The Say Anything Thread - take 6

[Ms. Squirrel 11]

OMG I have PMS food cravings and I am about to tear my desk apart with a loud growl! I am hungry!!!!

[Bootylicious!! 2]

I just realized today I only have 8 hours of sick leave at this point. I've used it all going to the fertility clinic. I only gain 8 hours a month so I'll use it as fast as I get it. At this point I won't have any sick leave once I finally do get pregnant. My only saving grace is my vacation time. I start gaining 11 hours a month in 2 months. That'll rack up pretty quickly as long as I don't have to start using it to go to the fertility clinic. I'm also hoping this next month will be our month so I won't be going to the fertility clinic anymore.

Alright so Booty talking sick leave and holiday leave have left me wondering about the US leave entitlement system. In Australia we got 4 weeks a year holiday entitlements plus 2 or 3 public holidays. Here in the Uk they get 25 days (5 weeks) plus 8 public holidays.

John says you are lucky to get one week a year to begin with and then it builds up after that. Is this the same across the country? He also says you are lucky to be paid sick leave and public holidays. A lot of companies give you the time off but don't pay you.

What do the rest of you employed in the US encounter?

Well, I work for the government so my vacation/sick leave is better than most people. When I first started I gained 7.9 hours a month of vacation. Sick leave stays the same the whole time you are employed at 8 hours a month. Once you have been with them for 2 years you start gaining 9.1 hours a month. Then it goes up again after 5 years to 11.2 hours. I think the next jump is after 10 years and it's something around 15 hours a month. As for maternity leave you don't really get that. We can take 6 weeks but as I said you have to use your sick/vacation time. If you don't have enough they will let someone else donate time to you. I'm lucky, my mom works here also, so I'm sure she'll donate some time to me. She's been here over 20 years so she has plenty stockpiled.

Javi just started a new job and he doesn't get any vacation time until he's been with the company for a year, then he gets one week. After two years he gets two weeks. Like Pedro said, he can't take 2 weeks in a row though. He has to take one week in the first six months then the second week in the second half of the year. He doesn't have any sick leave at all. If he's out he doesn't get paid. He does have insurance provided and paid by his employer so that is a plus. He gets off national holidays, only certain ones, but doesn't get paid.

So yeah, most of the leave time sucks in the US. We're used to it though so it doesn't really bother us that bad. I could definitely see how someone coming from a different country would have issues with it.

[DairyFarmer 1]

OMG I have PMS food cravings and I am about to tear my desk apart with a loud growl! I am hungry!!!!

One of the guys here brought in a tub of timy celebration chocolates and I can hear them calling my name

Hey Charity what is the standard working week? Like 40 hours a week 35, 37.5 etc?

And thats very cool about the donating time to someone else.

Edited September 10, 2008 by DairyFarmer

[Bootylicious!! 2]

OMG I have PMS food cravings and I am about to tear my desk apart with a loud growl! I am hungry!!!!

One of the guys here brought in a tub of timy celebration chocolates and I can hear them calling my name

Hey Charity what is the standard working week? Like 40 hours a week 35, 37.5 etc?

And thats very cool about the donating time to someone else.

A standard week is 40 hrs. Some companies pay time and a half for over time. Mine does not. We just earn comp time at the time and a half rate. So if I stay an extra hour I actually get to take 1.5 hrs off. At my other position here they allowed me to stay in at lunch to get that extra time when I needed it. At this position they won't do that. I work with a bunch of @sshats now. Strictly by the book where I'm concerned. Not for anyone else in this office, just me. Whatever, I'll eventually get outta here into a better situation.

[pedroh 21]

when I was hired it was stablished that my position was a 50hr a week job.. of course we get paid overtime (1.5xpay).. but sometimes we work less... 45.. but we average 45-50 hrs.. sometimes 55 a week... yea lovely 10+ hour shifts.. with no lunch break, we eat in our desks..

[Bootylicious!! 2]

when I was hired it was stablished that my position was a 50hr a week job.. of course we get paid overtime (1.5xpay).. but sometimes we work less... 45.. but we average 45-50 hrs.. sometimes 55 a week... yea lovely 10+ hour shifts.. with no lunch break, we eat in our desks..

That must be hard to do. I can't imagine you fitting in one of those little desk drawers. :lol:

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[DairyFarmer 1]

when I was hired it was stablished that my position was a 50hr a week job.. of course we get paid overtime (1.5xpay).. but sometimes we work less... 45.. but we average 45-50 hrs.. sometimes 55 a week... yea lovely 10+ hour shifts.. with no lunch break, we eat in our desks..

That must be hard to do. I can't imagine you fitting in one of those little desk drawers. :lol:

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Ban Hammer 13,590]

when I was hired it was stablished that my position was a 50hr a week job.. of course we get paid overtime (1.5xpay).. but sometimes we work less... 45.. but we average 45-50 hrs.. sometimes 55 a week... yea lovely 10+ hour shifts.. with no lunch break, we eat in our desks..

That must be hard to do. I can't imagine you fitting in one of those little desk drawers. :lol:

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

on the leave bit, we get zero leave for the first year, on the one year anniversary we get 80 hours of leave. you accrue 80 hours every anniversary until the 9th anniversary, where you get 120 from then on. no sick leave, it comes out of your leave. so it has it's pros and cons.

eta: max accrual of leave is 200 hours, i'm at that. if over 200 hours on the anniversary they pay it out to bring it down to 200 hours.

Edited September 10, 2008 by charles!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/overtime.htm

[pedroh 21]

[DairyFarmer 1]

when I was hired it was stablished that my position was a 50hr a week job.. of course we get paid overtime (1.5xpay).. but sometimes we work less... 45.. but we average 45-50 hrs.. sometimes 55 a week... yea lovely 10+ hour shifts.. with no lunch break, we eat in our desks..

That must be hard to do. I can't imagine you fitting in one of those little desk drawers. :lol:

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

on the leave bit, we get zero leave for the first year, on the one year anniversary we get 80 hours of leave. you accrue 80 hours every anniversary until the 9th anniversary, where you get 120 from then on. no sick leave, it comes out of your leave. so it has it's pros and cons.

eta: max accrual of leave is 200 hours, i'm at that. if over 200 hours on the anniversary they pay it out to bring it down to 200 hours.

So for 8 years you get two weeks leave and then you get rewarded with 3 weeks leave, till finally you get 5 weeks. Man that is tough. We aussie's and the Brits have it easy.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Those policies are different everywhere.

I have friends who get 2 weeks time off forever, regardless of seniority.

[DairyFarmer 1]

when I was hired it was stablished that my position was a 50hr a week job.. of course we get paid overtime (1.5xpay).. but sometimes we work less... 45.. but we average 45-50 hrs.. sometimes 55 a week... yea lovely 10+ hour shifts.. with no lunch break, we eat in our desks..

Do you get paid leave also or do you just work crazy hours till you drop dead on your desk over your lunch?

No wonder boss lady buys you lunch now and again.

Edited September 10, 2008 by DairyFarmer

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Where I work we start with 10 days PTO (which is a pool of vacation + sick). At 2 yrs seniority that goes to 15. At 5 years it goes to 23. At 10 yrs it goes to 40. We can only carry over a max of 10 per year to the next year. They don't pay us for days we don't use.

[pedroh 21]

when I was hired it was stablished that my position was a 50hr a week job.. of course we get paid overtime (1.5xpay).. but sometimes we work less... 45.. but we average 45-50 hrs.. sometimes 55 a week... yea lovely 10+ hour shifts.. with no lunch break, we eat in our desks..

Do you get paid leave also or do you just work crazy hours till you drop dead on your desk over your lunch?

No wonder boss lady buys you lunch now and again.

we get 2 weeks vacations and 1 week of personal days.. if we get sick, we can get them off the personal days.. or if u dont wanna use it u can ask for a day off unpaid leave.. but other than that, no paid leave, sick leave or anything

the thing is, we get a lot of idle time, so we're not working per se 10 hrs a day..