Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. I have no idea how people bank so much leave.

How do you people use so much leave? Are your kids sick a lot, or do your spouses not take any kid related leave? DH works for the feds, and can only carry over 240 annual hours. He quits work around December 10 each year just so he doesn't lose any leave. We only take one week of vacation per year, plus some days around Christmas.

Well, there's your answer. I use all of my leave because I like to travel. I usually take a week for spring break (even if we stay local, I like doing things with my children during that week vs finding a camp for them), 1-2 weeks in the summer and 1-2 weeks around Christmas.

I also take a day here and there to extend holiday weekends and/or to spend a day off with my husband.

Leisure time is very important to me and I'm not one who would rather save leave than take some time off to just do nothing.

Are you really able to not work during all that time off? I've tried to take more time but things always come up, so I make a point to do virtually no work during that one week I take off.

I could have written this post except my work is not administrative. I have a professional career but chose a flexible job at a flexible organization. I use all my vacation time every year to travel, spend time with my kids, etc. When I am in the States I check my cell 1x a day to make sure everything is going ok, when I'm out of the country I hop online every couple of days. I've been working like this for years with no problems.

I'm a fed, but last year I had twins, and used up my annual leave and sick leave (and was given 160 hours advanced sick leave) for my maternity leave. Even so, I was on LWOP for 2 months. (My sick leave was pretty much used up while I was pregnant, due to many doctors appointments). So I am still in the hole on sick leave (I earn 13 days a year), but will be out of the hole by July.

I earn 26 days a year of annual leave, and I will have about 50 hours of use or lose by the end of the year. I will use those 50 hours this year (1 week off in the summer, another few days here and there), which means I will have 240 hours of annual leave banked at the end of the year.

I'm a professional but it is rare that I do work on vacation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. I have no idea how people bank so much leave.

How do you people use so much leave? Are your kids sick a lot, or do your spouses not take any kid related leave? DH works for the feds, and can only carry over 240 annual hours. He quits work around December 10 each year just so he doesn't lose any leave. We only take one week of vacation per year, plus some days around Christmas.

Well, there's your answer. I use all of my leave because I like to travel. I usually take a week for spring break (even if we stay local, I like doing things with my children during that week vs finding a camp for them), 1-2 weeks in the summer and 1-2 weeks around Christmas.

I also take a day here and there to extend holiday weekends and/or to spend a day off with my husband.

Leisure time is very important to me and I'm not one who would rather save leave than take some time off to just do nothing.

Are you really able to not work during all that time off? I've tried to take more time but things always come up, so I make a point to do virtually no work during that one week I take off.

I do administrative work, so there's rarely an instance of something coming up that I can't handle when I get back. It helps that I usually time my longer leave (1.5 weeks or more) with my boss's schedule. I'm very much a "work (competently of course) just enough to have fun" sort of person and beyond the bare minimum, will not do work when I'm off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. I have no idea how people bank so much leave.

How do you people use so much leave? Are your kids sick a lot, or do your spouses not take any kid related leave? DH works for the feds, and can only carry over 240 annual hours. He quits work around December 10 each year just so he doesn't lose any leave. We only take one week of vacation per year, plus some days around Christmas.

Well, there's your answer. I use all of my leave because I like to travel. I usually take a week for spring break (even if we stay local, I like doing things with my children during that week vs finding a camp for them), 1-2 weeks in the summer and 1-2 weeks around Christmas.

I also take a day here and there to extend holiday weekends and/or to spend a day off with my husband.

Leisure time is very important to me and I'm not one who would rather save leave than take some time off to just do nothing.

Are you really able to not work during all that time off? I've tried to take more time but things always come up, so I make a point to do virtually no work during that one week I take off.

Wow, I need a new job! I get 13 days a year- sick, vacation, personal. Office closes for 8 holidays. That's it. Family in several states so we have been on one "real" vacation in the last few years... If it weren't for husband's flexible job and family nearby to cover school breaks, doctor appointments, sick days, I would never have a day to even travel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. I have no idea how people bank so much leave.

How do you people use so much leave? Are your kids sick a lot, or do your spouses not take any kid related leave? DH works for the feds, and can only carry over 240 annual hours. He quits work around December 10 each year just so he doesn't lose any leave. We only take one week of vacation per year, plus some days around Christmas.

Well, there's your answer. I use all of my leave because I like to travel. I usually take a week for spring break (even if we stay local, I like doing things with my children during that week vs finding a camp for them), 1-2 weeks in the summer and 1-2 weeks around Christmas.

I also take a day here and there to extend holiday weekends and/or to spend a day off with my husband.

Leisure time is very important to me and I'm not one who would rather save leave than take some time off to just do nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a longtime fed, I get 26 annual leave days per year (you can carry over 30 days from year to year and anything beyond that is lose or use ) and 13 sick days (which you can carry over from year to year). I always burn up my use or lose and have over a year of sick leave in the bank (plus the 30 days of annual)....

I just threw up in my mouth a little

Why? Their pay is for shit, they should at least get great leave benefits.

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. I have no idea how people bank so much leave.

How do you people use so much leave? Are your kids sick a lot, or do your spouses not take any kid related leave? DH works for the feds, and can only carry over 240 annual hours. He quits work around December 10 each year just so he doesn't lose any leave. We only take one week of vacation per year, plus some days around Christmas.

We just get leave. Sick, vacation, personal - it's all the same.

I took 19 days in 2012.

I think I have 10 vacation days per year. I use all of it.

I take a few sick days per year, but I don't know how many I am allotted.

Work is relatively flexible and I can go to drs appts or whatever without taking leave.

12 sick days, I use them all between sick kids, Dr. Appts, etc.

3 personal days, use them all for days the kids are off school but office is open

20 annual, plus office closes week between Xmas and New Years most years, I take every day, never carry over

30 PTO days, no carry over. Two floating holidays, 10 paid holidays a year.

Feds do get a lot of sick leave and I am grateful for it, esp. when I had a newborn or small child, but i think for most people a lot of sick leave banked is just a disability policy-- it won't ever get used or cashed out. It might be that a lot of Feds would be better off with a PTO approach.

I'm not bitter, just jealous of how much leave Feds get. I've got my decades of engineering work as a contractor and my AARP card and I get about half the annual leave (holidays, sick, vacation) that my Fed friends get. The grass is always greener and all that.

Still, Feds, please don't tell people how much leave you get each year because most of America gets far less and it makes people hate Washington even more.