Benefits - I'm In Shock

[Kooky Korky]

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.

How does it work at your place of employment?

[loriangel14, RN]

Yes, whoever came up with that was a genious.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

There are so many parts of the world I actually think I'd enjoy living in more than the US. I'm particularly interested in Spain's 2 hour nap time in the middle of the day.

With their dismal economy & high employment, far too many workers are free to nap as long as they desire.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

With their dismal economy & high employment, far too many workers are free to nap as long as they desire.

Kinds like here in the good U.S.?

[roser13, ASN, RN]

Kinds like here in the good U.S.?

No, Spain is in MUCH worse shape.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Exactly.

Unemployment has decreased to 26.3%

Unemployement of young people is well over 50%

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Altra, you and your family must be in good health and must not have any major matters that bleed away your 9 days. I hope it continues quiet at home for you all. Do you really have to deem my issue not "worthy of shock"? I was shocked. I was.

The shock is because I came from a situation of receiving about 14 holidays per year, plus separate vacation accrual and separate sick time accrual. And when the new place told me I would get a certain number of PTO days plus 6 holidays, I thought the 6 holidays were in addition to the PTO, not that I would have to use PTO to get paid if I took off on a holiday. Therefore, as someone so aptly stated earlier, it sucketh. And it shocketh!

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

It's part of the Universal Health Care.

Obamacare does not even come close to Universal Health Care. American insurance companies still control health care in America. Bad scene for working stiffs.

[beckster_01, BSN, RN]

I get 1 week of PTO(40 hours), paid holidays, but 5 weeks of vacation. Only problem with that is that I have yet to use all 5 weeks, vacation time fills up really quickly. But on the plus side it rolls over and I have heard of some people using it to extend maternity leave. I will also get my vacation time paid out if/when I ever leave this hospital.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

25 "days" per year ... assuming 8 hour days.

6 legal holidays are generally recognized in the U.S. (New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day).

10 days for the standard 2 weeks vacation.

Still leaves 9 days for personal holidays and/or sick time.

This does not seem to be out of the ordinary, worthy of shock.

I guess I am comparing it to what physician employees of our university get. They start out with four weeks of vacation. Then they get 10 paid holidays (not coming out of their PTO bank. They do not have PTO). They accrue 16 hours of sick time every month.

Doctors from far away countries can take a whole month off every year if they want to and go to their homelands. Nursing and other departments get nothing approaching these benefits.

The shock is due to never having worked under the circumstances before and to not realizing this ugly truth until recently.

If a person is ever really sick, 9 days won't go very far. I'm glad you're happy. Maybe I'm greedy or just remember how my benefits used to be.

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

I'd like to interject the following into this conversation just in case any of you were thinking of joining the service with their "30 days of paid time off" pitch: leave does not equal time off work!

Example: you could take 9 days off in a pay period (pay period = 2 weeks) and still be forced to work your full 80 hours (or more) in the 5 days you're not on leave. Yep, totally legal. Leave is just military slang for authorizing more than 4 days off in a row. It has nothing to do with actual time off work.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

because some people are required to work on holidays in a hospital the PTO system is about as fair as can be. Everyone gets the time put in their PTO bank but when you use it will depend on your schedule and then your preference. I get 8 hours PTO every payperiod (q 2 wk). I prefer to work a lot of holidays because it is quiet and I can get things done and my family is scattered anyway. Then I take 40-80 hours at one time to visit them or play.

[ayla2004, ASN, RN]

7 weeks leave to begin. 28 hoildays days +7 public holidays. Pt/ft leave on a pro rata basis. No sick days but not paid for first 3 sick days off. Leave increases to 8 weks after 8 years