TFL Member Survey - Non Firearms Related

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Mike H

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Guys,

I'm hoping that the moderators will cut me a little slack here with a non-gun posting, there is a very important reason for asking.

As I'm English, I have trouble believing some of what my American wife tells me about what it's like to work in the US. Scary tales of being fired at a moments notice with no chance of redress, 12 hour work days etc etc. But one frequent topic of discussion is how many days paid vacation the average US worker gets, she tells me 5 (i.e. a week) or at best 10 days per annum, so I'd be very grateful if some of you could tell me how many days leave you get and if that is poor, typical or above average for your profession.

Thanks in advance,

Mike H
 
Its my experience that most US companies give 2 weeks paid vacation a year, in addition to 8-10 days of company holiday. My company gives 3 weeks plus 10 days of holiday. After 5 yrs of service, you get another week.

That seems more standard in the high-tech industry.

It is actually not all that easy to fire someone in the USA. Most companies require 3 written warnings, etc. But it is very easy to do a group-firing, aka a layoff. But most companies will give some small compensation for a layoff.
 
As another 'techie'. I must remind myself from time to time how fortunate I am to be working in this industry and in this country right now.

We get 3weeks annual (beginning our first day) An additional week at the 5yr mark. Plus an 8 week sabbatical every 7th year (to be taken in addition to vacation).

Getting fired for performance / personality issues is difficult. However some incidents qualify for a 'one strike, youre out!' sentence. (Such as sexual harassment, safety violations, etc..)

Which brings us back to a gun related topic - Having a handgun at work (even in your car) will get you canned immediately at every office I've worked in for the last 8 years.

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Train hard.
 
My company recently went from seperate sick time/vacation time/personal days to a lump amount of "Paid Time Off". It works out to about 30 days/year.

The only "one-strike" offenses were being caught with a "weapon" by a non-sympathetic supervisor to whom you hadn't, say, sold a Glock 30 to at your part-time gun shop job or burning a hole in the bottom of the cup during an at-random DOT-mandated whiz quiz.

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"..but never ever Fear. Fear is for the enemy. Fear and Bullets."
10mm: It's not the size of the Dawg in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog!
 
5 days (1 week after 6 months)
10 days (2 weeks, after 1 year)
15 days (3 weeks after 10 years)

This is vacation time.

8 paid holidays, Christmas, New Years 4th of July etc.

1 day of sick time for each month worked in a calnder year that does not accumulate.

Dismissal for cause can be for just about any reason, but it has to be well documented to get past the State Bureau of Unemployment.
 
I THINK that I get around 20 days a year in vacation time that I accrue in hours per pay period. That's about average.

BUT, that time covers both vacation AND sick leave, what is called "comprehensive leave." Blows.

In my previous job I accrued both vacation AND sick leave. And, when I left their employ, I was earning 5.25 hours of leave a week, or about 3 weeks leave a year.

On top of that there are 7 or 8 company Holidays.

I'm salaried, which is great because at the end of the Federal Fiscal Year I normally rack up some pretty serious overtime. I certainly did this year, which is paid at 1.5X normal salary. I can also drop into 2X normal salary if I work enough. I've done that a couple of times.

My current job also has a LOT of intangible benefits, such as very nice schedule flexibility.

I took off this afternoon for an eye doctor's appointment, and didn't go back in. Yet, I'll make up most of the 4 hours I kited by brining work home with me, and working through my lunch hours, or at least part of them. And right now, it's not hard work at all. :)



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Smith & Wesson is dead to me.

If you want a Smith & Wesson, buy USED!
 
This is a topic I have researched just last week with my company. I will have been with them for one year in less than a month. Our vacations have to be taken between April 15 and August 15; no exceptions. Although we work six days a week, we only get five days so if I were to take next week off for vacation (wich I couldn't because it isn't April yet) then I would still have to be back for work on Saturday. We have to request three preferred vacation times well in advance. They get to pick the one that is best for them. They only give you tenative approval. They won't let you know for sure if you can go until three days before. That makes it real nice for planning and making reservations, doesn't it? Grunble...well not all jobs are like that though.
 
I get 5 weeks vacation and 40 sick/personal days. In another 5 years, I'll have 6 weeks vacation 50 sick/personal days.
 
Other than when in military, I have mostly been in an environment wherein if you produce you get paid, if you don't produce you don't get paid. I like that.

"Less government, more individual responsibility."...JBS

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Sam I am, grn egs n packin

Nikita Khrushchev predicted confidently in a speech in Bucharest, Rumania on June 19, 1962 that: " The United States will eventually fly the Communist Red Flag...the American people will hoist it themselves."
 
The majority of the 50 states follow the "employment at will" doctrine, which states that an employee can be fired for any reason, at any time, without warning, or for no reason at all, provided that there is no evidence of an IMPROPER REASON (on account of race, national origin, sex, age, or religion, and in some cases, disability).

I get about 3-5 days off per year, none of them paid, since I am self-employed. In every job I've ever had prior to my present situation, I have NEVER gotten a single paid day off, ever. I have worked as a law clerk, waiter, book salesman, scientific lab worker, and film developer.

So, for the most part, it sounds like the "horror stories" have much truth to them.
 
I get 3 weeks of vacation/sick time/personal time, all inclusive per annum. Typical is 2 weeks vacation plus some specified sick time unless you work for a company for more than 5 years (pretty unusual these days). The US is different from most other countries, especially Europe. That's why our economy is humming along ;).
 
Also, each state is different regarding hiring practices. Idaho and Arizona (among others) are 'right to work' states where you can be hired (or you can leave) for no reason and at any time. I like it that way. Less regulations, the better.
 
I get 5 sick/personal days per year; use 'em in the calender year or lose 'em. Twelve holidays which can be rolled over into the next calender year. Based on length of service, vacation days acrue at different rates...I believe I now get 1 vacation day per month, and I've got about 5 weeks of that on the books.There's a cap on the max for that type of leave, based again on length of service. The county came up with "disability" leave a dozen years ago; any sickness over 3 days rolls over to "disability"; the amount of that you receive is based on length of service. I currently am maxed out on that at 920 hours. I also get 30 military days per year for National Guard service.
The down side to having all those leave days is that you can never use 'em. The boss puts all sorts of black-out periods in effect, especially around major holidays, where you cannot get time off easily.
 
Mike H - your wife is correct - she quoted you accurate average numbers.

You see - here in the US - we are not really FREE. Most of us are WAGE SLAVES.
The first 4 months of the year we work for Uncle Sam... takes the rest of the year to catch up.

As for the other things:
Its called "At Will" employment and is very common. You can be let go at any time. Also - you can quit at any time. Hence the At Will part.
So - in essense your only as free as you can afford to be.
Up side is that if you can afford it - you can get away with Murder. ie OJ Simpson, Clintons, Kennedys...

[This message has been edited by George Hill (edited October 18, 2000).]
 
I work a 3 week on and 3 week off schedule, 11 hour days min. Some company up here in the Prudhoe Bay AK oil field work a 2 and 2 or 4 and 2 schedule.
 
6 paid holidays, 1 personal holiday ( to be used for your birthday, anniversary, religious reason, etc.; on the day that you wish), 4 Personal days (unlike vacation time which has to be approved in advance, a personal day can be taken any time without managenent approval).

AFTER 12 months of employment, 2 weeks of paid vacation in addition to what was just mentioned.

AFTER 7 years of employment, it goes up to 3 weeks of paid vacation.

AFTER 15 years, it goes up to 4 weeks.

AFTER 25 years, it goes up to 5 weeks.

SICK DAYS are as follows ...
... You can have up to 5 sick occurances within a 12 month period. If the occurance is more than two days, then a letter from a doctor is required. If it is longer than five days, then you are placed on disability insurance.
... Exactly what is an occurance? If I call in sick on tuesday and also stay out on wednesday -- that is one occurance and since it was less than three days, a doctor's note is not required. If, on the other hand, I call in sick on tuesday, go to work on wednesday and call in sick on thursday; then that is two occurances even though in both examples I was out the same number of days.
... We can have up to five of these in a 12 month period -- which is not the same thing as five per year. Five per year means that in one year, this can happen five times but "in a 12 month period is different". For example, 5 per year means that if I wasn't sick all year, I could call in sick five times in Decemeber and then in January call in sick again. But that would not work under the "12 month period" rule because if I was already out five times within the past 12 months, then I can't be out again.
 
The company that I work for gives no sick leave/days, vacation time or paid holidays for the first year of employment. For the second through fifth years sick leave and vacation time are allotted in hours based on your employment. For example, a full-time employee (defined as averaging 38 hours a week) is given 80 hours of vacation. A part-time employees vacation time is prorated based on the average number of hours worked in the seven week period prior to their anniversary (hire) date. We also get three optional days, paid with the vacation formula. The same formula is used to calculate sick time.
The sixth through tenth years net an additional 40 hours vacation time.
The 11th through 20th years get a total 160 vacation hours, with part-timers still getting prorated.
The company allows eight occurrences in a twelve month period.
Overall I think this company is slightly above average.

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Guns cause crime like spoons cause Rosie O'Donnell to be fat!

I hunt, therefore I am.
 
12 hour work days scare you ?? MwaahaHAHA-ha-HA-HA-ha ! Be afraid, very afraid. In my industry, 14-16 hour workdays are standard. Working on the weekends is common, and work is pretty inconsistent, so no sick days or vacation time for me. It's all sink or swim like capitolism should be. My last job I would get up at 4:30 AM and not get home till somewhere around 9-10 PM. Sometimes I would have to work till 2-3 AM.

Lifes a bitch, especially when you don't have credentials.
 
Mike, I think your thread is going to end like this...

Poster W: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, our Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!

Poster X: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

Poster Y: Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.

Poster Z: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."

Poster W: But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'.

ALL: Nope, nope...
 
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