How Much Vacation Do You Get?

[dosekies]

I've been at my job for 1.5 years and currently get 10 vacation days, 4 personal days, 5 sick days, and like 8? holidays each year. Our vacation time accrues monthly, so it ends up being 6.xx hours each month. Personal days accrue quarterly and our sick days are available at the start of the year. Sick days are the only ones we can carry over. Also, every five years we get another 5 vacation days up to 25 days, so once I hit 5 years I'll gain another week.

 

[Colleen27]

Ouch. We're the only location in California, and corporate has a use it or lose it policy, but that's illegal here. You have to take the time or they have to pay you for it. They start assigning you time off if you have more than about 150 hours on the books. I say about, because state law does not set a specific guideline but "suggests" a cap of 200 hours which corporate finds unacceptable. So they start trying to force you to take time off when you hit the 150 hour mark.

That is awesome. I wish our state would get on board with something like that - it seems in more jobs than not these days vacation time is mainly a theoretical benefit. Of the four jobs my husband has had that offered it over the last two decades, only one really let employees take the time they'd earned without penalty or major restrictions and none have paid for forfeited or unusable PTO.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I work for a hospital. I'm over 10 years in so I'm maxed out on my time off.

We have one bank for everything. Vacation, sick, personal, holiday. I accrue 10.77 hours per pay period. It comes out to 35 days/7 weeks.

We have 6 holidays. If you take off for the holiday that comes out of your bank. If you work the holiday you do not use any time and get paid time and a half. I'm a non essential employee so I use my time for holidays. So in all actuality I have 6 weeks of vacation.

We can sell 40 hours in November if we leave a balance of 75 hours in our bank. You can roll over 200 hours into the next year.

 

[tvguy]

That is awesome. I wish our state would get on board with something like that - it seems in more jobs than not these days vacation time is mainly a theoretical benefit. Of the four jobs my husband has had that offered it over the last two decades, only one really let employees take the time they'd earned without penalty or major restrictions and none have paid for forfeited or unusable PTO.

Our local managers push really hard to get us to get time off the books. I only had 87 hours to carry over, after taking a week off for Christmas, but my boss encouraged me to take another week even though that left them with nobody to cover my shift. Boss said it wasn't my problem. Nothing like 2 weeks off at Christmas. The issue here is all those vacation hours on the books are seen as a financial liability by the company.

 

[DawnM]

I hit the maximum of 6 weeks paid vacation after 25 years with my employer. I use every minute of it.

Do those who are "unable" to actually take all their vacation time get extra compensation at the end of the year?

No. DH's company has some that are use it or lose it and other amounts that can carry over. He tries to use the "use it or lose it" amounts. He just told me he has 21 days to use by the end of September or he will lose them. He took one of those days last Friday.

However, he can't take them all at once. I was really excited because we want to take a 4 week trip to CA this summer to see family and look at areas to move back to, but he said he can't do that. He will have to work some while on vacation. GRRR!!!!!!!!!

 

[SC Minnie]

I get 5 weeks plus 11 holidays runs Jan 1- Dec 31. We technically can't carry over unused vacation but it is up to managers discretion. The only way I feel like I actually get a day off is to take a cruise. Other wise I am tied to my phone/email.

 

[tvguy]

No. DH's company has some that are use it or lose it and other amounts that can carry over. He tries to use the "use it or lose it" amounts. He just told me he has 21 days to use by the end of September or he will lose them. He took one of those days last Friday.

However, he can't take them all at once. I was really excited because we want to take a 4 week trip to CA this summer to see family and look at areas to move back to, but he said he can't do that. He will have to work some while on vacation. GRRR!!!!!!!!!

I've working in my industry for 42 years, and the vacation policy had changed from "sorry we can't spare you" to "we need to get that vacation time off the books no matter what"

 

[Elleshoodat]

We have unlimited vacation. I work in tourism marketing, so my company really encourages us to travel.

 

[soccerdad72]

4 weeks of vacation, plus 4 personal days each year. We also get 3 days between Christmas and New Years off as 'holiday break'. The 4 personal days are the only ones that are 'use it or lose it'. We can carryover up to a year's worth (4 weeks) of vacation at the end of each year (we're a June 30th fiscal year end).

 

[Katy Belle]

I'm a SAHM. DH has worked at his job for 29 years. He gets 5 weeks, at 30 years he will get 6 weeks, that is the max. He also gets 10 holidays, the company closes for those. And...he works 30 extra minutes a day, and that gives him a day off every month. So he gets 12 vacation days for that, but they have to be used in the month earned. No sick days, if you are sick, stay home. He's taken 3 sick days in 29 years. You can bank 3 weeks of unused vacation.

 

[phinz]

When I still had to worry about vacation time I got two weeks for the first 5 years (after working for a year), then gained another week for the next 5 years. If I had stayed I would have gotten 4 weeks after 10 years and that would have been the limit. No more added vacation after that 10-year mark.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I get 3 weeks, 1 of which is mandated to use during our annual shut down week (between Xmas & New Years).

I accrue 2.xx hours per week. If one were to take a lot of vacation early in the year, you'd go negative, which is allowed. In the event you quit while in the negative, your final check would be shorted.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

DH has been at his company for 20 years and gets 29 vacation days and 10 holidays. He also gets 6 volunteer days that he uses to work at DD's school.

I've only been at my job for just over a year so I am now accruing 15 vacation days and 12 sick days a year. I also get two personal days and 2 floating holidays. Both DH's company as well as the university I work for have a mandatory shut down for the holidays. We get extra paid days off to cover the forced holidays, but also have to use 1-2 vacation days or we can take a couple days unpaid, if we prefer. This year, we are closed from Christmas Day and return to work on January 8, 2018.

 

[Snowflakey]

Just started this job one month ago this week and I get 28 days a year.

 

[DawnM]

DH has been at his company for 20 years and gets 29 vacation days and 10 holidays. He also gets 6 volunteer days that he uses to work at DD's school.

Oh, you reminded me, my DH gets volunteer days every year too but I don't know how many. He has done several volunteer things with that.

 

[TavieP]

I get 4 weeks of vacation (20 days) plus a floating holiday and personal day. Sick time is counted in a separate category, I think we get 9 or 10 days for that. I work for a US non-profit, and have been here 6 years. (I got the extra week of vacation after my 5th year, so it used to be 3 weeks.)

 

[RedAngie]

Our local managers push really hard to get us to get time off the books. I only had 87 hours to carry over, after taking a week off for Christmas, but my boss encouraged me to take another week even though that left them with nobody to cover my shift. Boss said it wasn't my problem. Nothing like 2 weeks off at Christmas. The issue here is all those vacation hours on the books are seen as a financial liability by the company.

That's how my company sees it as well, so there's no carryover of vacation time from one year to the next. The hours are budgeted for the current year, so that's when they need to be used. And vacation time isn't a matter of use it or lose it. You WILL take off the allotted number of vacation days.

Sick/personal days, however, need not be fully used, and are forfeited if not used. I take off my five personal days, but almost always forfeit about 2 or 3 of my 10 sick days.

 

[tvguy]

That's how my company sees it as well, so there's no carryover of vacation time from one year to the next. The hours are budgeted for the current year, so that's when they need to be used. And vacation time isn't a matter of use it or lose it. You WILL take off the allotted number of vacation days.

Sick/personal days, however, need not be fully used, and are forfeited if not used. I take off my five personal days, but almost always forfeit about 2 or 3 of my 10 sick days.

Sick time is a tough one to manage as an employee. When my children were little, my sick time was most frequently used for their illnesses. Then I was dealing with elderly parents and in-laws illnesses.
I work with a lot of young folks who make sure they use all their sick time so they don't lose it, then get the flu the first week of December and have to take 3 days off without pay.

 

[MimiOfTwo]

5 weeks vacation, 5 personal days, 13 paid holidays, end of year shutdown which is essentially just extra days so we don't have to take vacation to be off from Christmas to New Years. And I'm on flex time so whenever I need a few hours off I just work it out.

 

[Kathy D]

and how does it accrue?
DW gets 56 hours a year but also accrues something like 5.6 hour every pay period (2 weeks). Amazing how much vacation time she has going into her 6th year of employment.

19 PTO
At 4 years it goes up to 24 PTO