How many days annual leave in the US?

[mayerling]

This is by no means bragging, but after reading what everyone had to say I thought I'd point out the situation in Europe for comparison.

At my job (which is representative of higher-end jobs in the UK), I get 27 days of annual leave (to be taken whenever I want). This does not include public holidays (which are surprisingly few in the UK). Some public holidays come in chunks (like around Easter) so I can add my annual leave around them and make a nice holiday out of it. For instance, I was away for 12 days at Easter, only 4 of which were taken as annual leave.

Sick leave of 2 days per month is given without justification. For more than 2 days you need a letter from your doctor. Compassionate or bereavement leave are usually given without question. Maternity leave is 39 weeks paid at 90% of the salary, and 13 weeks paid at a standard rate of about £120. Paternity leave is given for 2 weeks and paid at a standard rate of £123.

I'm wondering whether the situation in the US has something to do with lack of union support. It seems strange that people wouldn't fight for their right to a rest. And the maternity leave situation is beyond me.

Thank you all for showing me what the situation is, though. I might have to move there in the near future and it's good to know what I'm in for.

 

[packrat]

Most jobs here give 1 week *after* one year of employment. 2 jobs you accrued PTO every hour you worked and at one of those, you still made your PTO while on vaca so that was nice, but that job also had it so that if you dropped below a certain percentage of PTO and NPTO (non paid-get 80 hours every anniversary) you were fired. Didn't matter if you were sick, kids were sick, hospital, whatever, if you'd already used your time to go on a vaca, and you ended up needing other time during the year, you were just out of luck.

Dr. gives 5 weeks max of vaca to full time employees after I think 10 years. I'm part-part time so I don't get anything anymore. When I was just part time, I got 1/2 of what the others got which was more generous than other part time jobs. You can save it up for maternity leave but otherwise, anything over 100 hours saved (I think, or else it's any hours saved at all) are lost at the end of the year.

JD's employer gives max 5 weeks after..20 years I think. Funny while I was typing this, JD got a call from the HR person at work about someone needing time off that JD declined. The hourly and salary workers have X hours time off, and each time you're gone, you get a point (not counting vaca or preapproved days). After so many points, you're *supposed* to be fired. However, the company is Union, so those that are protected get 2nd chance, last 2nd chance, secret last 2nd chance, top secret last chance and so on..and that's really what they call them too, that's not me being a smart ass. And that's a lot of points and a lot of time off..if you call in sick, you get 3 days off (not required you take them tho, but of course most do) and that counts as 1 point. Plus, they get unemployment when it's slow during the winter.

 

[partgypsy]

This is by no means bragging, but after reading what everyone had to say I thought I'd point out the situation in Europe for comparison.

At my job (which is representative of higher-end jobs in the UK), I get 27 days of annual leave (to be taken whenever I want). This does not include public holidays (which are surprisingly few in the UK). Some public holidays come in chunks (like around Easter) so I can add my annual leave around them and make a nice holiday out of it. For instance, I was away for 12 days at Easter, only 4 of which were taken as annual leave.

Sick leave of 2 days per month is given without justification. For more than 2 days you need a letter from your doctor. Compassionate or bereavement leave are usually given without question. Maternity leave is 39 weeks paid at 90% of the salary, and 13 weeks paid at a standard rate of about £120. Paternity leave is given for 2 weeks and paid at a standard rate of £123.

I'm wondering whether the situation in the US has something to do with lack of union support. It seems strange that people wouldn't fight for their right to a rest. And the maternity leave situation is beyond me.

Thank you all for showing me what the situation is, though. I might have to move there in the near future and it's good to know what I'm in for.

Whoah! Taking 12 weeks for each would have been such a luxury, that much time off seems incredible!!! Maybe I would have had more kids if I lived in Europe

 

[qtiekiki]

I am a civil servant. Here's what I get:

Sick leaves
During the first six months probation period, I got no sick leave. After the six months, I get 1 day and then 1 additional day accrue at the end of each month. Then the next calendar year on Jan 1st, I got 12 sick days at 100% pay and 5 sick days at 75% pay. All the unused 100% and 75% sick leaves are carried over and accumulated up to 100 days for each pay rate. Any 100% sick leaves over the 100 days at the end of an calender year are paid in cash at 50%. Any 75% sick leaves over 100 days at the end of the calendar year are lost. I can only take 3 consecutive sick days off at a time. Anything over 3 consecutive days requires a doctor's note. I am also put on an excessive absence list if I take sick leaves 10 or more times a year.

Holidays
12 national holidays and 1 floating holiday.

Vacation
No vacation days during the first 6 months probation period. Then vacation accrues at a rate of 7 hours 20 mins per month, which equals to 11 days after a year. So I get 11 days for the first 5 years of service. At 5 years of service, I will get 17 days per year. The vacation days are carried over, but there is a max # hours that can be accumulated. The max # that can be accumulated depends on the years of service. I think it's about 2 years worth of vacation days that can be accumulate for the first 5 years of services. I am not sure because I used them all up for my two maternity leave. I can take 11 days off all together.

Are you saying that maternity leave is NOT EXTRA???

I am sure it differs from city to city and state to state, but we don't get paid maternity leave at the city I work for. We are allowed to take up to 18 weeks of maternity leave, using our sick leaves, vacation or leave without pay (in those particular order). We don't get short term state disability pay because we don't pay into the system. So if you don't have enough sick leaves and vacation accumulated, then you either continue your leave without pay or go back to work. They continue to pay for the medical/dental subsidies under FMLA. Parental leaves in US is a joke.

 

[Prana]

My job started me with 5 weeks annual leave, plus my sick leave. I get paid biweekly and earn 8 hours of sick leave and 8 hours of AL every 2 weeks. I can use it at my leisure, I can take off as much time as I want all at once, as long as it doesn't make us short staffed or create any problems. I can accrue approximately 650 hours of AL and 1,050 hours of SL before I HAVE to use it, and if it is there when I retire, I get paid off for it. We are allowed to take a full 5 weeks of vacation a year, and more depending on your position. If we call out more than 3 times in 3 months using sick leave, there is a chance of getting 'counseled', but that rarely happens.

Good luck with your research!

 

[mayerling]

My job started me with 5 weeks annual leave, plus my sick leave. I get paid biweekly and earn 8 hours of sick leave and 8 hours of AL every 2 weeks. I can use it at my leisure, I can take off as much time as I want all at once, as long as it doesn't make us short staffed or create any problems. I can accrue approximately 650 hours of AL and 1,050 hours of SL before I HAVE to use it, and if it is there when I retire, I get paid off for it. We are allowed to take a full 5 weeks of vacation a year, and more depending on your position. If we call out more than 3 times in 3 months using sick leave, there is a chance of getting 'counseled', but that rarely happens.

Good luck with your research!

Thanks for the info, girlface. Are you comfortable divulging what type of job you have?

 

[Prana]

Sure! Im a registered nurse. I work for the federal government, so my AL and SL may not be typical to the field.

 

[Prana]

And just to add, beacuse I saw your other post regarding maternity leave- we can take as long as we want, most nurses take 3-4 months and use their AL and SL because the USA doesn't really have any maternity leave support as far as I know. We can also take leave without pay, but I believe that if you take this, it can only be for a certain amount of time before they will not guarantee you your job back.

 

[mayerling]

Sure! Im a registered nurse. I work for the federal government, so my AL and SL may not be typical to the field.

Yeah, I think government jobs tend to be fairer everywhere.

 

[Clio]

Sure! Im a registered nurse. I work for the federal government, so my AL and SL may not be typical to the field.

Yeah, I think government jobs tend to be fairer everywhere.

Although if girlface is in the US, her leave isn't typical of most federal employees either. The standard federal leave policy for a starting employee is 4 hours of AL and 4 hours of SL every 2 weeks. After 3 years AL accrues at 6 hours every 2 weeks, and after 15 years AL accrues at 8 hours every 2 weeks, but SL continues to accrue at 4 hours every 2 weeks. You can carry over a max of 240 hours of AL each year.

This is the standard for most employees, but special categories of employment may have different policies.

 

[Prana]

Very true, Clio. My job is definitely not the norm.

 

[partgypsy]

Also, I'm not totally positive about this, but you may have to be an (American) citizen to get a federal job. Or at the very least it is much more difficult. I only know this from overhearing conversation of someone wanting to hire someone but unable because from they were from another country.

 

[Clio]

Also, I'm not totally positive about this, but you may have to be an (American) citizen to get a federal job. Or at the very least it is much more difficult. I only know this from overhearing conversation of someone wanting to hire someone but unable because from they were from another country.

For most jobs, that's definitely true. There are a few exceptions, but I think they're pretty rare.

 

[mayerling]

Also, I'm not totally positive about this, but you may have to be an (American) citizen to get a federal job. Or at the very least it is much more difficult. I only know this from overhearing conversation of someone wanting to hire someone but unable because from they were from another country.

For most jobs, that's definitely true. There are a few exceptions, but I think they're pretty rare.

Does this apply for state jobs as well?

 

[Rhea]

Honestly, this is part of the reason that DH (British) and I (American) chose to settle in the UK rather that the States. When I worked for the government in the US I received 10 holidays and another 10 paid sick days. Both these increased up to 15 each with length of service.

In the UK I get 29 paid holidays, and sick days are unspecified. I usually take 3-6 per year just out of regular illnesses. Last year I got very ill with ear infections a few times and ended up with a total of 15 days - all paid, though I did get a warning.

Other things to consider: my UK employer doesn't care if I take off long-stretches, my US employer wouldn't allow more than 5 days at all and even that had to have special approval from two managers. My UK pension is 6.5% of my salary all from my employer and started when I finished my probation period but backdated to the start date of my employment, when I leave I take it when me. My US pension was mandatory 4-5% of my salary by me and matched by my employer. However, if I stayed under a certain length of time (5 years I think) when I left I would only get my contributions, not what my employer put in. This length of time could increase at any moment as it just did to my mom - from 5 years to 10 when she was at 4 years of service, she's very frustrated by that. Medical insurance - soooooo expensive. I had much more taken out of my US pay-cheque than my UK one.

 

[mayerling]

Honestly, this is part of the reason that DH (British) and I (American) chose to settle in the UK rather that the States. When I worked for the government in the US I received 10 holidays and another 10 paid sick days. Both these increased up to 15 each with length of service.

In the UK I get 29 paid holidays, and sick days are unspecified. I usually take 3-6 per year just out of regular illnesses. Last year I got very ill with ear infections a few times and ended up with a total of 15 days - all paid, though I did get a warning.

Other things to consider: my UK employer doesn't care if I take off long-stretches, my US employer wouldn't allow more than 5 days at all and even that had to have special approval from two managers. My UK pension is 6.5% of my salary all from my employer and started when I finished my probation period but backdated to the start date of my employment, when I leave I take it when me. My US pension was mandatory 4-5% of my salary by me and matched by my employer. However, if I stayed under a certain length of time (5 years I think) when I left I would only get my contributions, not what my employer put in. This length of time could increase at any moment as it just did to my mom - from 5 years to 10 when she was at 4 years of service, she's very frustrated by that. Medical insurance - soooooo expensive. I had much more taken out of my US pay-cheque than my UK one.

Thanks for sharing, Addy. Do you contribute 5.5% of your salary to NI?

 

[Rhea]

Yes, I do. I have several deductions from my pay-cheque, two of them are PAYE tax and NIC.

 

[mayerling]

Yes, I do. I have several deductions from my pay-cheque, two of them are PAYE tax and NIC.

So what do you mean when you say your pension is all contributed by your employer? Is that something specific to the job you do?

 

[Rhea]

Yes, as in it's a benefit, just like my 29 days of holiday in the UK is higher than what the gov't requires as a minimum. I was just outlining out of the differences that I had noticed. I was lucky to get a pension from my employer in the US. My pension in the US was, for example, 4% of my pay contributed by me and matched at 4% by my employer. However, if I stayed less than 5 years with that employer, when I left I would get my contributions back minus the tax that was owed on them, but I didn't get the contributions from my employer. Those were completely lost to me and returned to the company. This is not abnormal among my US friends who still live there. So even if they know they will be working for the company less than 5 years many of them are required to contribute to a pension which is matched by the employer but then they lose the employer contributions since they don't stay the 5 years.

The way it's set up for my UK employer it's not mandatory for me to contribute to a pension (other than paying tax, just like I did in the US). However, my current employer puts 6.5% of my salary into a pension for me. If and when I quit or am fired I keep this money and it can be transferred to another pension no matter how long I was with that employer.

It was a hard lesson for me to realise that when I quit my job in the US to move to the UK all those supposed contributions from the US employer didn't actually belong to me because I hadn't completed the minimum amount of service. In the UK, for me at least, it hasn't been like that. When I changed jobs a couple of years ago I took the pension my employer contributed to on my behalf with me. For me, it's just another major difference in working in the US and UK.

 

[kelpie]

I get a paltry 15 days which must be used for sick leave too. It's not a good system because when I'm sick I end up going to work when I should be home in quarantine.