No Paid Vacation? You Must Be An American

America is one of the more highly industrial nations who doesn't require paid vacations for workers. Interestingly, Canada, our neighbor to the north of us requires its employers to offer at least 10 paid days off per year.

Do you get paid vacation? If so do you take it? or volunarily opt not to use it?

I get 7 weeks per year and take all of it every year.

http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/05/28/18473813-no-paid-vacation-you-must-be-an-american?lite

 

I get 2 weeks paid vacation, all federal holidays and 5 personal days. It is what I negotiated with my employer. I do use all my vacation and holidays but seldom use my personal days.

I never understood why people are afraid to negotiate.

 

7 weeks? Is that PAID time off?

 

Sure and it makes for a highly productive workforce.

 

Gosh, I've been gone for a long time... do you talk for Gamewell now, Margot?

The only workforce I know who gets that much vacation are govt employees and they're FAR from productive.

 

Unless you're really important to the company I don't think anyone gets time off with pay here. I know my department doesn't.

 

7 weeks paid time off (vacation), 5 personal days (which i almost never use), 14 state and federal holidays. 180 Days sick time (does not accumulate over time). Btw this is private sector, not public.

 

I get way too much vacation. I take one week off for a vacation. After that its just days here and there. I'm in sales. I can't take 7 weeks off and have a decent commission check.

By the end of the year they allowed us to rollover 80 hours only---so I'd have to start taking days off right and left. But I didn't mind having three or four day weekends on a pretty consistant basis.

My company has now changed---and starting next year we have to use ALL our vacation by the end of the year. That is a tough. At my stage of employment that comes to 5 weeks!! On top of that-----they added sick hours!!! I almost feel encouraged to be sick! Now I get up and if I'm tired and groggy---I say hey I need to use my sick hours before I lose it. But then I realize I have an important appointment with a huge client and so I relent and manage it in to work.

The company I worked at prior to this didn't give vacation until one year of service. It was a small business---every dollar counted but they did pay well.

I say....let companies do what they have to do to get good employees on their own. Government intrusion is not a good thing.

 

Good thing your job isn't vital to the company's mission, huh? You're there so seldom, they must get along fine without you.

 

Believe it or not, the company forces us to take our vacation; if you don't select it by a certain time period, they will automatically assign it to you. If they wanted to give me 12 weeks off with pay, i'd gladly take it.

 

My company, like what yours will force you to do next year, forces us to take all of our vacation every year, lest they assign vacation to us; so most of us plan out our vacation for the upcoming year. Since I'm hourly, commissions don't have an impact on me; however I can see where those of you who are retail or depend on commissions, where it would have a negative impact.

I like having the sick time allowance that we have; my friend works for a company where they get no sick time; you call out sick, you don't get paid, so much of the time people will come to work sick and pass it along to their co-workers. Nice to know if I have a sore throat or fever, I can stay home and get better and not have to worry about coming into work and getting others sick.

 

Well, you're very fortunate. Instead of a 1%er, that'd put you right up with the privileged 1/2%. No wonder you're such an avid Obama supporter. You got yours, eh?

 

Sure do!

 

Well, you never know... I only got six weeks and tried to take it in 2 week increments.. but I also did a lot of thinking and studying contracts when I was 'away'.

 

I guess we've pretty much proven the OP is hogwash, huh? American liberals hardly work... much less do without vacation.

 

Actually...the person who owned the company I worked at prior to my current job told me point blank that he did not include sick hours as a part of his benefits package as he believed it encouraged people to be sick or "sick". And he was right. I feel very encouraged every morning to be sick. But I haven't used one sick hour yet.

I helped in interviewing and hiring for that company---and it was tough. I understood where he was coming from on the sick hours but he lost good people by making them feel vulnerable by not offering ANYTHING to ease financial pain if they did get sick. He should have offered at least a week vacation time for that first year.

But that was his business. And I frankly am offended that people want the government making his decisions for him on how to run his business. Government is 10x more inept then any private entity that manages to stay in business. In the private sector---the inept don't last (unless government props them up).

 

Don't you get paid vacation? or do you not work?

 

Agreed; people can either cut their own deal or unionize if they want vacation or sick time.

 

Or they can find another job that offers it. That was the problem I was having hiring people. Good people were going elsewhere.

But...I took the job because it paid well. I was willing to trade benefits for a larger check. The ultimate goal is to find a good fit---and government can't make every business fit every employee.

 

I earn 1/2 day of vacation for every 80 hrs worked, up to 4 wks/yr, but it doesn't have to be used each calendar year so I usually keep 2-3 weeks on hand... just in case.

6-8 weeks vacation used to be something people worked for by putting in 20 yrs for a company. Now I guess folks expect that much right outta college.

 

I worked most night til 9 PM and generally one week end day.

In fact I averaged over 60 hours a week.

 

Took me 25 years to get that amount of vacation time every year. The best deal tho' is when you retire and start collecting your pension; the company in effect is telling you that they are going to pay you not to come to work. I like that concept.

 

I'm actually glad to hear you worked 25 yrs to earn that much vacation. Good for you.

 

In the services "vacation" is a right not a privilege. It's referred to as Leave and it's a paid vacation from duty for R & R.. You can also take leave for personal reasons and emergency situations, referred to as a "pass," although the Navy and Marines call it "liberty." It's paid time off not chargeable as leave.

While Leave is a right that is granted by Congress under Federal Law (Title 10 of the U.S. Code, section 704), that doesn't necessarily mean you can take it whenever you desire. Explaining the nuances of leave can get somewhat complex for the layman, so I'll "leave" it at that.

 

My last job in Australia I worked as a journalist and photojournalist for 17 years at a medium sized daily newspaper. The newspaper belonged to a much larger masthead.

28 days paid leave per year plus public holidays paid. If I was rostered to work public holidays, double time. Afternoon shift outside normal office hours, we'd get a shift allowance. We weren't allowed to accrue more than six weeks annual leave. Unlimited paid sick pay, within reason. I once had a full month off on paid sick leave because of a broken knee cap due to a motorbike accident. My boss allowed full pay for the month because a didn't take many sick days prior.

90 days paid long service leave after ten years continuous service which could be taken in a lump or piece meal as one sees fit or not taken and benefits given at time of resignation or leaving the company, including being sacked.


Nowadays, I'm teaching as a sessional teacher (fancy term for casual) but I've been teaching the exact same hours for six years. I don't get paid leave but my hourly rate is much higher than the full timers. A couple of years ago I spent four days in hospital from Sunday evening until Thursday. My employer paid me for my time off.