Paid leave for religious holidays?

[aristocatz]

Hi there,

I wondered do most jobs still pay you for the day if you take the day off from work to observe a religious holiday??

I thought I read somewhere that it is mandatory for work to give you a paid personal day for observing religious holidays.

I work in a public school if that helps.

Thanks!

 

[design_mom]

At my office (not a public school) we get several "personal holidays." Personal holidays may be used for observance of a religious holiday, or for any other day, that the employee chooses. They are granted at the beginning of the year, not accrued like vacation days. They are also in addition to the paid (regular) holidays that everyone gets off.

People who wish to observe holidays that aren't part of the regular holiday calendar (whether religious or not) are expected to use their personal holidays, or vacation time, for them.

 

[Christine]

No employer has a mandatory obligation to pay for religious holidays. If the holiday in question is not a day that the company is closed, you will have to use your personal days if you want to get paid.

I think an employer legally must allow you to take of that day (religious purposes) but they don't have to pay you.

 

[golfgal]

No employer is required to give you paid time off, period. Most people get Christmas off because 95% of the country is Christian (this is NOT a religious post) and as a good will gesture. I do know of some companies that will allow people to take off for other religious holidays in trade for Christmas and Easter.

 

[minniebeth]

My DH has something similar to what aristocatz is saying...he has 3 personal days and then one "floating holiday". The personal days are for whatever has to be done personally like dr. appts, sick days for kids, etc. The "floating holiday" is for what you are asking about...when someone chooses to observe a holiday of their choice that is not given off to everyone.

 

[foolishmortal]

if you work for public school you are probably union I would imagine, check your union handbok and it should state 2010 paid holidays. most are non-religious (except christmas). anything not on that list you would have to use your own vacation or personal time for.

 

[Hannathy]

With all the days Public Schools have off I'm surprised they missed one!

 

[aristocatz]

With all the days Public Schools have off I'm surprised they missed one!

Jewish holidays.....I think I am the only jewish person in my district!!!

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

With all the days Public Schools have off I'm surprised they missed one!

Holy cow you're not kidding. My DS(5) just started kindergarten and they have 21 days off and 18 half days this school year My wife and I will probably use all our PTO for this(Hopefully we can squeeze a trip to the World on one of his "long weekend")

 

[Art 1]

No employer is required to give you paid time off, period. Most people get Christmas off because 95% of the country is Christian (this is NOT a religious post) and as a good will gesture. I do know of some companies that will allow people to take off for other religious holidays in trade for Christmas and Easter.

But not many go to Church. It's something that they want off work paid for Christmas when they don't celebrate the day.

 

[MidgeD79]

I work for a public school and by contract we get Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Good Friday as paid holidays (in addition to multiple other holidays).

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I get paid, but most religious holidays I have to WORK. (Guess it's only fair, working at a church )

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I use vacation and personal days.

 

[Mary•Poppins]

Jewish holidays.....I think I am the only jewish person in my district!!!

The school district I work in honors Rosh HaShanah and was off today (the whole district). In the past when we didn't honor it, our teachers would have to use one of their personal days in order to observe this holiday.

Hope this helps.

 

[DebbieB]

We used to have 2 "floating holidays", which you could take for a religious holiday (we don't get Good Friday). Since then, vacation, sick days, floating holidays, family care days have all been rolled into PTO. Happened about 5 years ago. I used to get 4 weeks vacation, 2 floaters, 3 family care, no set limit on sick days. Now I get 6 weeks PTO and short term disability after 5 days. I haven't taken a sick day in years so it has worked to my advantage.

 

[bumbershoot]

I get paid, but most religious holidays I have to WORK. (Guess it's only fair, working at a church )

That made me giggle.


Art 1, I'm the most areligious person I know, but even I know that you don't have to go anywhere to celebrate something. My MIL doesn't have to go to temple to celebrate Buddha's birthday, and you don't have to go to church to honor Dec 25th. So just b/c a person wants the day off to celebrate doesn't mean they haven't celebrated if they don't leave their house....


OP I've never heard of such a thing. But I'm still getting used to DH NOT being in customer service (where you get paid doubletime for working on a holiday that's officially "off", but still have to work), and we willingly send him off on trips over holidays because we simply don't CARE about them, so I might be out of the loop.

 

[Nicolepa]

Holy cow you're not kidding. My DS(5) just started kindergarten and they have 21 days off and 18 half days this school year My wife and I will probably use all our PTO for this(Hopefully we can squeeze a trip to the World on one of his "long weekend")

My kids have 27 days off. 7 half days (11:30 dismissal). Oh and EVERY Wednsday they get off 1.5 hours early (37 days).

 

[aprilgail2]

Jewish holidays.....I think I am the only jewish person in my district!!!

We are not a big Jewish area--I guess there are a few here but not many and we have always had the Jewish holidays off since I was a kid. The kids started school on Tuesday and had Thurs and Friday off for Jewish holidays!
At my job you have to use personal days if you want off a religious day that we are not already off- even for holidays like Christmas the junior guys have to work no matter what- I had to work my first 11 years every holiday from New Years Day straight though Christmas because I was the low person on the totem pole!

 

[GeorgeG]

We had a personal day and floating holiday. You could use them for just about anything, but if you really wanted your religious holiday off you had to make sure you saved them for that. Also, since the departments I ran were mostly 24/7 shift work, any time off was subject to "operating conditions" since we had to maintain a minimum staff at all times.

 

[Hoodie]

I've never heard of any job paying for a religious holiday unless the company was closed or you took a personal day (whether out of vacation time, floating holiday, PTO, whatever it's called)