Comments on: Ask The Readers: What Is a Fair Vacation Policy for a Part-Time Employee?

By: SenatorMeathooks

SenatorMeathooks — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 21:06:49 +0000

I think the vacation adjustment should be calculated based on the state’s definition of full time against her 32 hours.

By: Sara

Sara — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 23:00:12 +0000

Do you all understand that since she has one day off per week, keeping her at 15 days is actually giving her extra vacation? When she takes a week off, she only needs four days of vacation to get five days off. She doesn’t have to work that fifth day of her vacation week. Am I crazy?

By: nuqotw

nuqotw — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 18:14:32 +0000

15 days! The letter of the law is on the side of 12 days, but the company should be generous here: 3 extra days is cheap for them, a morale booster for Jane and everyone else, and she’s been there for 10 years which should count for something towards company generosity.

You didn’t ask this question but for the love of vacation, the company should increase all of those amounts in every tier by at least 5 days. That’s a ridiculous schedule.

By: Coffee

Coffee — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 18:08:46 +0000

In reply to Chris Hogg. Yes.

By: Agile Phalanges

Agile Phalanges — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 16:47:18 +0000

I think giving her 15 days x 32/40 (so 96 hours or 12 days) to account for her part-time status would be fair. As someone pointed out above, she’s already getting one day off a week, so she won’t need as many full or part days off for miscellaneous errands like doctor’s appointments, but it’s still fair to expect to be able to take some paid time off for vacations. So it seems like a good compromise that she’s still given the equivalent of what she got when she was full time, but pro-rated to account for her part-time status.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 00:29:52 +0000

In reply to Anonymous. I agree

By: Mike Mathis

Mike Mathis — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 23:13:06 +0000

First, their vacation policy is weak for 2017, I have to assume this company’s employees don’t care for it much. I would keep the vacation accrual the same for her because she is the only “part time” employee. It will take an employee five years to get to two weeks of vacation, that is a long time to have only one week of vacation. If they don’t have many part time employees, keep it the way it is, you don’t want to reduce the vacation on their already anemic policy. If it causes a huge uproar at the company, they will need to rewrite the policy and they should define a full time employee as someone who works on average 32 hours per week. She lasted 10 years to get 3 weeks! give it to her.

By: FiveWheels

FiveWheels — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 22:15:57 +0000

She had three weeks leave. Pro rating it to 12 days gets her three weeks – keeping it at 15 would give her almost four weeks, which is more than she’s entitled to.

The OP didn’t state the actual policy in full, but it’s reasonable to read into it that benefits and pay will be pro rated.

Of course if this is real the employee should have had it confirmed beforehand.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 19:13:13 +0000

In reply to Maria Rose.

She should get the 15 days. I’m assuming she still gets the other benefits (medical, vision, dental) and that those benefits were not treated any differently — so unless the policy specifies otherwise, the same should apply here.

Like some of the others have said, I’d consider her full time as she is working 30 hours or more (unless something in their policy specifically designates her as part-time and specifies that benefits may be handled differently for part-time employees).

By: Tardytracy

Tardytracy — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 16:52:45 +0000

Policy doesn’t identify full-time vs part-time requirement, so vacation is based on years of service. We ran into a similar situation, although our policy indicates full-time employment, with the ACA our FT is now 3o hours, and we have employees working 30 hours, but earning 40 hours vacation. It certainly frustrates some of the 40 hour people.