1

It is that time of year again where I must use up as much of my unused vacation time as I can. I really need to make better use of my time.

I took about 5 days over the next few weeks around the holidays.

It’s usually dead slow between Christmas and New Year and a good time to take off, BUT, for me its a great time to get some things done that otherwise would have to be done after hours.

How do you all handle unused vacation time? Especially if you must use it or lose it.

14 Spice ups
2

What is this unused Vacation time your talking about?

12 Spice ups
3

I haven’t worked any where long enough to build up an abundance of vacation.

I worked for a local county doing IT for a year before coming here and there were people with 3/400 hours of vacation and 5/600 hours of sick leave on the books.

Take your vacation, its good to slow down and relax. ENJOY IT! :slight_smile:

Take a day to just take a day. I know when I take even an afternoon off and go grocery shopping or run errands that aren’t as easy to do in the evening hours that it makes a big difference.

2 Spice ups
4

A couple years ago I spread a week’s worth of PTO throughout December to use it. Last year I just let about a week’s worth disappear. I don’t have to worry about it this year because I took a long vacation in the Spring. :slight_smile: And I still have a lot to carry over to next year.

5

The only time it goes unused is when I’m saving it up to roll it over into the next year when I know I’m going to need it due to multiple trips I want to take.

6

They allow us to sell ours back, so that is what happens with most of mine.

1 Spice up
7

Having 3 year old twins I usually blow through mine using them as sick hours either staying home with them when they are sick or for me when they make me sick. I think now I am at -8 vacation hours, not sure exactly how that works.

3 Spice ups
8

I had several weeks worth, but a hospital stay wiped that right out. I have 3 more days, and a couple doctors appts will finish those off :confused:

I also don’t lose mine, they roll right over to next year.

9

Thankfully my agency allows you to carry over a certain number of hours and everything else you get a “buy back” and paid for. I dont usually get to use many hours during the year so I am glad I dont have to lose them.

1 Spice up
10

You have the option of banking up to 2 years worth of PTO or cashing out at EOY. I’ll be cashing out this year for my two years here.

11

What the hell is a vacation?

2 Spice ups
12

I have no idea what unused vacation time means. Someone give me more days!

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13

Ours… mostly doesn’t go away. We’re “encouraged” to use up our time by the end of Feb the following year, but it never truly vanishes. Since my birthday is the beginning of March any unused time is used then to enjoy my decline into old age. :wink:

But I usually try to take some of the time off during the year, usually combining it with stat days for extra long weekends and the like. I also always book the work days between Xmas and new years off as 3 days vacay gives me 9 days off in a row. (We get Xmas, boxing day, and New Years Day as stats)

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14

I am a huge liability to the company with my unused PTO of 30+ days.

15

I had 160 hours and accrue 10 more every two weeks. (That’s one of the perks of being somewhere for almost 8 years.) This year, my oven went out baking a pie on Thanksgiving Eve, then the cat got a kidney infection and a $300 vet bill, then my car check engine light went on because the cylinders were misfiring. I sold half of my time to help pay for all of that, and still have 80 hours. Tomorrow I will be back up to 90 again.

I usually prefer travelling abroad, but you need at least a couple of weeks off to do that, and I haven’t had the chance since my China trip in 2012.

16

It’s pretty dead here in December, we are in freeze (so cant touch servers unless and emergency) and vacation days to not roll over, so everyone is taking the time off.

17

What state are you in? You and your employer may or may not be aware of some requirements. In general, in the U.S. employers are not required to give you any vacation, but if they do there are some things required in some states such as paying for unused vacation at termination or rolling over unused vacation. Even if this doesn’t apply or you don’t want to confront anyone about it, you could nicely ask for your vacation to be reimbursed or rolled over into the next year. Everything is negotiable. I once worked at a company that was growing very fast and I didn’t take vacation for 3 years. As appreciation for my dedication, I was reimbursed the vacation days.

Take this quick Google result with a grain of salt, but it gives some data: Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home: States With Pro-Employee Laws: No Use-It-Or-Lose-It Vacation

18

We’ve got a “use it or lose it” policy here, something I wish Texas law would prohibit That said, I totally understand the risks from the employer’s side of allowing people to build up large quantities or the unplanned expense of cashing time out (which I would do in a heartbeat since I have too many projects that need to get done at the office).

I came into December with 10.5 days left to burn this year so I’m taking every Monday off plus Christmas week and New Years Eve. We always have a bunch of folks in the same position every year.

I always say I’ll do better of spacing it out but ultimately end up hanging onto a lot of it “just in case.”

1 Spice up
19

We’re pretty lucky at my job. PTO will roll over to the next year, but at the beginning of December, we’re allowed to cash out up to 40 hours if we would like to do so. The only stipulation is that you need to still have 40 hours remaining PTO after cashing any hours out.

20

My husband gets 33 days a year, PLUS bank holidays!

I get 25.

It’s more difficult for him to figure out how to spend those last few days… plus, next year he gets an additional 1!