Do you get to take all of your alloted vacation time?

Where I work the management is trying to tell us that if we are high in seniority and have 4-5 weeks vacation that we won't be able to sign up for it between May and December! I say that is bull pucky! I earned that time and it is my right to use it, and it is also a county perk as we are a county entity.

Do you get paid out at the end of the year for time not taken? That is the option we want to put out to them. We can only accrue up to 8 weeks and then it is cut off.

This just stinks!

[majrn]

What is with limiting vacations to January through April!!! When does management take their vacations?? This is ridiculous. What do they think families with school age children are supposed to do? Take the kids out of school for 4 weeks? I doubt it. If they put limits on accrual they should pay out for time not used by years end. I would be looking else where. Sounds like they are being unreasonable. It doesnt just stink, it s*cks!

[cactus wren]

Gee, I always use up all my vacation(PTO) time to keep paycheck decentwhen i get put oncall...would love to have vacation..not happening

[SmilingBluEyes]

I have heard of this becoming more widespread. I am sure glad I am perdiem for this very reason. NO ONE dicates my time off this way. I think you as a staff need to band together and do something to stop this; surely this does not sit well with all of you! Remember sjoe's saying......

[OBNURSEHEATHER]

Our unit's policy is that between Memorial Day and Labor Day, you are only allowed to take what you are per pay. I am48 hours, or 4 days. per pay, so that's all I'm allowed to take. We're limited to 1 weekend during this time also.

Heather

[casperbjs]

We get to take our vacations as long as they can cover them, then at the end of the year, if you haven't used them, you get reimbursed for them. It's like getting an extra check for Christmas!

[lisamct]

We have up to 7 weeks leave to take each year. Our holiday year runs from April to April and we plot out our years leave all at once around Februuary each year. Most people plan 5 or 6 weeks leaving 5/10 days floating to take as and when required. I know the dates of 6 weeks of my holidays for the next year, until April 2004, and I have 5 days free to still add in. Even once dates are booked they can usually be swapped around if things come up, we have a total amount of people allowed to be off at one time in our unit and as long as we dont exceed this we can kinda chop and change as required.( Our charge nurse is quite flexible and at quiet times, low sickness ect we can often slip in unplanned leave)

It seems to work quite well with few complaints.

If necessary we can also carry up to 1 week over into the next year or we can take the pay for it if we'd rather. It very rarely happens that people dont get all their leave though, if it does its usually just 1 or 2 days.

[2banurse]

Okay, Lisa, you are making all of us here in America very jealous. That is definitely one of the benefits that you all have.

Kris

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Originally posted by NicuGal

Where I work the management is trying to tell us that if we are high in seniority and have 4-5 weeks vacation that we won't be able to sign up for it between May and December! I say that is bull pucky! I earned that time and it is my right to use it, and it is also a county perk as we are a county entity.

Do you get paid out at the end of the year for time not taken? That is the option we want to put out to them. We can only accrue up to 8 weeks and then it is cut off.

This just stinks!

Please clarify-are they saying that you can not take all of your earned vacation time off at once and during that peak time?That does not seem unfair to me..Staff with seniority deserve perks-but is it fair to shut everyone else out at those times? Not good for retention of newer staff....We divide the calender in half-everyone can sign up for some winter and summer time off-one week at a time...Highest seniority gets to pick a week first and then we go round..and after all have picked once it starts again...seems fair

[OC_An Khe]

Point of clarification. Why was this policy instituted? Are there too many open positions to cover if everyone took there time off during that period? Or are you just limited to the amount of time you can take during this period.

Although cash out is better then nothing, the purpose of time off is just that. Taking the time off leads to a better more productive and healthier workforce. Could you please clarify?

[whipping girl in 07, RN]

That seems kind of bizarre, since the busiest times in hospitals (at least at the ones I've worked at) are November-April. In the summer is when things get slow and we get cancelled quite a bit.

Our policy is that no more than two people on each shift (days and nights) can be out on vacation at the same time. Whoever signs up for a week first gets it, even if they are lower in seniority.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

From May until December they don't want us taking the bulk of our vacations. We can take up to 2 weeks in the summer (as of now). We used to work extra time to cover the vacations in the summer, but now upper management is telling us that we can't do that, and many of the very new people are having a hissy about not getting time off in the summer so they have decided to limit the vacations to 2-3 week during this time frame. If I am giving up my vacation in the summer, then I would really like it at the holidays. I think that is a fair trade...the new people can get some summer off then.

I have waited for 16.5 years to be able to take vacation when I want, just as the people above me. It is just really ticking me off. And management wants our scheduler to make it 15 on each shift, which is one more than we usually use during this time frame. So, then we will float to the other floors while those people all get their vacations! Can you tell I am peeved! I am sure our NM will take her 4 weeks of vacation and all her comp time as she pleases!

But I think the thing that is really burning all the staff is that we were supposed to start vacation sign ups last week and this was sprung on us that we are limited, no ET or people picking up hours for you, 2 days before sign ups. Many people had made plans for vacations thinking that they could have their hours picked up. What a big ole mess!