How Does Your Unit Handle Vacation Time?

[RN-PA, RN]

I work part-time on a med-surg unit and receive pay for sick days and vacation days. I accrue the time very slowly, regardless of the number of hours I work beyond my 5 days per pay period (2 weeks). I get around 76 hours of paid vacation which is close to 9.5 days off/year. And I accrue a little less than 3 hours vacation time off per 2-week pay period.

We are not allowed to take a day off unless there is enough paid vacation time accrued, so if I need a day off in mid-May and have only 8 hours of vacation pay to cover it, I can't take a day off in early June if I need it because the next 8 hours won't accrue until sometime in July. Management will let you have the day off if you pick up another day during that pay period. It has something to do with working your scheduled shifts because of receiving a pension. My problem is that if I waited for all my vacation time to accrue, I'd have to take vacations in December when I want and need to go in September. Do your units have a system like this?

If I haven't lost everyone with all the above confusion, I also was wondering how your management deals with time off? We are allowed to have one person on vacation per shift. You send in your vacation request to the scheduler at least a month in advance, and if no one else has requested those days, they are granted to you, and the scheduler will get a replacement for you. But, if someone has already been granted the days off that you're requesting, you have to find your own coverage. Working 3-11, we also have 12 hour people who overlap our shift and we may need to find coverage on a requested day off for just 4 hours-- 3p-7p or 7p-11p.

This is all so maddening because we already work every other holiday and every other weekend, and then we have to go through this hassle to get vacation time, and often must find our own coverage to boot. How are vacation times handled where you work?

[ShayRN]

Our vacation times are turned in in November for the following year. We are allowed on our unit 11 8 hour shifts per week. So if a 32 hour person (4 8 hour shifts) and a 40 hour person (5 8 hour shifts) want to take vacation at the same time, they can. If someone wants vacation before the schedule comes out and the time is open, we find coverage. If they want a vacation day when the schedule is out already, they must find their own coverage. We also accure vacation time, but at a rate a lot quicker than yours. Full time is 4.5 a pay and that is at 32 hours, if I pick up extra time, I get more vacation time. However, I know that if I want vacation time in February, I need to save some time from the previous year.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I forget the exact accrual formula, but our vacation accural works out to 80 hours per year for full-time staff w/less than 5 years of service. Those with longer lengths of service accrue vacation at a faster rate. Personal time off is also accrued - something like 2.something hours for every 80 hours worked.

As Shay said, our vacations are scheduled in late Nov./early Dec. for the following year. Vacation weeks are picked in order of seniority.

I understand your dilemma - being part-time and slow to accumulate vacation time. But for those occasional days you need to be off - one in May, one in June, etc. - is it necessary to use a vacation day or can you just simply not schedule yourself to work on those days?

[mobileRN]

We have a paid time off system in our contract [the time is for vacations and sick time] the numbers I give will be for full-time folk and below that it is prorated by how much you work [note, not your FTE but how much you work] 0-2 years 24 days/year, 2-4 years 26 days/ year and so on the max is 36 days at 14 years and above. We start scheduling vacations [blocks of time off] in February by senority, we have a max number of FTE that can be off at any point so if there is time left with vacations folks can take single vacation days in the summer. In regards to the pension where I work folks need to work 1000 hours in a year to qualify for the pension and at half time that means you can only be off 5/shifts or 2 weeks /year unless you pick up extra.

[RN-PA, RN]

I understand your dilemma - being part-time and slow to accumulate vacation time. But for those occasional days you need to be off - one in May, one in June, etc. - is it necessary to use a vacation day or can you just simply not schedule yourself to work on those days?

I'm locked into a "pattern", certain days I work every week. It doesn't allow for much flexibility, but I can make plans 10 years in advance. :)

[Larry77, RN]

Our formula is figured with each our worked you get a certain amount of time paid off which goes up with years worked.

Mine comes out to about 30 days a year after 5 years experience. I think it's about 20 days paid time for new hires.

We have very good PTO where I work...now if we just had good medical insurance

[flashpoint]

The place I worked gave a certain amount PTO for every hour worked, so part-time staff, PRN staff, etc got PTO too. The amount of PTO increased after 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20 years. I had been there 8 years and I ended up with about 144 hours off a year. We did not accumulate PTO when we worked overtime because there were a lot of complaints from staff who simply never have the option of OT, so they stopped letting us accumulate after 40 hours each week. Taking PTO did not count against anything with maintaining our pension or full time status. Our PTO starts accumulating from the first day you work and you can start using it after 90 days. You can carry over 120 hours from year to year and it continually accumulates.

Our vacation requests needed to be in at least 30 days before the schedule containing the request would come out. We worked a 12 week schedule and you were allowed to request 9 non-vacation requests per schedule to allow for appointments, etc. The night shift got 12 non-vacation requests because so many things required us to be off the night before as well as the night of an appointment.

[BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN]

New people get 2 weeks, after 10 years you get 4 weeks, after 20 years you get 5 weeks. We accrue separate sick and vacation time. Sick time is unlimited, but after you accrue 6 weeks of vacation, you don't accrue any more.

As for how vacation is doled out....this is a big sore area. We have over 90 nurses who all want off in the summer. You do the math. We are able to take days and not full weeks, so we are alloted 180 hours per week for vacation. Once those hours are filled, that week is closed. We go down the seniority list and everyone puts in. No one can take more than 2 weeks in the summer. We are also put on mandatory extra time in the summer so that everyone can get some time off (and let me tell you, new grads are the BIGGEST whiners....why can't I get 2 weeks off, hey be happy you got 2 days each week and you can back your days off together!). We have to work 8-12 hours extra a month to cover in the summer, and it is really a pisser when you are taken off your 12's and then given extra time on top of that....how fun!

There really isn't an easier way for us, especially when there are many people with greater than 15 years seniority (we have a very high retention rate in our unit :) ) and we all have 4-5 weeks per year.

[froghair]

were i work there doesnt seem to be a plan for people to take there holidays. everyone seems to want to take off over christmas and new year. i work in a small hospital and you really notice it when a few people go on hols. starting next week there are 5 staff who are on hols......our total full-time/ part-time staff only totals 20 so missing 5 creates a big hole. it doesnt so much affect me as i do nights. over here because i work full time and because i work every weekend i accrue 6 weeks holidays a year. my ADO's are accrued at about 4hrs a fortnight and sick leave is about the same i think........ ive never taken a sick day so im not sure. all i know is that come october november this year ill be taking 8 weeks off and ill be spending about 4 weeks of it in the US.......look out vegas