Quote:
Originally Posted by iggy_oi
I think the big difference in the Canadian system compared to the US is that in the States employers are not required to allow you to take your vacations the same way they are in Canada.
If the American system required employers to allow their employees to use any accrued vacation pay you could end up with a scenario where an employee could bank enough time to take a year off and that would most likely create a hardship for the employer. That’s the most likely reason why it’s different here.
The part you wrote about losing your vacation pay if your employer doesn’t force you to use it is a little misleading. They are required by law to pay you your vacation pay. While it’s possible(and I don’t doubt that it happens) for an employer to try and not pay an employee their vacation pay it’s no different than if said employer were to refuse to pay you your overtime correctly, you would have to go to employment standards to fight them. A similar process would apply in the United States.
|
It varies across the board. I would guess my employer is somewhat typical for a large org of professional workers in the US. I've been here a long while, so get 256 hours of PTO to be used for sick or vacation. We can carry over up to 80 hours every year, and get paid out for 40 hours on top of that. We encourage everyone to use their PTO and if we notice high balances above the carry over by September, we usually work to ensure they use the time. We also have a concept of short term disability so that if you are seriously ill, the first 4 days go against pto, and then STD kicks in to pay 100% for weeks 2-10, 80% for 11-18 and 60% for 18-26, and you can use pto hours to supplement those if you are in the 80%/60% category. We also get an additional 8 weeks of full paid leave per calendar year for approved events like having a baby (mother or father) or caring for for a relative (We didn't have that when we were having babies though
). We have no actual sick days though.