NWR vent: Vacation days at work

laboheme68

My work is a bit stingy with vacation days, the system is as follows: Year 0: 2 personal days and 2 sick days Year 1: One week vacation and 2 personal days/2 sick days Year 2: Two weeks vacation and 2 personal days/2 sick days Year 3: Three weeks vacation and 2 personal days/2 sick days I have been with the company 2 years now, so my vacation days reset last month. I took 8 days off for the wedding/honeymoon, and I am taking 2 days off for a long weekend later this month. That puts me at 10 days, and since I have 2 weeks vacation this year, I figured had 4 more days. The other day my boss told us (we're a small office) that there seemed to be some confusion with vacation days, and by a "week", he meant 5 days. So, I only get 10 days off this year, which I am going to be at by the end of the month. Management is pretending this policy has been existing all along, and not saying what's actually happening: that they're changing the policy midstream. This is NOT how the system has been running since I've started work at this company, and I'm pretty miffed about it. Had our policy said "You get a BUSINESS WEEK" off, that would be one thing. But it said, "At 2 years you get 2 weeks off." It seems like a pretty cut and dry wording to me. How would you guys deal with this? Have a heart to heart with management? Suck it up? I don't mean to seem ungrateful that I have a job, because I am grateful, I just feel like this is kind of an unfair change. Do you guys agree?

Loopyseven

I've never worked anywhere where 2 weeks of vacation meant more than 5 work days - Monday through Friday.

pinkpinot

My company is sort of the same way but I never assumed a week off was 7 days.  I assumed a week off was a "work" week which was 5 days.

BecW2be

I've never interpreted a week of vacation as 7 days. It's 5 work days. Every single job I've ever worked has worded their policy as one week, two weeks, etc., meaning 5 working days in a week. Why would your company give you 7 days?

kdcwedding

First, every place I have worked, 1 week = 5 days, not 7 days. However, if you have been taking 1 week = 7 days for 2 years, and no one has said "hey, you took more than your alloted 5 days" then that sucks. Unless you have it in writing though, I don't think there's much you can do. I just got forced into a paycut via mandatory 4-day work weeks for half of the remaining weeks this year, but what am I going to do, quit? If it's a small office and you are comfortable discussing it, you could ask/discuss, but I don't know that that would really change anything.

maggyruth

I guess I'm confused. Do you work for a company that's open 7 days a week?  If not, then I would have assumed from the get go that 2 weeks vaca meant 2 work weeks of vaca (aka 10 days-typical work week being 5 days). So, you have your vacation days used up. You have your personal/sick days left. 

laboheme68

It's how our HR department has been counting them for the past 2 years. One week = 7 days

J&K10910

Your WORK WEEK is 5 days.  I would never assume a week vacation is more than 5 days.

laboheme68

Our company is open 5 days a week, and had the days not been counted as they have been for the past 2 years, this would have been fine. But for the past 2 years, one week=7 days.

ffmaid

a work week is 40 hours so 2 years 2 weeks would mean you get 80 hours off in my mind.

fangsiting

Everywhere I've worked, one week is 5 days.  Although, they always specifically state that in the policy.  If you got 7 days of vacation last year, then it might be worth taking to them, but in a normal Monday-Friday office setting, it's pretty clear that one week means 5 days. 

maggyruth

Then your HR department has been effing it up for the past 2 years.  I would talk to them (head of HR) for clarification.

pinkpinot

Our company is open 5 days a week, and had the days not been counted as they have been for the past 2 years, this would have been fine. But for the past 2 years, one week=7 days.Because of the misunderstanding, you should ask your boss if it would be OK to "payback" time off in case you go over allowed vacation days.  

LesPaul

Everywhere I have worked 1 week = 5 days.  But if your employer had a 7-day policy in place, and they are changing it now, that's different.  Do you have something in writing (Employee Manual, etc) that says a week = 7 days?

SwedishChick2011

So, did you get 7 days of vacation last year?  When I think of getting a week off work, I think Monday-Friday because I'm automatically going to get Saturday and Sunday off.  At my work, we get a certain number of hours off, so there's no confusion. 

jamm2019

I would always assume that a week off ment 5 days since we work 5 days a week.  My company actually does it by hours, but it calculates into weeks consisting of 5 days...

laboheme68

Yes, I got 7 days off last year. Basically, what was said was: "Well, for the past X years, our HR has been counting vacation wrong. This is what it actually is supposed to be." And I mean, that's fine if they want to change it, but give us some warning, imo. I budgeted my days based on last years count, I asked HR when I began to confirm how much vacation I got, and obviously I was given wrong information.

kdcwedding

If that is how they explained it (counted wrong for the past 2 years), I don't think there is much you can say/do.I also don't think they need to give you advance notice. They found out someone was screwing up the PTO (paid time off), they informed them of the correct policy, and informed you of the error.

SwedishChick2011

Yeah, your HR department is dumb.

laboheme68

I get that no one is obligated to give me advance notice if they change their policy. However, had I known we had 10 days and not 14, I would have rationed mine differently, and the fact that HR has been counting a week as 7 days for the entire time I've been here is not my fault.

maggyruth

Last I checked, most of us were saying it was HR that had effed up (once we had more information).

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Well, I think it's odd that HR has been giving you 2 full weeks, because everywhere I've worked, 1 week means 1 business week. After all, you get the weekend off already, so taking 5 days means you get a full week off. If you work someplace that is open 7 days a week, I would assume 1 week meant 7 days.We get 4 weeks after 2 years of PTO, which is vacation and sick time. We get 3 days for jury duty and 3 days bereavement. But that bereavement is apparently only for immediate family members, so I got screwed over when I took a day off to go to my uncle's funeral in another state.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

Do you earn time off, or do you get it automatically? Does it say on your paycheck how much you have?I now earn something like 6.67 hours of time off every paycheck. My check lists how much I've earned this period, plus how much I've earned year-to-date, in addition to how much I've used this period and how much I've used year-to-date.It sounds like HR/payroll are just really disorganized at your company.Can you take extra days off without pay? I know it sucks, but if you have to, hopefully they won't mind.

betrothed123

I'm curious as to how you expected them to "warn" you.  It seems to me they told you as soon as the policy changed (or the mistake was noted, however it worked out there).  They can't help that it's mid-end of the year.  Now you know for next year.That's not to say I think what they did was right, but I just don't get how they could have done things differently.

wadingmoose

That's a ridiculously costly mistake.

cbvcru67

I understand that you feel as though for two full years, you've been on a different vacation schedule, and because of that modified (corrected) schedule, you're now looking at the rest of the year with no vacation, right?That's a bummer. And I will even admit to being really bummed out/pissy if I were in your situation.  BUT, if you think of it another way, it's hard to imagine that a 5-day work week business would give you 7 days off of work as a vacation.  Can you imagine the logistics of scheduling that?  Especially if you were part of a large company.  Like Wednesday through the next Friday?  Or Monday - Tuesday?  Not like they have to be all taken at once, but do you get the point I am trying to make here?  If you are scheduling your second year of vacation, you really have only had one full week to schedule in the past, as it says in year zero you only recieve only 2 days and then 2 personal days.  To me, it just looks like you had someone in HR out of whack for a year who didn't know what they were doing.  But just because someone else screwed up doesn't mean that you worked any more hours or any harder in Year 1 to entitle you to extra vacation days now that yours have been poorly scheduled. Yes, they led you to think the proximity of dates wouldn't be an issue.   It stinks, but the company isn't going to cough up extra money to make up for that one small mistake (that probably really only effects you). As a last note, why would you think you "deserve" 7 days off, if you only put in 5 a week?  It's like rewarding you for more than you give, but thats just mho.

JoeyOz

You do have two weeks off, including Saturdays and Sundays when the company doesn't make you work. Duh. And stop b*thcing. At least you have a job.

BubbleJ

I think you should all move to NZ! We get 4 weeks paid holiday a year, its the law! And some jobs get more. The police get 5.Not helpful or constructive, but there ya go

katiewhompus

I find it weird that they say "week" instead of days or hours. At my old job we got 80 hours of vacation pay, so a little under 2 weeks worth of pay. My current job I get no vacation, so consider yourself lucky. I get 10 sick days and 2 personal days. Even though I do get summer/winter break (school system) etc, they aren't paid holidays as my salary is determined by days worked in the year.