How much vacation do you take?

[krazyaboutkatz]

Where I work you only get 10 days of paid vacation days per year and when you've been with the company for 10 years and over you then get 15 days. I've been with the company for a long time so I do get the 15 and I use all of them. As for sick time, we can only use it if we are sick so I never use all of them unless I have surgery or something that requires a long recovery time. We now also need a doctor's excuse if we're out sick for more than a couple of days. We are allowed to carry over some of our sick time to the next year and as far as I know we can also carry over any unused vacation time. We also get our birthday as a paid holiday so I really have 16 paid vacation days. We used to also be able to use our sick time for personal time off or even vacation time when work was slow but ever since the poor economy we can't. Sometimes if we have to work on a Saturday we can also get comp time which would go towards vacation time. I usually just take staycations, I just stay home during my vacations, because I can't afford to travel and I have 6 cats to take care of and I don't have any one close by that could cat sit them. I also can't afford the prices of professional pet sitters.

[Pinot's Mom]

That table may be a bit skewed. In general, as far as I know, many American companies START with two weeks (10 days) vacation and 3 personal days. It is true many people leave some on the table; I am not one of them.

I am, at this point, middle management. I get 4 weeks vacation, three personal days and usually 3-4 floating holidays. As far as sick time, mine is unlimited, so it's not a matter of taking/leaving. If you're sick, if you have surgery, you stay home. I also use one day every 7-8 weeks for my IV treatments, which is paid.

As far as leaving vacation on the table: so many American companies, my own included, are cut so close to the bone as far as personnel, you can't take off because there is just too much to do and no one to cover. It's a sad result of a combination of the economy and some very badly run companies, IMO.

[Edwina's Secretary]

That table may be a bit skewed. In general, as far as I know, many American companies START with two weeks (10 days) vacation and 3 personal days.

Not exactly. There is no law in the United States requiring employers to offer paid (or unpaid!) vacation or holidays.

In fact, one in four workers in the private sector (non-government) gets no paid time off. No, none.

Those folks frying your burger at McDonald's, serving your meal at the local diner, ringing up your sale at Walmart most likely get no paid vacation. (That does not mean they cannot take time off - just not paid for it.) And probably no paid holidays as well.

Most medium to large employers do offer vacation - one or two weeks to start - but often that cannot be taken until the second year.

And people not taking vacation is a problem for many employers. It must be carried on the books as a liability. Some states (California is one) do not allow "use it or lose it" vacation policies. But only a handful of states. Many employees stockpile vacation - where they can - or are afraid to take it for fear of annoying the boss. Taking two weeks at as stretch has become very rare.

The basic holidays are eight per year (New Year's, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Day After, Christmas Day.) There is no law requiring an employer to give any of these days off - with or without pay. NOr to pay you extra if you work them.

So if your employer gives you paid vacation, paid holidays, paid sick time...be sure and thank them. They do it because they want to - not because they have to!

[Scooter's Mom]

My DH gets PTO (like Taz_Zoee). They get 15 days a year - it can be sick days, vacation days, whatever. My office is way better. I've been there 9 years and I'm at the highest vacation "rank" which is 192 hours (24 days)... plus every pay period you earn 1.34 hours of sick time. The sick time is not much at all... but the vacation time makes up for it.

[momcat]

After 30 years at my job, I now have 25 vacation days. Since I hate to travel, I take extended weekends when I feel I need the time off and catch up with stuff at home.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm actually on vacation right now. Since the 4th of July fell on a Wed. and we also became very slow at work, I decided to take Thurs. & Fri. off too. I also decided to take the whole next week off. I don't travel either so it's just a staycation. Now I can stay home and enjoy my 3 new kittens and other cats. It's going to be hard going back to work on Monday.

[Randi]

A week here and a week there is nice, and also to be able to extend weekends.

Wow KAK, 16 days aren't much, and I bet you work more than 37 hours a week. You need to talk to you boss and negotiate.

I think is unfair that the rules aren't the same for everybody.

[krazyaboutkatz]

A week here and a week there is nice, and also to be able to extend weekends.

Wow KAK, 16 days aren't much, and I bet you work more than 37 hours a week. You need to talk to you boss and negotiate.

I think is unfair that the rules aren't the same for everybody.

Yes, it sure isn't. I do usually work 40 hours per week and sometimes a bit more. Ever since the poor economy though, our boss doesn't want us to work any overtime. Since I'm now paid an hourly plus a commission, I'm required to do a certain amount of work per day within my 8 hours. If I can't do this then I will just punch out after 8 hours and then work off the clock which I don't think is fair but if I don't finish my work then I don't get my commission and in my department we have to always finish all of our work. I work at fairly small company of about 40 or so workers. We're actually one of the largest dental labs in our area though. Most dental labs are very small with only from 2-5 employees.

The way the I make the most of my vacation time is to not take it all at once. For the past few years I've been taking off a few days here and there during the summer so that I get long weekends. I usually do this in the months of July and August. Then I only work either 3-4 days a week depending on if I have a 3 day weekend or a 4 day weekend. I use my 10 days during this time and I save my other 5 for the end of the year between Christmas and New Years. Since we also get some paid holidays during this time, I've been able to take almost 2 weeks off sometimes. My holiday birthday is also in Dec. so I always use it during this time too. We work with a limited staff during these holidays so my boss encourages us to use any vacation time that we have left. We're also usually very slow the first week of Jan. so many people take that week off too.

We have an employee handbook that is updated every year but it also says that things are subject to change without notice. We receive the following holidays:
New Year's Day
Presidents Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day
Day After Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Eve (1/2 Day)
Christmas Day
1 Floating Holiday- Employee's Birthday

We aren't allowed to keep accumulating a lot of vacation time though. We can carry over accrued vacation time into the next year but when our total vacation accrual reaches 150% we will no longer accrue vacation until we reduce the total below the maximum. I do remember there was an employee that had build up so much vacation time that my boss forced him to take some time off. My boss also doesn't like us to take long vacations like a month off at a time. I don't know why people wouldn't just want to use their vacation time every year.

We get 4 sick days a year and we can carry over a maximum of 48 hours of sick leave from calendar year to calendar year. If we are absent for more than 3 consecutive work days due to our own illness or injury, then we must provide a physician's statement verifying the disability, its beginning and expected ending dates. This verification may be required as a condition for receiving sick leave benefits. Also if we're out for 10 work days or more then we must provide a physician's verification that we may safely return to work. When I had my eye surgery I had to do this.

After receiving approval from our supervisor, we can take up to 3 days of paid time off because of the death of an immediate family member. My company defines "immediate family" as our spouse, parent, child, sibling, in-law, grandparent, domestic partner, child of domestic partner, or significant other. When my grandparents passed away I never took any time off. I did,however, take one personal day off when I had to put my RB Pepper to sleep. This was back when I was able to take personal days off though. I guess I should just be glad that I have any benefits at all.

[happylabs]

Where I work you only get 10 days of paid vacation days per year and when you've been with the company for 10 years and over you then get 15 days. I've been with the company for a long time so I do get the 15 and I use all of them. As for sick time, we can only use it if we are sick so I never use all of them unless I have surgery or something that requires a long recovery time. We now also need a doctor's excuse if we're out sick for more than a couple of days. We are allowed to carry over some of our sick time to the next year and as far as I know we can also carry over any unused vacation time. We also get our birthday as a paid holiday so I really have 16 paid vacation days. We used to also be able to use our sick time for personal time off or even vacation time when work was slow but ever since the poor economy we can't. Sometimes if we have to work on a Saturday we can also get comp time which would go towards vacation time. I usually just take staycations, I just stay home during my vacations, because I can't afford to travel and I have 6 cats to take care of and I don't have any one close by that could cat sit them. I also can't afford the prices of professional pet sitters.

As much as I miss the beach, I do LOVE my staycations. I will take a Friday and the following Monday sometimes and make a 4-day weekend. I am becoming very much a homebody. Sometimes I think I could be a hermit - LOL!

[Taz_Zoee]

I've been with my company over 8 years. We do not get sick days. We accumulate PTO (paid time off) as we work. Depending on how long you've been here determines how much PTO you get per days/hours worked.

We usually try to take a week long vacation each year. The past several years its only been going up to Tahoe (our home away from home) for a week. Back when we first go together we went on nice tropical cruises or trips (Carribbean, Hawaii, Mexico, Florida, Belize). Hopefully someday we will be able to do trips like that again.

Pomtzu, I think Randi means she TAKES vacation. Not that she necessarily gets paid vacation. And if I'm wrong..........I'm moving there!!!

[caseysmom]

I get 14 hours a month vacation and 8 hours sick leave a month so a bit over 4 weeks a year, I have about a years time on the books because I get called on the weekend a lot so time off is used to compensate so don't end up touching my balances a whole lot. I will run it out when I retire.

[wolf_Q]

I get so many hours of PTO a year. I think I have 250 something right now...they roll over from previous years though I think sometimes some are lost. But my PTO is our hourly rate (we make hourly or commission whichever is higher) so it's only like $7.50 an hour. I definitely make more than that (unless its really slow) with commission, so, while I do get paid to take time off it is not the same pay I would make working if that makes sense. So taking a week off "just to use hours" I would generally loose money as I would not be making the same amount as if I was at work. But it sure is nice to take a week off and get paid while I'm not there. I don't necessarily keep track of how many hours I use but if I want to take a trip I take it and I use my hours. I like to have some on hand because we do not have a separate sick leave if I want to get paid while I had to take time off for a surgery or something I would have to use my PTO.

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

I am not really sure, but I think my hubby has as much vacation days as in The Netherlands!
But........ from July on he will have as much vacation as he chooses, because........................................... ....
he will be retired as from July 1st !!! Yîppie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[maid25cats]

At my old job after 18yrs I was up to 5 weeks vac, 6 sick. I started there in 89, some years later they changed it to no more than 4 weeks but if you were hired before a certain year you still got the 5th week after the 15 years. 6 sick days and you got paid if you didn't use them . Paid holidays and the company was closed from Christmas Eve to New Years -PAID.
So I think it ended up being about 16 paid holidays. Unfortunately they moved out of the state
New company:
Right now after 4 years this month I just got 4 more days added which brings me up to 14 days vac and 8 sick.
But now they changed the sick day policy that is use it or lose it.

Right now with 5 cats I cant really go away so I stay around the house

[Randi]

Wow, it's really different over there... huge variations from one company to another, and from one state to another. I would have thought there was a law stating the minimum/maximum days of vacation for all Americans. Well, at least most of you get at least 2 weeks of vacation. In my opnion that's not enough to wind down, but I guess with the financial crisis we have, this is not the time to fight for more.

I found this that shows the development over the years:

1919	First demands for holiday entitlement made in connection with collective bargaining.
1920s	Workers in a few factories obtain the right to three days' annual leave.
1931	Half of the members of trade unions affiliated to LO (then DsF) obtain one week's paid annual leave in connection with the conclusion of new collective agreements.
1936	In connection with new agreements, a larger share of workers obtain a right to summer holiday with pay.
1938	The Holiday Act gives all employees a right to two weeks' annual leave.
1952	A third week of annual leave is introduced with effect from 1953 in connection with the conclusion of collective agreements.
1971	A fourth week of annual leave is introduced with effect from 1973.
1979	A fifth week of annual leave is introduced.
1995	A new - and more flexible - holiday agreement concluded in the public sector is overruled by the Ministry of Labour, but the following year this leads to deliberations concerning a revision of the Holiday Act.
1998	Two special holidays per year are introduced in connection with the government intervention in the dispute in the private sector bargaining area covered by DA/LO (DK9805168F).
1999	Three special holidays per year are introduced in the agreements concluded in various sectors, including the public sector, to be implemented in the course of the period up to 2002 (DK9903114F).
Spring 2000	Five special holidays per year are introduced in the agreements in the private sector bargaining area covered by DA/LO, to be implemented during the period up to 2003. The sixth week of annual leave is thus a reality - without being holiday in the sense of the Holiday Act.
May 2000	New Holiday Act is passed. It introduces a higher degree of flexibility, in the form of the possibility to enter into agreements to transfer one week of annual leave to the following holiday year.

A little more info: http://www.working-in-denmark.com/La...ions-1036.aspx