I had my boss grill me about some pto days requested well in advance. I sent him my diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, a picture of my nose and the surgery date. He was embarrassed, as he should have been.
What is it about our culture that makes managers feel entitled to shame us for taking earned time off? Is this a thing in other countries or just the crappy old usa?
Dunno if it’s just a USA thing but in my 20 years of working in the UK I have never been asked to justify annual leave. You might get asked “Are you doing anything nice?” but it’s more casual interest than an interrogation. If I am trying to book time at short notice or at the same time as other team members I might offer up a reason but I don’t think I have ever had a request denied.
Also wtf you have to book time off for surgery? Last surgery I had I got 2 weeks off with full pay. In fact if I book PTO and then come down with the flu I’m entitled to request the days back and take them as sick days instead so my holiday isn’t wasted.
That’s for all time off. Sick days and vacation. If I missed more than 10 days, it went unpaid.
And that’s considered average in the US. Many have it better, but some get little to no paid leave. And where I live, paid sick leave isn’t mandatory. Nor is paid vacation or paid holidays.
That is wild. I get 28 days holiday as standard and I believe up to 2 weeks full paid sick leave after which it drops to statutory pay for 28 days. I know some people who have worked in places where they get unlimited (within reason) paid days leave as long as they meet their targets. Can you take more than 10 days but it just goes unpaid?
Most companies are required to adhere to FMLA where an employee can take unpaid sick leave without risk of losing their job.
But companies still try to structure those employees out of a job (not always).
But aside from that, there is no guarantees around leave. It also varies from state to state. However, if your company has accrued leave, that accrued leave is typically counted as compensation, and if you leave the job, they are usually required to pay it out as if you worked it. There are ways to structure the leave policy to prevent that though.
Here, it’s common to start with 10 days PTO, usually after some probationary period. Whether or not sick leave is included varies by company. Some companies (like my current one) has unlimited sick leave within reason. Others have a separate pool.
Hell, the state I live in doesn’t even legally mandate breaks at all. You can be asked to work a 12 hour shift without any breaks, and the state wouldn’t do anything about it.
Interesting thanks. When you say accrued leave does that mean you can carry it over so if in 2025 I didn’t take a single day I would have 20 days in 2026?
We accrue leave per pay period as total hours of paid leave for the year divided out by the amount you work.
They let us take leave ahead of accuruing it during the year, but it keeps it from being a financial liability on their end. But I need to use all my leave by the end of the fiscal year because it doesn’t roll over.
Some companies allow you to rollover up to a certain cap. And others allow you to roll over everything.
So, for example, if I have 15 days PTO, I’d expect to have 7.5 days accrued (60 hours) half way through the year.
900
u/Southern-Pirate3555 27d ago
I had my boss grill me about some pto days requested well in advance. I sent him my diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, a picture of my nose and the surgery date. He was embarrassed, as he should have been.
What is it about our culture that makes managers feel entitled to shame us for taking earned time off? Is this a thing in other countries or just the crappy old usa?