Benefits - I'm In Shock

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I didn't know that the 25 days of PTO we get must be used to be paid for holidays. I knew they were for sick time, vacation days, and personal emergencies. But they also must be used to get paid for the holidays that the employer "gives" us. :no: :eek:

How does it work at your place of employment?

Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
Hah. What is a paid holiday? My work states we get like 7 federal holidays paid but all that means is that we get 1.5x pay on the night before the holiday. Working the night of the holiday gets us no extra pay. We get no pay for not working on the holiday. So, yeah, I have no freaking idea what a paid holiday is supposed to be. We get 6.8 hours of PTO each pay period so I earn about 13 hours off for each month of work. Inevitably, I get sick or need emergency dental work or something and have to use that one day and once again have nothing or like now, 8 hours or so of PTO available.

Putting aside the holiday situation, which is unfortunate but perfectly legal ...

What you're describing appears to be a pattern of calling out sick approximately once per month? Just a suggestion ... that attendance pattern is unlikely to be sustainable in the long run. It's going to draw management attention to you that you do not want.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Our PTO bank is used for everything- sick time, holiday, & vacation. It sucks.

Seriously, it's 6 of one and half dozen of another. If your holidays come out of your PTO bank, you accrue PTO more quickly.

If they don't, you don't accrue as much PTO.

The only time it really sucks is when someone fails to manage his/her PTO appropriately and takes too much, thereby not being paid for the holiday.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Our PTO, sick days and vacation days are all separate.

Our PTO, sick days and vacation days are all separate.

Lori, I've spent a couple of hours explaining the difference to American nurses who have come to Canada to work. Sick hours bank, vacation bank, statutory holiday bank for full timers. Their heads just about explode when we mention the one year maternity leave.

Specializes in ICU.

We don't get any extra pay to work on a holiday, or a weekend. We have to "build up" sick time, meaning you could work for a year or two before you have enough sick time built up to actually get paid when you are out. Then, you only get paid for the 3rd day you are out. The first 2 consecutive days you are out sick, you don't get paid for, regardless how many hours you have built up in your "bank." You only get paid for the 3rd consecutive day out. Sounds crappy, but it discourages people from frivolously calling out sick. Our benefits are better in other ways, though: We are usually over-staffed, rather than under-staffed. Our insurance premiums and deductibles are low.

Im in nursing school right now, but the company I work for (non-healthcare) gives 14 paid holidays, plus you get your birthday off with pay, 6 sick days, and up to 6 weeks vacation (depending on how many years you've worked there, basically you gain a week each year until you reach 6 weeks). Also if you work a holiday, you get paid triple. Im part time there, so I dont get those benefits, but if a full time position opens up, Im thinking about jumping on that bandwagon!

Specializes in Emergency Room.

I'm not a nurse yet but I do work in the hospital. We have to use our PTO for sick,vacation, and holidays. You accumalate PTO every pay period anywhere from 7-10 hours depending on how long you've worked here. Also you have to take at least one week of vacation a year and you can only cash in PTO twice a year (June & December).

Seriously, it's 6 of one and half dozen of another. If your holidays come out of your PTO bank, you accrue PTO more quickly.

If they don't, you don't accrue as much PTO.

The only time it really sucks is when someone fails to manage his/her PTO appropriately and takes too much, thereby not being paid for the holiday.

You may accrue it faster, but it also disappears PDQ during the winter holiday season.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
You may accrue it faster, but it also disappears PDQ during the winter holiday season.

That's why planning ahead is so important. The employer is treating you as an adult who is fully capable of budgeting your paid time off. The only difference between the 2 systems is that YOU have the power to decide when you want to use your PTO, as opposed to the employer holding back some PTO hours to ensure that you get paid for the major holidays.

It's all in your hands.

Specializes in Pedi.
You may accrue it faster, but it also disappears PDQ during the winter holiday season.

I don't find that to be the case at all. My employer is closed on Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. So that's 32 hours of PTO I need to use to cover those 4 days. I earn 9 hours per pay period. I will earn 27 hours of PTO in the pay periods between Thanksgiving and New Years this year so I'll have a net loss of 5 hours from my bank in that time.

Most of my friends who work in areas where they have paid holidays that don't come out of their PTO only get about 2 weeks of vacation time per year. I get 6 weeks of PTO so even with 7 holidays (New Years, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas) for which I need to use PTO, I'm still coming out with more time off than them. I never call out.

I've never had a problem budgeting my PTO. My last job when I left I had over 200 hours in my bank and got a very nice cash-out. I am going on a 10 day vacation in 2 weeks and will still have over 100 hours in my bank when I come back. As roser13 says, you just need to plan ahead and budget your PTO wisely.

Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

The only time I ever use PTO is to cash it out twice a year for a nice fatty bonus.

Tell y'all what. I'll take your many many weeks of PTO that you have to take the holiday and sick leave out of and you can have my paltry separated out sick leave and PTO that doesn't add up to as much as you have when you total it all together.

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