# Accounting for Vacation Days, why?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accounting-for-vacation-days-why/338765>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 6, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accounting-for-vacation-days-why/338765 "2006-01-06T18:06:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accounting-for-vacation-days-why/338765/21 "2006-01-07T14:24:48Z")

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I was hired by my previous job in June of 2000. In June of 2001 I was awarded my vacation time (80 hours). In January of 2002 the company converted their vacation award period to calendar years. IIRC, I got a memo in January '02 telling me of their plan to make all vacation accrual awards “consistent”. So I had had a period of six months to use 80 hours which I wasn’t made aware of and didn’t use since I figured I had a whole year to use the time. I lost ~36 hours of vacation. Lost. Gone. Unpaid, gone. I griped, and was told that “vacation time is a benefit we provide, not law mandated”. So, in that their view was that vacation was a gift, they had no qualms about taking away said gift. I was mightily pissed. :mad:

Since I was just laid-off a/o 1/1, anybody think I have recourse?

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accounting-for-vacation-days-why/338765/22 "2006-01-07T15:10:09Z")

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> [@Brain Wreck](#):
>
> - 
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Originally Posted by SmackFu
> > 
> > That would, in effect, give people a 5-10% raise if they didn’t take their vacation. The company doesn’t have any interest in doing that.
> 
> - 
> 
> Why not? Presumably you’d get 5-10% more work out of them (perhaps more if you factor in the loss of continuity that can happen in vacations)

No, you have a burnt-out employee.

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**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accounting-for-vacation-days-why/338765/23 "2006-01-07T17:02:16Z")

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> [@Patty O'Furniture](#):
>
> No, you have a burnt-out employee.

But shouldn’t it be the employee who decides when they’ve reached that point and need time off? Companies are typically not very good at recognizing this.

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