I get the working without a pay rise thing - I've not have one for 5 years and we've been told that even if we get one next year it will only be 1% (which is rubbish when inflation has been running at about 3% for the past 5 years). The joys of working for a cash strapped local council.
Although technically we get 28 days paid leave a lot of companies here is include the statutory holidays like Christmas, New Years day in that holiday allowance - so while you might get 28 days, because of bank holidays etc you actually only get to pick 20 of them.
Also this rule only applies to people on full time permanent contracts. If you work on short term contracts (less than 3 months) you don't get any sick pay, paid holiday, maternity etc - they company will say they make up for it in you pay by giving you say 50p over the minimum wage. I've worked for a few of those in the past. 3 month contract renewed every 3 months - they get a full time employed with none of the costs of a full time employee.
One things I've sort of half got from watching some American shows is that some? companies give their employees an allotted number of sick days per year. I always wondered how that works, is it the maximum number and go over it you've got to have a really good reason or be fired? or is it this is the number you can take before having to take in doctors certificates to say why you were off? or is getting a sick note not something that is done in the US?
We don't get an allocated number of sick days we can use here as everyone is supposed to aim for none. Obviously that's not really practical, but if you're off for more than a couple of days at a time you have to get your doctor to sign a form to say why you still can't come to work, and if you're off sick with something where you might be able to still work if they made a few changes - like you've broken your leg, the doctor is required on the form to tell the employer that you might be able to still come into work if they can give you a sitting down job for a while or for a bad back to get a special type of chair etc.
So although we get paid sick days (if it's the kind of job that gives it), if you use more than a few in a year you expect to have a meeting with you manager, who if you lucky will give you a warning not to be ill so much and put you on notice that if you take more than a certain number in the next year/6 months you'll be fired or if you're unlucky it'll just be being fired. Some supermarkets are notorious at sacking people because they been off sick for more than 2 or 3 days a year, but they know with unemployed being as it is there are plenty more people desperate for the job, so they won't be looking for staff for long.
Legally people are allowed to take their sick days off as holiday if they want to keep a low number of days off sick on their employment record. In practice it depends what sort of mood the boss is in when you phone as to what really happens.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2013-08-20 07:46 pm (UTC)Although technically we get 28 days paid leave a lot of companies here is include the statutory holidays like Christmas, New Years day in that holiday allowance - so while you might get 28 days, because of bank holidays etc you actually only get to pick 20 of them.
Also this rule only applies to people on full time permanent contracts. If you work on short term contracts (less than 3 months) you don't get any sick pay, paid holiday, maternity etc - they company will say they make up for it in you pay by giving you say 50p over the minimum wage. I've worked for a few of those in the past. 3 month contract renewed every 3 months - they get a full time employed with none of the costs of a full time employee.
One things I've sort of half got from watching some American shows is that some? companies give their employees an allotted number of sick days per year. I always wondered how that works, is it the maximum number and go over it you've got to have a really good reason or be fired? or is it this is the number you can take before having to take in doctors certificates to say why you were off? or is getting a sick note not something that is done in the US?
We don't get an allocated number of sick days we can use here as everyone is supposed to aim for none. Obviously that's not really practical, but if you're off for more than a couple of days at a time you have to get your doctor to sign a form to say why you still can't come to work, and if you're off sick with something where you might be able to still work if they made a few changes - like you've broken your leg, the doctor is required on the form to tell the employer that you might be able to still come into work if they can give you a sitting down job for a while or for a bad back to get a special type of chair etc.
So although we get paid sick days (if it's the kind of job that gives it), if you use more than a few in a year you expect to have a meeting with you manager, who if you lucky will give you a warning not to be ill so much and put you on notice that if you take more than a certain number in the next year/6 months you'll be fired or if you're unlucky it'll just be being fired. Some supermarkets are notorious at sacking people because they been off sick for more than 2 or 3 days a year, but they know with unemployed being as it is there are plenty more people desperate for the job, so they won't be looking for staff for long.
Legally people are allowed to take their sick days off as holiday if they want to keep a low number of days off sick on their employment record. In practice it depends what sort of mood the boss is in when you phone as to what really happens.