Can your employer dictate/force when you take time off?

i think this is a mischaracterization of reality. statutory holidays don't require offices to give workers the day off. it just follows logically when the government declares that the first monday in september is labor day, that most offices will be closed. but nothing stops an office from being open, as everyone knows who has ever worked a shift on a holiday. the only reason most people get the day off is because it's tradition.

plenty of other industries have harsh vacation schedules. this would seem to be the least of the journalism industry's problem.

 

At our joint, you get 8 "sick and personal" days off a year.

For about a year now, "personal" days must be submitted at least 10 working days ahead of time, must include a specific reason, and are subject to the personal approval of the publisher. So far, about 80% of them have been denied.

All sick days must be verified within one week by a doctor's statement stating the employee was physically unable to work on the sick day. (Medical insurance coverage has been cut back so there is now a $60 copay for a doctor's visit.) The rate of sick day approval is running about 50-50.

I managed to take 2 sick days last year (1 more was disallowed). Requested 2 personal days, but they were both shot down.

Vacations are a whole other battlefield. I technically was due 4 weeks last year -- I managed to take two. No rollover. Use it or lose it.

 

That sounds like a JRC move.

 

This is JRC shit too.

 

Sorry, I should have said UP HERE. Statutory holidays are LEGAL holidays and employers are required to give the day off with pay.

Of course, if you're in an industry that runs 24/7 and if you do have to work, you get paid time and a half for working PLUS your regular day's pay. In other words, double time and a half for working a statutory holiday.

 

ah, i see, JR. i should've known you canadians do it differently. ;D

 

I can't say that I've heard of any private sector jobs that allow you to roll over your vacation time. I think about that every time I hear my brother - who's in the Army - talk about losing days of leave after he's accrued 60.

 

At my old company (I'm not a journalist), we were allowed to carry over 5 unused days from year to year. If we had more than that, we could carry it over only with written permission from the CEO or CFO.

 

My gig has a "birthday" that's essentially a personal day.

We can carry over two (or maybe it's three) days per year, max, which must be scheduled by something like March and used by June.

All other vacation time is lost at year's end if you don't lose it. Our office manager, bless her soul, lost about a week because our big boss can't live without her and she wouldn't schedule time off.

We've also got company-wide policies on the comp time, something like it has to be used in two weeks, but I don't know the details since I always take OT. I think our office is a little lax about it, though.

There's another company policy that if you don't schedule your vacation by some date, I think August or something, the boss can schedule it for you. In reality, that never happens, but it is in the contract like that.

If we work a fed holiday, it's time and a half, but if that's your regular day off, you just take off another day that week. I'd just as soon work the holiday for time and a half and then get paid for not taking day off. That sounds sweet.

I know of very few places you can donate time to others, and those aren't in the news business.

 

That's the first time I've ever heard of that also. Sounds like it might be a privately owned paper and not a chain. Never heard of any chain giving an employee his/her birthday off with pay.

 

If your employer has a "use it or lose it" vacation policy, check whether it violates state law. If it does, send any documentation you can come up with (the policy itself, emails or memos referring to it) to the state labor commissioner anonymously. Some regulators just love to hassle newspapers, and most big companies, particularly public ones, have tough corporate policies against violating state laws. Local managers have been fired for less.

 

My previous paper, owned by Hagadone, gave you your birthday as a paid holiday. My current paper, owned by Media General, gives you your birthday as a paid holiday. The paper I'm going to, owned by Lee, gives you your birthday as a paid holiday. Two other papers I've interviewed at in the last six months -- one owned by Scripps, the other by the Sun-Times News Group -- gave you your birthday as a paid holiday. Maybe you've just been unlucky.