right now he has 130 hours banked and he is taking ANOTHER two days off (for no reason) next week. I told him he needs to get a job already because he doesn't work enough at his job. He's worked there almost two years.

 

[Ohiodislover]

I recieve
15 vacation days
3 personal days
10 sick days--which can be pre-arranged to go to the Dr, or take DH, DDs to Dr.

My company doesn't let employees take pre-arranged time off without having the hours to cover it. They used to, but employees would take advantage of it. If you call out sick, and don't have the hours to get paid, you just lose the pay.

 

[Kath2003]

Let me preface this by saying, yes, I'm lucky to have a job. Yes, I'm aware of this.

But I've been struggling with the issue of time off. I work for a non-profit and am under special funding for my position (adult educator). I had 5 paid time off days to use until next September and had to use 3 of them because of strep throat. The thing is, I can't get an answer from my company as to what happens when I use up my other 2 days -- I've asked my supervisor, I've asked other supervisors, I've asked HR and they are all very vague about it (the thing is, I think they don't really know the answer).

I already know I have to take 3 days off in the next two months for doctors visits and the thing is, they won't let me take those days without pay. So I'm looking at the rest of this year into September without being able to take days off for illness, personal or vacation. I still don't know what the consequences will be if I do go over -- will they fire me? Reprimand me? Nobody will tell me. Or nobody knows.

Are any of you in a situation like that? Or is your company pretty good about paid time off?

What does it say in your contract?

I cannot believe they would FIRE you for being unwell.

Also FIVE days in nine months? Are there no rules about vacation time? I know I live in a different country but here the minimum you are entitled to as just vacation time (sick days are another matter) is 20 days plus the 8 national holidays per year!

 

[barkley]

where i worked time off was broken into categories-

sick leave (could use it for yourself, spouse you had to care for, child you had to care for, and for med/dental appointments-could not be used if you were on vacation and got sick to cover any of the preapproved vacation days),

vacation (had to receive pre-approval, could'nt use it to cover sick days if you were out of sick leave unless you got it approved upon your return),

floating time (could use for any reason, even to cover sick/med appointments in excess of sick leave accruals-but if not for that reason you had to get pre-approval). could be used in increments as small as 15 minutes (whereas dh's float time could only be used in a full 8 hour day chunk).

we could'nt choose to go awop-if we had accruals on the books we had to use them. if you did'nt have enuf sick leave or float to cover a planned medical appointment then you needed to request the day under vacation (and managment was pretty good about facilitating it).


NOW-where i used to work has implemented involuntary furloughs BUT since they are considered an 'essential' public service they can't just close up shop on non government holidays so my understanding is they've figured out how much unpaid furlough each staff member has to do over a given calendar month and told staff and managment that they have to plan accordingly b/c weather they are out on preapproved vacation, illness or other-if they have'nt done or indicated when they will do their furlough time by a certain payroll cut-off (monthly pay after the fact), despite any accruals they have on the books, payroll will automaticly use their unpaid furlough time against any leave they've taken that month.


do you have to use your days off in full day chunks? if not is it possible to take just the number of hours you need for the appointments/travel so you can avoid using an entire day?

 

[crazyme5kids]

At this point, I get four weeks vacation (depends on how long you work for the company), and I think I'll be getting five extra days this year (not every year) only.

Sick time is ten days, but on occasion can be more, this is up to the discretion of your manager.

Personal days vary from year to year depending on how holidays fall.

 

[swkmom]

I receive 9 sick days a year which we are allowed to carry over each year, 3 personal days, and 3 family sick days no vacation time because my job is a 200 day a year position. At my old job we earned 12 sick hours per month and 10 vacation days per month, it added up to quite a bit of time and carried over year to year. My husband only gets 40 sick hours (5 days) per year.

 

[justhat]

My husband doesn't get sick or personal days. They get 15 vacation days and 5 conference days. These days must be planned a year in advance. If you are sick and truly need the day off, it will be subtracted from one of your already planned vacation days. Now, if you are sick after you used all your vacation days, then he'd likely be in your situation of not knowing what to do.

 

[barkley]

What does it say in your contract?

I cannot believe they would FIRE you for being unwell.

Also FIVE days in nine months? Are there no rules about vacation time? I know I live in a different country but here the minimum you are entitled to as just vacation time (sick days are another matter) is 20 days plus the 8 national holidays per year!

the fair labor standard's act does'nt require employers to give any kind of time off (paid or unpaid). at best it just restricts how many hours an employer can require an employee to work in a day/days in a row-and how overtime pay (if you're eligble to it, some salaried exempt are not) has to be administered.

as far as time off for being sick-you're kind of at the mercy of your employer unless you can qualify for protection under the american's with disability act or the family medical leave act, but that does'nt work for non continuous illnesses (like strep, the flu...). i think san francisco is the only place where there's a law requiring employers to provide a set amount of paid sick leave. even though my employer gave each employee 12 paid sick days per year, you could get written up for 'sick leave abuse' if you were using (over the course of the year) over 80% of your accruals w/o medical verification.

national holidays? unless you work for a government or private employer that gives you the day off (not nesc. with pay-i was government and technicaly we did'nt get paid for holidays b/c of the way accounting was done), there's no guarantee you'll have it off.

 

[golfgal]

I can't believe that they only give you 5 days of PTO . They have to be realistic. I think the thing to do is start talking with the upper management and get something realistic in order. I can see 5 sick days and then some vacation days but no way is 5 days of PTO even reasonable.

Are you the only one with that few days of PTO or is this everyone?

 

[Kath2003]

national holidays? unless you work for a government or private employer that gives you the day off (not nesc. with pay-i was government and technicaly we did'nt get paid for holidays b/c of the way accounting was done), there's no guarantee you'll have it off.

You're not guaranteed THAT day off here (for example, you can be required to work December 25th) but you can claim a day back at another time if you are required to work a national holiday.

I like living here. Mushy's a great lady, she shouldn't have these worries

 

[travelbug]

4 weeks vacation
2 personal days
No limit on sick days
9.5 paid days off (all salaried employees)

I feel pretty fortunate.

 

[barkley]

Oh boy, that sucks. I am sorry it's like that, that does seem low. You would think you would be able to take a day off without pay here and there as needed.

For me, I work from home so I work as much or as little as I want. I don't get paid much, but that's the tradeoff. I only worked 27 hours in December..obviously not very motivated.

My DH accrues time off and I am not really sure how that works, but it seems like he is always taking PTO. Right now he has 130 hours banked and he is taking ANOTHER two days off (for no reason) next week. I told him he needs to get a job already because he doesn't work enough at his job. He's worked there almost two years.

when mil was working she was'nt shy about using her vacation (always off at least 2 full weeks per year plus occasional days throughout) so we did'nt give much thought to how much she might have accrued on the books. we were blown away when she "retired' though-come to find out while she had her retirement party, packed and vacated her office, referred to herself as a 'retiree', she was still technicaly a state employee for over 6 full months while she used up her vacation time (no provision to sell back, and doing a credit towards retirement did'nt make sense b/c she was at the max benefit level)

 

[NMAmy]

That's the pits, Mushy. It would be very difficult for most people to comply with that limited amount of time off.

I have a pretty generous leave policy at work. I get 18 vacation days per year and 12 sick leave days per year (which can also be used for family care.) We get a week of bereavement leave for a parent, parent-in-law, spouse, or child. We also get holidays off and depending on when the holidays fall, about 1.5 weeks at Christmas as holiday pay. (This year it was from 12/24 through 1/3.)

 

[chloelovesdisney]

That stinks. I get 25 vacation days, 3 personal days and 12 sick days a year and feel like I could really use an additional week or two off.

 

[luv2nascar]

I'll start by saying I'm at my company 20 yrs next year.
But I get 24 vacation days and 7 sick days.
I can not take unpaid days off but I can make up time for drs appts etc.
I feel for you 5 days is nothing. I got 14 days vacation first year I worked for my company. Good luck.

 

[PaulaSB12]

22 Days holiday, but that goes a long way. I booked 5 days off in April that gives me 12 days away from work. 10 days of in August giving me 21 days away from work and 7 days at christmas (I don't want to be working until 7am on christmas eve morning, that is a clean up shift and is such a long shift) giving me 16 days away from work. You really can't beat shift work for being able to have a nice long holiday.

 

[trip]

Is this your first year with the company? I know at some companies you don't get vacation time until after your first anniversary date.

 

[camlace]

I don't think any of the typical/normal vacation policies apply here...sounds like there is a grant to fund your position. Where did the 5 days off come from? the terms of the grant, a contract you signed with your employer, the standard policy at your company?

I think in this case you just need to sit with HR and figure out how to take care of additional time off beyond your 5 days. I would presume its going to be unpaid. But you may be out of luck and they may say because of the terms of the grant if you can't fulfill the time required you may not be able to continue in your position.

 

[WDWBarb]

Is this your first year with the company? I know at some companies you don't get vacation time until after your first anniversary date.

This is the way it is at my current job. You have to work a full year before you get a single day off. You can have sick days as long as they are documented and we are limited to 6 paid sick days.

After a year we get 5 days off (I just took 3 days off - the first vacation day I've had in over 1.5 years). After 3 we get 10. After 5, 15.

That first year is LOOOOONG!! We get 6 holidays off (thank goodness) or I would have gone bonkers!