employment question

**arnie_uk** · 09-24-2020, 01:36 PM

Just a quick question.

Do americans get a holiday entitlement?

Do they get maternity and paternity leave?

Sick leave?

Just curious how this all works there.

Here we get a minimum of 28 days full pay holidays.

Maternity leave is 52 weeks in the uk.

**wickedsolo** · 09-24-2020, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by arnie_uk

Just a quick question.

Do americans get a holiday entitlement?

Do they get maternity and paternity leave?

Sick leave?

Just curious how this all works there.

Here we get a minimum of 28 days full pay holidays.

Maternity leave is 52 weeks in the uk.

Maternity leave is better in the UK, for sure. I also believe companies are required to hold a position for someone that is on maternity leave (paternity leave too?).

I think most companies give new mothers something like 6-8 weeks, but then new mothers can also apply for short term disability. That's probably the average, but I know there are some pretty progressive companies that will give new mother's something like 12-16 weeks of leave and then short term disability will kick in. My wife did that for our first kid.

Over here, most companies give employees all of the major, federally recognized holidays off...so Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc. Some industries, like retail and restaurants, don't take off those holidays because those are big money days/weekends for their business.

Paid Time Off and Sick Leave are really dependent upon the company. That's part of the negotiation aspect for companies in America because some companies give better benefits...matching 401K...some only do up to 4%, some do up to 10%. I've been able to negotiate higher paid time off accrual because I was in the military...honestly I think most companies just expect most people not to negotiate that, but having flexible time off is important to me.

What I have noticed a lot of companies doing is "unlimited" paid time off, which has pro's and con's, but I actually really like that model. Basically, as long as your supervisor is good with it, you can take off whenever. Statistically, more people end up taking less time off with unlimited models than they do with accrued PTO models. From a company's perspective, the unlimited model has some nice benefits because that means if a customer leaves or is terminated, they're not on the hook to pay that person out for their accrued time off. It also means they don't have to roll over a bunch of accrued paid time off for hundreds of employees each year, which for budget purposes and payroll, is huge.

**blah3** · 09-24-2020, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by arnie_uk

Just a quick question.

Do americans get a holiday entitlement?

Do they get maternity and paternity leave?

Sick leave?

Just curious how this all works there.

Here we get a minimum of 28 days full pay holidays.

Maternity leave is 52 weeks in the uk.

Depends on the company (and type of job). A ‘standard’ 40 hr per week will get a certain number of holidays (like Christmas not a vacation day) like 6 - 12 depending on the company. Vacation/sick time varies even more By company and experience. Maternity leave varies by company as well, but I don’t think anyone is getting g anywhere near a year off. Paternity leave is more rare and leas

**Ortizer** · 09-24-2020, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

Maternity leave is better in the UK, for sure. I also believe companies are required to hold a position for someone that is on maternity leave (paternity leave too?).

I think most companies give new mothers something like 6-8 weeks, but then new mothers can also apply for short term disability. That's probably the average, but I know there are some pretty progressive companies that will give new mother's something like 12-16 weeks of leave and then short term disability will kick in. My wife did that for our first kid.

Over here, most companies give employees all of the major, federally recognized holidays off...so Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc. Some industries, like retail and restaurants, don't take off those holidays because those are big money days/weekends for their business.

Paid Time Off and Sick Leave are really dependent upon the company. That's part of the negotiation aspect for companies in America because some companies give better benefits...matching 401K...some only do up to 4%, some do up to 10%. I've been able to negotiate higher paid time off accrual because I was in the military...honestly I think most companies just expect most people not to negotiate that, but having flexible time off is important to me.

What I have noticed a lot of companies doing is "unlimited" paid time off, which has pro's and con's, but I actually really like that model. Basically, as long as your supervisor is good with it, you can take off whenever. Statistically, more people end up taking less time off with unlimited models than they do with accrued PTO models. From a company's perspective, the unlimited model has some nice benefits because that means if a customer leaves or is terminated, they're not on the hook to pay that person out for their accrued time off. It also means they don't have to roll over a bunch of accrued paid time off for hundreds of employees each year, which for budget purposes and payroll, is huge.

Also depends on state. Some states mandate sick leave, others don't.

Anyone can take twelve weeks using fmla if your site is more than 50 people I believe. They also are required to hold your position or put you into an equivalent one when you return. They do not however have to pay you.

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**Ortizer** · 09-24-2020, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by blah3

Depends on the company (and type of job). A ‘standard’ 40 hr per week will get a certain number of holidays (like Christmas not a vacation day) like 6 - 12 depending on the company. Vacation/sick time varies even more By company and experience. Maternity leave varies by company as well, but I don’t think anyone is getting g anywhere near a year off. Paternity leave is more rare and leas

Most I've seen on paternity leave is a week or two, but the companies I was at did it by adding to your pto bank.

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**BustOfPallas** · 09-24-2020, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by arnie_uk

Just a quick question.

Do americans get a holiday entitlement?

Do they get maternity and paternity leave?

Sick leave?

Just curious how this all works there.

Here we get a minimum of 28 days full pay holidays.

Maternity leave is 52 weeks in the uk.

In the private sector I don't believe Americans are entitled to any holidays.
Federal workers and contractors get all the Federal holidays if they are non-essential I believe.

I think the Family Medical Leave act bumped up and mandated maternity leave to a certain level and and offers protections for workers that have to care for sick loved ones. I don't know the details though. My wife knows all that stuff.

In the commercial world most companies honor Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day, 4rth of July, Labor Day and Memorial Day and usually give one "floating" holiday. (Feds also give Veterans day and Columbus day and I think MLK's birthday) On top of that the standard is 15 days PTO to start with and additional week after a set amount of time and another after another set amount. PTO covers everything including sick time, doctors visits, vacations. It's one bucket. It's pretty stingy here. As I've gotten older I've come to believe this is an area where I would not mind laws that dictate more time off if an employee chooses to take it. Salaries would adjust to compensate employers for lost revenue. I'm not a total commie but think the freedom would help people live better lives and ultimately be more productive and less stressed.

**arnie_uk** · 09-24-2020, 02:05 PM

So let's just say you want to takes 2 weeks to go to europe, do you have to take unpaid leave?

**wickedsolo** · 09-24-2020, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by arnie_uk

So let's just say you want to takes 2 weeks to go to europe, do you have to take unpaid leave?

Depends.

If you work at a place that follows an unlimited PTO model, then no.

If you work at a place where you have accrued PTO, then you use what you have accrued. If it is less than 2 weeks, then you would take the difference in unpaid leave.

**BustOfPallas** · 09-24-2020, 02:19 PM

Originally Posted by wickedsolo

Depends.

If you work at a place that follows an unlimited PTO model, then no.

If you work at a place where you have accrued PTO, then you use what you have accrued. If it is less than 2 weeks, then you would take the difference in unpaid leave.

Some employers will "forward" leave sometimes, meaning you get paid but you pay those hours back from future accruement of PTO. So you go into a PTO hole which you owe if you leave and it comes out of your last check.

This country is very stingy with leave as opposed to Europe. I think it would be great if more companies offered models that allowed more time off. I had a couple years early with the company I'm at now where I missed some big chunks due to gut issues. Those years sucked. I had to work while on vacation and had very little PTO for leisure/vacation. The time off I had I spent fu**ed up and pretty sick. That's a shitty place to be in.

**owknows** · 09-24-2020, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by arnie_uk

Just a quick question.

Do americans get a holiday entitlement?

Do they get maternity and paternity leave?

Sick leave?

Just curious how this all works there.

Here we get a minimum of 28 days full pay holidays.

Maternity leave is 52 weeks in the uk.

All in, I get about 6 weeks paid time off between Vacation, Holidays, and What they call Floating Holidays used at my discretion

I have unlimited sick leave, but there is a justifiable expectation that anything beyond 3 consecutive days be justified by a medical professional

We have maternity/family leave... but I have never used it.. don't know the duration. (52 weeks is unreasonble)

**Laxdad24** · 09-24-2020, 03:54 PM

Arnie ....you damn Commie Europeans can keep you vacation time! We Americans don’t want your Socialism here!! Shit I wish they’d make us work 80 hrs a week and get zero paid time off!! Maternity leave???? Shit. Make that woman have her kid right at work. That way they can start working on the American Dream early! Can’t make the 1% wealthier if we don’t start early!

‘Murica!

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**owknows** · 09-24-2020, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by Laxdad24

Arnie ....you damn Commie Europeans can keep you vacation time! We Americans don’t want your Socialism here!! Shit I wish they’d make us work 80 hrs a week and get zero paid time off!! Maternity leave???? Shit. Make that woman have her kid right at work. That way they can start working on the American Dream early! Can’t make the 1% wealthier if we don’t start early!

‘Murica!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hoa... Whoa...

Ease up chuggin that Kool-Aid bro... it's commie flavored.