If someone quits without the usual two week notice I consider them as abandoning the job and they don’t get references.
We have holiday forms that have to be filled out and signed by the Contract Manager. Once it is signed it is set in stone and he cannot make you change it as per company policy. It really clears up any disputes.
Well sure, I didn’t say it was good to quit without notice; just that it’s perfectly legal to do so.
Assuming you are in the U.S. and this was within the past decade, I suspect that is management speak for “has a mental health issue that we have to give him ADA leave for.” Or possibly “has a chemical dependancy issule that we have to give him ADA leave for.” Course, you were there, its possible he had plane tickets to Bermuda.
Ofcourse not. I don’t see the problem here - we accept that parental leave is necessary and the government pays for 6 weeks of it. It is standard practise in New Zealand and I think it is in Australia and Britain, although probably not for all jobs. I haven’t ever used it, have no children, but think it is a very good thing.
Canada has one full year of paid maternity/paternity leave. And your job is guaranteed to be held for your return. No wonder parents here get such a sense of entitlement.
Well, I live in Alberta too, and I think “entitled” is a strong way to put it, with too many negative connotations. We all have EI (employment insurance) premiums taken off all our paychecks. So why shouldn’t you feel entitled to using the service when it’s available? There’s no shame in using a benefit that you’ve been contributing to for the entire time you’ve been working in Canada.
Human Resources Development Canada website on maternity/parental leave.
To elaborate, in Canada you can get up to one year of maternity/parental leave (50 weeks, plus a 2-week waiting period at the beginning). But the paid maternity leave “salary” isn’t paid by your employer, but through EI. And you don’t get your full salary, you get:
Your employer does have to hold your position for one year - my employer usually just hires a contract employee for one year (at the same wage, or lower, wage than the regular employee).
I should have said “some parents.” My bad.
Why are parents any more special than non-parents? I think it’s a form of unfair favoritism. Maybe I need to take some weeks off after my parents die for bereavement, arrangements and tie up all the loose strings? (In fact, I did have to take two weeks of my *vacation *time after my Father died)
:dubious: Seriously?
I hope I’m being whooshed here, but please don’t ever advance this theory on behalf of all childless professionals.
Yeah, I fully support giving people some extra time to care for their newborn to help propagate the species. You don’t want to have kids, no problem. Don’t have kids. Maternity leave (or paternity leave) does not constitute a vacation. It enables people to have both a career and a family.
Your comparison of maternity leave to a lack of bereavement leave is also rediculous. Now, I fully sopport the notion that there should be bereavement leave, as well as (but not replacing) maternity leave. Why would you deserve time off to handle your family’s affairs but someone who had already taken maternity leave not deserve the same amount of time to deal with the same issues?
It was in 1989 or 1990. No ADA issues. My co-worker, who I was on good terms with, even told me that he wasn’t doing anything for those two weeks. He even told me, “Gary (the manager) is making me take those weeks off, or I don’t get my vacation this year.” One of the guys who had been Gary’s assistant for years came over to the store I was at before I was promoted to help out. He told us he had almost 3 months of vacation time accrued, and was never allowed to take it. That manager was an asshole!
Rant over. 
You can have your weeks of bereavement leave too (actually I think it is 5 days).
So, are you telling me that if, for example, you have a physical disability that requires you to go to the hospital once a month - it is unfair because noone else gets the same sick leave?
Parental leave is a pretty basic condition of employment in my country and I think it is in most European countries and Australia - you telling me we (childless people) are all mad to accept it?
Probably won’t matter. In most jobs I’ve been in, we don’t give references, just confirmation of employment. References are considered too risky - a good one for someone who screws up at the next job can lead to a suit, a bad one leading to someone not getting a job can lead to a suit.
If you live in Canada and have, for example, four kids, you get four years off with pay in your working life. I get (counts on fingers…) none. We officially have Employment Insurance benefits here, but in practice very few people ever qualify to collect them (only parental leave and lay-offs are paid out usually). I don’t get to opt out of a system I will never collect back from, either. Is this fair? Not really, but nobody ever said life was fair. I accept that I pay for other peoples’ choice to have children because they’re the majority, but I don’t have to like it much. I’m trying not to be too bitter, though.
Basically society will be screwed (no pun intended) if people don’t procreate - if it makes you less bitter?!
They are not equivalant statements. People will procreate with or without maternity leave. The existence of maternity leave does not mean people will procreate.
That’s the whole point of insurance, though…there have to be non-collecting people out there paying in, or it doesn’t work.
Nah, I don’t buy the “society will be screwed if we don’t give parents more time off” excuse.
A better question is, will society collapse if we give CBC’s the same amount of time off?
As a CBC, I don’t “owe” you a damn thing. I’ll add a 
just no one thinks I’m sitting here pounding my fists over this or something.
But you get to live in a society (and some day grow old in a society) populated by people that had the benefit of full-time, individualized care in their youth.
So in January 2004 I planned a vacation with my wife and both kids. My oldest is out of school and is a manager for a big box store. I told him to arrange for Dec 24-31 off. I knew this should not be a real problem as it is after Christmas (Yeah the 26th is big, but the rest of the week can be dead)
So he puts in for Vacation. His manager tells him no. He asks why. The manager gives him some song and dance about inventory (end of January). My son calls me, and asks what to do. I told him to tell his manager and HR that he was taking that week off it was a family vacation and not subject to movement. The only question that would remain to be answered would be would he be working for them when he returned from Hawaii.
By the time December rolled around, the manager was gone, and my son went to Hawaii.