Paid Time Off

[CdnCarrie]

Digging through this page is great; I also loved seeing the nine general holidays where you either don’t work or are paid extra for working. Does Manitoba stand out in this area, or are other provinces similar?

I live somewhere considered progressive in employee rights, but we still work all holidays with no additional pay.

Fairly standard across Canada. Mandatory 3rd week of vacation varies by length of employment among provinces,

 

[CdnCarrie]

1) If you get vacation, it can't be taken away. You have to be allowed to use it or be paid for it.

3) Employees HAVE to get an unpaid meal break. And that meal break HAS to happen no sooner than 3 hours after the start of your shift, and no later than 5 hours after. No tacking onto the beginning or end of your shift. If you do not get your meal break in that time, they have to pay you a penalty equal to one hour's pay, plus overtime pay for the length of your meal break. I have to admit I hated that, because I worked 8 straight without a meal break for the first 30 years of my working lift by choice. The law prohibits an employee from waiving a meal break

Everyone in Canada by law gets vacation and unpaid meal time. It’s labour law and really a basic human right sort of thing .
Weird you think this exceptional. It’s a basic labour law up here.

So sad there are workers in a country like the USA where this is not standard practice.

 

[tvguy]

Everyone in Canada by law gets vacation and unpaid meal time. It’s labour law and really a basic human right sort of thing .
Weird you think this exceptional. It’s a basic labour law up here.

So sad there are workers in a country like the USA where this is not standard practice.

Well, just remember not every worker wants those benefits. Twice in my 42 year post college I worked jobs with no benefits. First year out of college for about a year I was part time, which meant no benefits of any kind. It is a job that the owner would not have authorized if he had to pay for benefits. And 20 years ago I lost my job and got hired on "Freelance" for about a year. I did not need health care as we had that through my wife's employer, and was willing to go without vacation and sick time because I had one child in a private University and one in a private High School and I needed income. I was not guaranteed any work, but the reality was over 13 months I never got less than 40 hours a week and was always the first offered overtime. And every three months I would get called in and warned that they had no more money in the budget to keep me on after the next two weeks, only to look at the schedule a week later and see I had 40 hours.
That really is ancient history, but the whole freelance or independent contractor labor issue regarding benefits has been huge in California in recent years with Uber and Lyft drivers. I don't know how big a percentage of people don't want benefits, but there are some that need/want the flexibility of working when they want, and not working when they don't want to work, and are willing to forgo benefits to get that work experience.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I’ve personally always wanted benefits and worker protections, and they’ve proven hugely beneficial to me when needed.

There are US states I would never personally move to due to lack of workers rights (among many other differences). Think of the US as a patchwork quilt made of little countries masquerading as one big blanket of a country. There are big differences state to state, and few federally mandated requirements regarding things like PTO.

Contrasting with Canadian law is always interesting; while many similarities exist there are also many differences too.

 

[ronandannette]

I don’t work for the public service exactly.
More like a crown corporation.
We can carry over 10 days.
Our sick time is separate - not paid out and tied to short term disability.

We don’t have PTO or flex time.
Only vacation and sick time.
I’ve been there 25 years and at maximum vacation time.

The reason I was most curious about the terms is that my company is head-officed in Winnipeg, so although everything is compliant to regional requirements (we're in 4 provinces and 2 US states), it's based on Manitoba standards. 6 weeks at 25 years is exactly what we get too (I'm currently at 20 years/5 weeks). Your sick time arrangement sounds very similar to ours.

 

[CdnCarrie]

The reason I was most curious about the terms is that my company is head-officed in Winnipeg, so although everything is compliant to regional requirements (we're in 4 provinces and 2 US states), it's based on Manitoba standards. 6 weeks at 25 years is exactly what we get too (I'm currently at 20 years/5 weeks). Your sick time arrangement sounds very similar to ours.

We get 6 weeks at 20 years. Also we close over the holidays for a few extra paid days that are not vacation just a benefit.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I've had unlimited time off for a few years and use about 25 days, which is right about what I had when we had a set number of days.

It's been years since I had something that would carry days over. It was always nice to get up to 200 hours (the max balance we were allowed), and then I'd have to take a day off every pay period to not lose it.

 

[easyas123]

We have a PTO structure for our 145 employees, and they are able to roll over 1 week per year - remainder is paid out at end of year if not used.
I myself have unlimited PTO , most I've ever used in a year is 3 + weeks....+ meaning a day here or there I'll tack on to work trips. We went on a 2 week vacation this past fall which was the longest we've every been gone. I was a wreck being gone from work that long - but it worked out ok! No plans for another long trip in 2026 (although never say never - 2026 hasn't even started yet so we will see), just week long trips, so far one in Feb. & one in the fall.

We also give all of our employees paid off Christmas Eve - New Years Day. Glad to be able to do that, and no one has to use their PTO towards it - Company picks it up. A lot of folks will use a few days here or there around the holidays to round out their time off for quite a long stretch of time off.

 

[bcla]

We have a PTO structure for our 145 employees, and they are able to roll over 1 week per year - remainder is paid out at end of year if not used.
I myself have unlimited PTO , most I've ever used in a year is 3 + weeks....+ meaning a day here or there I'll tack on to work trips. We went on a 2 week vacation this past fall which was the longest we've every been gone. I was a wreck being gone from work that long - but it worked out ok! No plans for another long trip in 2026 (although never say never - 2026 hasn't even started yet so we will see), just week long trips, so far one in Feb. & one in the fall.

We also give all of our employees paid off Christmas Eve - New Years Day. Glad to be able to do that, and no one has to use their PTO towards it - Company picks it up. A lot of folks will use a few days here or there around the holidays to round out their time off for quite a long stretch of time off.

Is “unlimited” accrued in any way, or is between a manager and employee? I’ve been laid off before with notice, and I was owed all accrued PTO. Didn’t take any time off since a wanted the max payout. Once I took separate sick time which I was told didn’t cash out at the end of employment.

 

[DebbieB]

I get 30 PTO days and can carry over a maximum of 5. I try to carry over the 5 “just in case”. I only have 4 this year because I had to take a day a couple weeks ago when I had a power failure at home. Good news is I plan to retire at the end of next year, so don’t have to aim to carry over 5 next year. I guess I would get paid for them.

 

[leebee]

I earn 17.34 hours per month for vacation leave and the same for sick leave- so about 5 weeks a year for each. Sick leave can carry over/accrue endlessly, but I can only carry over 320 hours of vacation leave annually. I have a lot of time build up, as my job is tied to the academic schedule BUT it's a year round position; there's not a lot to do, work-wise, in the summer, so I have a lot of tentatively free time, as long as I show up in the department each day, or work from home (there is always paperwork to do to keep up with OSHA documentation requirements, for example). I had cataract surgery on 12/4 and 12/11, so between sick leave and vacation time I had to burn, I have been out of work all month, but still paid. YAY! When I retire/resign, I'll lose the sick hours but will be paid out for up to 320 hours of vacation time... another YAY!

 

[easyas123]

Is “unlimited” accrued in any way,

No. Well, ‘on paper’ I suppose you could say as it’s tracked in the payroll system. But it’s not something I’d get paid out for, it’s not that kind of arrangement.

 

[_19disnA]

Paid time off and the various rules associated with how it can be used tends to vary by company. Where I work, the amount of vacation time you get relates to how many years you have worked there. New employees get less vacation time than someone who has worked there for 20 years. Vacation time has to be used within that calendar year. Salary employees don't get 'sick days', but you still get paid if you are off for 1 day due to some sort of illness. If you are off for an extended time for surgery (for example), that is covered under the 'sick leave' policy.

HR's view is that giving out 'sick days' encourages everyone to be off 'sick' for that number of days and/or incorrectly rewards the wrong behavior since someone who doesn't get sick, doesn't get paid anything extra. I think that makes sense, but again have to look at the total context of benefits a specific company offers. Regarding use of vacation days, most people at our company budget them all during the year. You & your boss develop the vacation schedule so everyone isn't gone at the same time. Doesn't make a lot of sense to never take vacation and suddenly realize in December, you have too many days left to use (but still happens with some clueless people)...............LOL.

 

[lanejudy]

Too bad you don’t have labour laws. Sounds horrible .

Everyone in Canada by law gets vacation and unpaid meal time. It’s labour law and really a basic human right sort of thing .
Weird you think this exceptional. It’s a basic labour law up here.

The US does have labor laws, they just happen to be different from Canada's labour laws.

Some of the federal basics include:
minimum wage
the 40-hour work week with OT at time-and-a-half (FLSA)
the number and minimum length of breaks based on shift length
child labor laws such as how many hours minors can work
safety laws (OSHA)
job-protected leave (FMLA)

States and/or individual businesses can set "better" rules than the federal minimums for any of these as well - such as some states pay higher minimum wage, some states require xx sick days, etc. There's just no requirement for paid vacation time off.

 

[disneychrista]

holiday pay is double (FLSA)

Are you sure about this? As far as I know, having worked in HR for a number of years previously, there is no requirement that holidays be paid at anything other than straight time. Many employers will pay OT or DT but there is no requirement. This could have changed as I haven’t kept up on all the law changes in the past several years since HR is no longer part of my current job.

 

[lanejudy]

As to the OP's question -- when I started with my current employer there were up to 10 sick days, vacation started at 1 or 2 weeks and increased after so many years with the company, 2 paid floating holidays and 2 paid personal days. Now that's all rolled into "unlimited" PTO. I put unlimited in quotes because it's "within reason" and must be pre-approved. For example, nobody on my team was approved for scheduled time off at year-end because we have deadlines.

 

[lanejudy]

Are you sure about this?

It was years ago that I worked payroll, and maybe that was a state rule.

 

[kdonnel]

HR's view is that giving out 'sick days' encourages everyone to be off 'sick' for that number of days and/or incorrectly rewards the wrong behavior since someone who doesn't get sick, doesn't get paid anything extra.

The counter point is by not encouraging those who are sick to stay home, HR is instead further impacting and reducing productivity by spreading the sickness throughout the employees. Bring on the next pandemic.

 

[CdnCarrie]

The US does have labor laws, they just happen to be different from Canada's labour laws.

Some of the federal basics include:
minimum wage
the 40-hour work week with OT at time-and-a-half (FLSA)
the number and minimum length of breaks based on shift length
child labor laws such as how many hours minors can work
safety laws (OSHA)
job-protected leave (FMLA)

States and/or individual businesses can set "better" rules than the federal minimums for any of these as well - such as some states pay higher minimum wage, some states require xx sick days, etc. There's just no requirement for paid vacation time off.

I’m just surprised at the lack of mandatory vacation time.
I thought that was kind of a given in all first world countries.

 

[KPeterso]

My company is pretty generous with PTO. I earn 28 days + 1 personal day each year. Being in CA, I can carry over all my PTO (most other states for my company can only only carry over 40 hours). I will cap out at 330 hours which is about 1.5X my yearly allotment. I am currently around 280 hours on hand and I cannot tell you the last time I went under 200 hours. I do typically use about what I earn in a year, although I have not used as much for vacation this year --- more for days off here and there to take care of my parents.