Do "PTO" systems seem like a scam to you?

Nurses Relations

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My hospital used to use an old fashioned method of granting time off where we had separate allotments for sick time, holiday time, and vacation time, and you drew from whichever type of allotment you were using. It wasn't perfect but I thought it worked out pretty well.

After my hospital was bought by another larger healthcare system, we were switched over to a "PTO" system which was pitched as "time to use as you please" and combines sick, holiday, and vacation into one account that accrues biweekly. However, after a couple years it's turned out to be anything but time to do with as we please. Getting personal days and requests granted is probably harder than before. You are still limited to a disgustingly low number of vacation weeks per year which is limited by season. And the policy against calling out sick is more strict than it ever was before.

So what we end up with is truckloads of PTO that we can't even use unless we're injured or on maternity (if you're a guy, forget it), and the scam is that you get capped off on PTO if you don't somehow find a way to use it (which they won't let you) or "cash it in" by the end of the year. However, I'd rather have the time off than cash it in. I find I have way less time off under this crappola than I did when we had the old fashioned system of granting time off.

Can anyone relate to this?

Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
Well it turns out the new policy where I work is you can cash in 40 hours worth of any allotted PTO sum and the rest is lost. Lost! How the hell can you call PTO a "benefit" of your employment with these BS Draconian policies preventing you from doing anything with it? It's just a freaking number!

Your employer needs to be careful about rejecting your PTO requests if they have a "use it or lose it" policy. In my state, here is the applicable wording:

Use It Or Lose It

    Employer by contract or policy may require an employee to take vacation by a
    certain date or lose the vacation. USE IT OR LOSE IT is OKAY if: (a) employee is
    given a reasonable opportunity to take the vacation; and, (b) the employee had
    notice of the provision/policy.

I would suggest you google a phrase including your state's name and "use it or lose it" to get the info you want. If your state has a similar regulation, and you are feeling really bold, you can always anonymously (or not) slip a printout of your state's regulation under your scheduler's door. ;)

HR and employers will milk you for all you are worth, and they just hope that nobody knows the law or pursues making a labor claim under it. There is quite a bit of employer/employee interpretation of labor laws, including what is "reasonable opportunity" to take a vacation. Keep a record of your requests and rejection of your requests over the next six months.

Specializes in ICU.

I hate the way my current hospital does PTO. I have never seen anything so stupid in my life. There is a vacation planner, and you can only get PTO when you want it (as far as vacations go) if you put it in the vacation planner. Two people can take any given week, and one person can take any given day. That means only three people are allowed to be on PTO at the same time, and this includes unit secretaries as well as RNs. We have over 70 people on staff on our unit, and our hospital does heavily utilize the float pool, too. So, you're telling me - with 70 people, only three can be off work at a time? Thankfully I grabbed the vacation planner pretty quickly when it first came out - I am signed up for a week to be off December 27th 2015 - January 2nd 2016, and every slot in that week is already full 14 months in advance. I was really lucky to get a week slot.

Who the hell know what they are going to be doing 14 months in advance, anyway? The planner is pretty much full in the summer and close to the holidays, now. So nobody else is going to be able to take any trips for the entire year 2015 unless they have already signed up for them, or unless they take them at a weird time, like September 20th or March 1st or something. Good luck with that!!!! The week of my birthday next year was already gone before I got to the planner, so I guess I'm not going to do anything for my birthday. Oh, and the week of Christmas... nobody is allowed to take PTO, and they have a rotating schedule that half of the staff is signed up to work Christmas Day and the other half is signed up to work Christmas Eve. The next year, the people who worked Christmas Eve will work Christmas Day, and the people that worked Christmas Day will work Christmas Eve, so not a single person on the unit gets to go anywhere for Christmas ever. I think that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. Not to mention our holiday differential is $1.25/hr. I am used to time and a half so I am experiencing culture shock in a big way. I used to sign up for every holiday for the extra money, but who really cares about a differential of $15? My time is worth a lot more than that...

At least you get to cash it in.

i have your issues AND i lose my time w/o it being on my paycheck at the end of the year.

girl bye. :nono:

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